For the next meeting of the Theravada Group on Thursday 16th February we will be showing a video by Bhante Bodhidhamma who is the resident monk at Satipanya in Shropshire. Satipanya is a vipassana insight meditation retreat centre in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. The talk is not specific to the Mahasi tradition but addresses the general question of why we meditate.
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Angela Cotton will give a talk entitled, 'Lives & Words of the First Buddhist Nuns. Part 2'. Less well known than the early monks, the early Buddhist nuns often have interesting lives and they have left us some lovely writings and poetry. We will learn about their lives and read their poems.
You can download the Spring 2017 newsletter here ...
On Thursday 6th October, we will look at some of the words of the first Buddhist women, from the book known as the Therigatha (gatha = "verse", theri="women elders").
By Ros Dean
In 2017, the film company Speakit will release 'Walk with Me', a documentary about Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching on Mindfulness. I would like to be able to say that it will go on general release but this is not going to happen unless the cinema world is made to believe that it is going to be a box office success. As practitioners of mindfulness, we can demonstrate that there is, in fact, a huge audience for this film by:
By advertising 'Walk with Me', on the one hand you'll be introducing people to a great contemporary Zen Master and, on the other, you'll be giving people the opportunity to learn about authentic mindfulness, i.e. the sati that was taught by the Buddha 2,500 yrs ago. As we know, unfortunately, the term 'mindfulness' has been hijacked for unskilful purposes, e.g. in some areas of military training. Also, a cynicism has crept in by people who consider the practice as some kind of contemporary fad. I hope that 'Walk with Me' will change these negative assumptions by demonstrating the true nature of the Buddha's teaching on sati/smrti. So what did the Buddha actually mean by the concept of 'mindfulness'? Thay's teaching states that the Buddha's mindfulness is an ENQUIRING awareness that looks deeply into human existence. In so doing, we are able to understand the interconnectedness of all phenomena and, as a consequence, the feeling of compassion stirs within our hearts. Over time, this way of thinking starts to change the way we live our lives and the result is that we start to walk the earth as a 'buddha' or an 'awakened one.' Hence, mindfulness > wisdom > compassion. 'Walk with Me' is a movie on Buddhist mindfulness. Let's make sure that as many people as possible get to see it and also get to understand the message. You can download a PDF version of the newsletter here
On Thursdays 1st September and 20th October, the meeting will be led by a monk from Chithurst Buddhist Monastery.
On Thursday 1st December, the meeting will include a video of Bhante Bodhidhamma entitled 'Why do we do it?' Bhante Bodhidhamma is the Spiritual Director of the Satipanya Buddhist Trust, which follows the teaching of Mahasi Sayadaw. You can download a PDF version of the newsletter here
On Thursday 21st July, Ros Dean will give a talk entitled 'Thich Nhat Hanh's Poetry Part 1: The Historical Dimension'. Ros says:
Thich Nhat Hanh's life has spanned the history of French colonialism, Japanese occupation, the Indochina War, and of course, the Vietmam War when the country became a theatre of conflict between the U.S.A. and the Communist Bloc. Thay was born in 1926 and entered a Buddhist Monastery at the age of 16yrs. A large part of his training involved learning 'gathas,' or 'short meditations' which were to be recited silently as you went about your daily tasks in the temple. As time went on, he began to write verse both as a vehicle for self-expression, but also as a tool for making known the horrors of the Vietnamese war to a worldwide audience. He became 'the voice for peace,' traveling extensively in the United States and Europe in an effort to convince world leaders that their ideologies were creating intolerable levels of human suffering in both opposing camps. In 1966, both North and South Vietnam denied Thay the right to return to Vietnam; this decision was upheld at the end of the war, and since that time, he has lived in France. In the collection of poems entitled 'Call Me by my True Names,' Thay divides his poems into two sections: 'The Historical Dimension' and 'The Ultimate Dimension.' In this talk, we will be looking at the first section, where we meet Thich Nhat Hanh, the man, rather than Thich Nhat Hanh, the world-renowned Buddhist teacher. The 'Ultimate Dimension' contains poems that we can share on a subsequent occasion. On Thursday 21st July, Ros Dean will give a talk entitled 'Thich Nhat Hanh's Poetry Part 1: The Historical Dimension'
On Thursday 4th August, Isabel Gurr will give a talk entitled 'Yamas & Niyamas for Yogic Living'. Isabel studies yogic living at The Yoga Sanctuary in Southampton and has recently completed their Yoga Teacher Training Course. On Thursday 18th August, Steve Dean will give a talk entitled 'Cooking your Life'. On Thursday 15th September, Ki Hee Henton will give a talk on Korean Buddhism. |
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Main image copyright Roberta Mansell. Text copyright Hampshire Buddhist Society unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.