By Ros Dean

On Thursday March 2nd, Wendy Besnier will will sharing a children's book of Buddhist stories. Fear not! These stories were directed towards adults, so do be prepared for an evening of learning. (My guess is that you will be familiar with some of them.)

Jane Browne, one of the founders of the Hampshire Buddhist Society, died peacefully on Sunday morning with her son by her side reading the Mangala Sutta. She was 92. Ajahn Karuniko, the abbot of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, visited her the previous Monday and found her in good spirits. Jane attended our 50th anniversary tree planting at Chithurst in October although she was ill at the time. We are very grateful for her contribution to the Society over the years.

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.