Sangha News 

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Jenny Roberts has spent the last four weeks in London doing a Karuna Appeal. This consists of fundraising on behalf of India's poorest and disadvantaged communities by going door-to-door, meeting members of the public, informing them about Karuna's work and inviting them to make regular donations.

Sounds daunting doesn't it? And this is why Karuna Appeals are considered a great opportunity to deepen your practice.

Jenny has been writing a blog about her
and her six companions' (The Magnificient Seven's) experiences, which you can read here.

As Jenny said on Day 20, this fellowship

'continues to blossom and our friendship with each other is growing strongly. It is still almost unbelievable to me that seven strangers can come together and live in harmony together, especially with all the added pressures of an appeal like this. This is precious.'

 

But will the Magnifcent Seven smash their target over the next two weeks? If they can, they'll have raised the truly magnificent sum of £107,500 for the next five years - that's enough money to have a big impact on the lives of hundreds of women, men and children living in poverty in India. Enough money to bring dignity, respect and joy into their world.

So just how magnificent are the Magnificent Seven? Keep following Jenny's blog to find out. 

 If you would like to support the appeal go to  http://www.karuna.org and download, complete and post-off the direct debit form. Just a few pounds each month will help to free a girl, a boy, a woman or a man from a life that is truly hellish. If you add the reference LON B 2013 at the top, your generosity will count towards Jenny's appeal. Thank you. 

 

 

 

    

Petition to Save Tibetan Temple 

Leeds Buddhist Centre recently received a letter appealing for support to prevent the potential demolition of the Jokhang Temple in Tibet. If you would like to sign this petition please follow the link embedded in the letter below.

"Dear Dharma friend,

I'm hoping you and your sangha members would be willing to help the Tibetan community.  I am a Westerner who is a Vajrayana practitioner; I practice at Sakya Monastery in Seattle, Washington, USA.

There's some pretty saddening news reports that the Chinese government is tearing down most of the Barkhor, which is the historical main Tibetan neighborhood in Lhasa, in order to put up modern office space In specific, the Chinese appear to be considering tearing down the Jokhang Temple, which is the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism.  Imagine if the Thai government decided to tear down the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, or if the Japanese government decided to tear down the heart of Kyoto, including its main temples, or if the Cambodian government decided to tear down Angkor Wat.  That's the equivalent of what the Chinese government is doing in Lhasa.

I've written a petition on Change.org to the Prime Minister of China and the party secretary of Tibet.  I was wondering if  you would be willing to forward it on to your dharma group's distribution list.  Here is a link to the petition:

https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-destroying-the-jokhang-temple-the-barkor-neighborhood-of-lhasa?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true

If you could please let me know if this would or wouldn't be possible, I would appreciate it a great deal.  Thank you for your consideration.

In the dharma,
Chris Rebholz"  

Studying at Leeds Buddhist Centre   

 I've so far been part of two pre-mitra study groups: the first 10-week course took place late last year and the second early this year. I'd previously done a bit of scattered reading of various Buddhist texts but much of this was in the context of understanding background or just plain old interest. Being something of a Leeds Triratna dabbler since 2010, I had been around the Centre long enough to suspect that the study format would not be what I was used to at school or university. This suspicion was justified, fortunately! In the first term, we followed Part 1 of the Foundation Year of the Triratna Dharma training course; we therefore had material to read and questions to reflect upon each week prior to the session. This may sound like familiar territory but from the outset things happened in a novel way: on the very first night, as we all met, we were invited to consider what sort of person we are and what roles we assume in a group. I don't think I had been in that situation before but, after the initial slight panic, it felt great to talk frankly and, instead of playing out habitual (and comfortable) roles, laying them out and dissecting them with strangers.  I could tell from the beginning that this was a special environment. When we meet as a group, brought together to explore the Dharma, we create a mandala up at the top of Bridge House where the buffeting wordly winds lose at least some of their force.  

"Sitting attentively and really listening to other people's views or experiences is a form of Buddhist practice in itself and this was most of the time an easy pleasure to accomplish, but not always!"  

The theme of the first term was the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. What struck me was that the content could be  explosive, especially when it encouraged me to truly look at myself, my experience, and my interactions with the world ... pretty fundamental stuff! Sometimes the text was simply beautiful to read or quietly harmonising. Whatever our personal and individual  responses to the reading, it was the sharing of the teachings, and our reactions to them, that really defined the merit of the study group. I started to enjoy seeing that actually I maybe missed the point, or missed the significance, of a particular line or even whole paragraph. I could only have appreciated this through hearing the thoughts of my fellow group members. I also learnt that relating your own thoughts/opinions/responses brings them into a more defined, brighter (and possibly even harsher) existence. Sitting attentively and really listening to other people's views or experiences is a form of Buddhist practice in itself and this was most of the time an easy pleasure to accomplish, but not always! I realised, for example, that I can get agitated when I think that someone is taking too long to say something; the study group was, for me, a perfect forum for noticing ego-pedalled machinations like this, and then gradually disarming them.  

"Discussions often ran, as in the first term, to other related topics and we could delve into depths of meaning as well as lightly ascend on pockets of buoyant humour"  

In the second term we covered Ethics, Wisdom, and Meditation so there was a strong practical thread connecting the sessions. We began each evening with a period of meditation that took on a form we hadn't encountered before: these were experimental sits! On one occasion we paired up, faced each other, and led our partner through our meditation by providing a sort of gentle commentary of our experience as we closed our eyes, settled in and went ahead with a short anapanasati or metta bhavana. It was quite a strange thing to do, but it was helpful to draw out and slightly externalise my own meditation like that, as well as a privilege to experience someone else's practice so intimately. In another session, a 'Zen bell' was rung at random intervals during a normal meditation to provide a checkpoint for where we really were at that moment (distracted, focussed, asleep?). Over the weeks, in the main part of the session, we talked about suttas and Buddhist symbolism; my favourites of these were the Bahiya Sutta and the Tibetan Wheel of Becoming. Discussions often ran, as in the first term, to other related topics and we could delve into depths of meaning as well as lightly ascend on pockets of buoyant humour. The flow of our exchanging ideas was natural. This was often punctuated by direct, simple questioning that got to the core of what we were covering. To paraphrase a group member, 'What exactly is the point of the mindfulness of breathing?' The first sentence of a considered answer from Samanartha was, 'Mindfulness is richness', and this has stayed with me; it seems to perfectly distil at least part of what we pursue when we take to the cushion. 

I think all of us that got involved felt the benefit of different but like-minded individuals coming together to study the Dharma. I am therefore very grateful to our shepherds, the leaders of our sessions - Uddyotani & Gill (first term) and Samanartha & John (second term) - but also to my fellow students. At the moment, we've dispersed for the summer, so needless to say I'm looking forward to the next group assembling! 

Notes on a Visiting Teacher 

Paramananda's "take" on meditation can be summed up as "getting in touch with our
experience through our bodies and emotions, with silence, poetry and chanting" - which is just about what the course offered. At the start we all laid on the floor and guided by Paramananda's voice used our creative imagination to open our awareness to the elemental nature of our bodies through scanning the body and letting go of deeply held tensions in the muscles, particularly the legs. After this we sat and followed the breath and were further guided in relaxing into our bodies through "softening" the face, the hands and the soles of the feet, and then there was the poetry - strange and evocative - that Paramananda spoke to us (in his thick north London accent) which awoke all manner of lost emotions.

All in all a very good weekend was had, inspiring us all to practice deeper remembering.

What I realised on the recent weekend with Paramananda was how much resonance there is between tai chi and meditation.  So in both it is important to be rooted - feeling our roots going down into the ground so that we are almost literally 'grounded'.  At the same time we are connected to the heavens - in tai chi we talk about the crown of our head being suspended by a golden thread.  Paramananda pointed out that our meditation posture is merely intended to allow our energy to flow through our body - energy flow being a basic principle of tai chi.  One of my teachers once said that we should imagine we had a robin's egg held in our armpits - just enough pressure to keep it there, not enough to crush it.  I find this helps me keep a more open posture - another point made in the weekend - keeping our chests open helps us breathe more deeply. 

Becoming a Mitra 

Following last month's ceremony, Cheryl shares her experience of becoming a mitra...   

Time passed. I had attended the foundation course for mitras which Uddyotani ran (some of us were not mitras) and enjoyed it immensely. After that, there was no other study group open to me without becoming a mitra and I missed it. Over a period of time I began to look at my resistance and discuss it with others, and in doing so I found it to be insubstantial and rather hollow - after all, I was meditating, reading and discussing Buddhism and attending the Centre. Buddhism was becoming an increasingly important part of my life.

All that was left now was to take the bull by the horns and attend the ceremony! When I discovered that Matt was to be made a mitra at the same time, it felt easier. Someone to share the limelight! Other people had told me about how joyous an occasion a mitra ceremony was, so by the time the day arrived, I was slightly nervous but also looking forward to it.

As it turned out, it was joyous. It seemed utterly right to make the commitment that I was making. I was very touched by the number of people who attended and their warmth and friendship. I even enjoyed the 'rejoicing in merits' because everyone was so thoughtful and perceptive. It seemed that everyone had gone out of their way to be authentic and genuine. The welcome to the community which we received in the form of words, cards and gifts was so heartwarming. Thank you all very much.

I'm so pleased I went ahead with it - it was the right thing to do. 

Sangha Snapshot 

 Each Month Matt McCarthy talks to sangha members, old and new, to find out what makes them tick.

This month it's.....Kathryn!

I spent my childhood in a combination of Glasgow, Teeside, Lincoln and Cumbria. I chose Leeds as my adopted city through a combination of people telling me I should go to London, wanting to live in a city with hills near it and a good night out in what was then the Town and Country club. I've now moved out to those hills but still think of it as my city.

I did a beginners course at the Swarthmore centre about 5 years ago. I'm not sure I knew what to make of it but something kept me coming back and I'm very grateful it did. I feel lucky to have ended up here.

Changing, important, confused

Discovering poetry has been a side effect of discovering meditation. Mary Oliver's "The Journey" is a favourite.

These days I'm pretty happy with Yorkshire but if pushed I've had my eye on the Namib desert for a long time. Something about the combination of it seeming very remote and the appeal of sliding down the sand dunes. I'd also like to return to northern Sweden where I spent a week last year with temperatures getting down to -40 and loved it! You'll see me in the photo attempting to cross country ski across a frozen lake with poise and grace.

I am still waiting for them to reveal themselves.

I have no idea - let's hope I don't get the invitation tomorrow. Maybe I could make some use of the hat in the photo.

I am one of a small group of people of excellent taste who don't drink tea. The same cannot be said of my relationship with the yellow biscuit tin.

Hoping to go on retreat in the Autumn and also have plans to investigate Buddhafield this year.

Sangha Poetry   

We have received a poem this month written by Dinah, a friend of the Centre...

EARLIER

It's sunny

Mandy would also like to share a poem that has inspired her on her recent travels...

from POEMTREES 

by W G Sebald 

For how hard it is
to understand the landscape
as you pass in a train
from here to there
and mutely it
watches you vanish. 

If you would like to share a poem, photograph or drawing, please email it to  

enquiries@leedsbuddhistcentre.org

Buddhafield 2013 

Please note that the views expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Leeds Buddhist Centre, theTriratna Buddhist Community (Leeds) or The Triratna Buddhist Order