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Please Contribute
to this Newsletter
Contact any member of the editorial kula
 Matt Jenny Mandy Uddyotani Or send to: mattmccarthy5@gmail.com
Room to Let
Leeds Buddhist Centre is available for hire for workshops, events and exhibitions. A light, spacious room in the heart of the city.
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Useful Links
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"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action."
MAGGA-VIBHANGA SUTTA
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Coming Up
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Thursday Nights in August + Day Retreat
For the next 3 weeks, Samanartha will be leading Thursday night sessions exploring meditation in its various forms and curious depths. This exploration will culminate in a Day Retreat on Saturday 17 August, 10-4pm.  In case that's not enough to tempt you,
here are a couple of quotes from two new(ish) sangha members who've been enjoying Thursday nights of late...
Elaine says: "After doing the meditation courses I started coming along to Thursday Friends' Nights. It was a different experience because it involved meeting lots of new people, but the nights are structured in a very similar way to how the courses are run and I found everybody very helpful and willing to accomodate my 'newness'. Every time I go through the door it gets easier!"
Jonathan says: "Thursday nights are a calm spot in the week for me. There was a time when I didn't come for 6-7 weeks and I began to feel a little un-anchored. Not that we should necessarily have anchors and structures in our lives, but it's good to have a point of connection to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and Thursday nights definitely provide that."
Another Day Retreat!
...aren't we a lucky sangha.
There will be a Day Retreat on Saturday 7 September, 10-4pm, led by Uddyotani. This will be a day of practice, with meditation, discussion, puja and a shared lunch - a great opportunity for newcomers to learn more about practice within the Triratna community and also for old timers to reconnect with their deeper values after all the fun and frivolity of the summer.
Adhisthana Dedication Ceremony (3-4 August)
Jenny writes...
It's only a couple of days until the inaugural celebration and dedication weekend for Adhisthana, Triratna's new home in quiet rural land near the Malvern Hills. It's a place for the whole movement, where people from all over the world will meet, study and practice together, sometimes in small retreats, sometimes in large numbers.
The Opening Weekend is a very special event for the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. The Saturday event is for the Order but on the Sunday everyone (including children) is invited to share in the celebrations and take a look around.
I'm going along and it would be great if other members of the sangha could be there as well, especially since our centre, like others, will be making an offering of a rupa.
Unfortunately I can't offer a lift but if you would like to go please book a place here: Adhisthana.org. It may also be possible for you to be picked up from Colwall station by the organisers. Please let me know if you intend to go.
If you can't make it, the event will be recorded by Clear Vision so you will be able to join in at long distance on thebuddhistcentre.com
Hope to see you there!
Buddhafield North Camping Retreat
This outdoor retreat will be held on 25-30 August at a beautiful farm near Ilkley, W.Yorkshire. For more information visit buddhafieldnorth.org.uk
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"It does occasionally happen that we are totally involved in something ... and we know that when that happens ... even if only for an instant, a fraction of a second, then we feel a sort of relief, a sort of satisfaction, a sort of peace which we can get from no other source and in no other way."
SANGHARAKSHITA
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Sangha News
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Men's Shared Community House?
Are you looking for accomodation and interested in joining a men's community?
Milan is hoping to set something up. He writes: "I have become dissatisfied with adverse living conditions in Holbeck and see setting up a men's community as a creative opportunity to live and practice with other Buddhists. I value quietness, stillness, simplicity and contentment."
If you are interested and would like more information, contact Milan by email at milanholbeckestan@yahoo.com or call him on 07722 301002.
Sangha Library
Please can anybody who has library books out on loan
return them by the end of August, this is to allow for a summer stock take to be carried out.
It's still possible to take other books out, so return those you've already read and grab yourself some new and stimulating summer reading!
No Drop-in Classes in August
Please note that drop-in classes will not be running during August but will resume the following month.
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Beneficial Activity (Arthacharya)
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Uddyotani writes...
Arthacharya is one of the four 'samgrahavastus' - the four 'means of unification' - the skills needed to bring people together as a spiritual community, encourage and inspire them to practice the Dharma and to do so in a way which is mutually supportive and interconnected, and which recognises the effect we have on each other.
The Buddha talks about Arthacharya in his conversation with the lay follower Hatthaka (AN). When the Buddha arrives in Hatthaka's home town of Alavi, Hatthaka greets him with 500 followers;
"All were practising Buddhists who had achieved insight, and they brought flowers and sandalwood paste for the Buddha."
 The Buddha asks Hatthaka how he has achieved such a following, and Hatthaka describes four ways of connecting with others - through generosity, kindly speech, beneficial activity and exemplification - all simple activities that create a sense of community. Hatthaka comes across as someone with real empathy and awareness of others, who has the wish just to respond, connected with the wish to give the Dharma.
We can picture Hatthaka; friendly, unself-conscious, not doubting himself. We could picture a whole spiritual community acting in this way; with others in mind, with awareness, going beyond themselves - what would it be like to practice in this way?
Maybe we feel we are not all like Hatthaka, that we can't all connect with others, that we have nothing to give or that others can do it better. It is so easy to underestimate ourselves, to doubt ourselves; self-consciousness gets in the way. But spiritual community is a network of friendships, of connection. It doesn't depend on one person but on each person's participation.
"We are all the same, we all feel the same suffering and happiness, so I should look afetr others as I look afetr myself. Just as I love and cherish my body, which is divided into many limbs, so I should love and cherish this whole world, which is divided into many beings." - The Bodhicaryavatara
All of us have our particular life experience, whether we are outgoing or shy, whether we feel articulate or tongue-tied. That experience makes us the right person to connect with someone. So we connect through children, through art and creativity, through working together or just meeting over cups of tea. And mostly we connect through the Three Jewels, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, whether our grasp on these is confident or still young. This is what spiritual community is, and to participate in it is beneficial activity - it creates conditions for each of us to experience ourselves more deeply.
So beneficial activity, as we meet it in the four samgrahavastus, includes all the  work we do in terms of building spiritual community, and to let that change us and our relationship with others. If we truly want to benefit others then the greatest good we can do for anyone is to give the Dharma - to give opportunity, knowledge, inspiration. We might be asking ourselves,"How can I do that? I don't understand it well enough, I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't even know if I believe in all this, I'm still finding out!" If so, it might be that the most beneficial thing we can do for others is to find out more about the Buddha's teaching, to make it real in our own lives, to gain insight for ourselves. This is the path of the Bodhisattva, who vows to gain enlightenment for the benefit all beings.
We can think of beneficial activity as an insight practice in itself; it means we learn to go beyond ourselves, to let go of the distinction between self and other, to get out of our own way. On the way we will meet obstacles - opportunities - to let into our awareness different aspects of ourselves; our self-interest and craving,our vulnerability, our I'll will and fear - all the stuff we've hidden away. We can share it because we are not so different. We can give because it will help, not because we are better, and we can receive because it will help us, not because we are of lesser value. We can build a community of aware individuals, tolerant, understanding, supportive, unified.
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Six Weeks in the Life of an Appealing Buddhist
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Working on a Karuna door-knocking appeal is said to be the 'classic' transformative team experience: learning to ask something meaningful of another human being in a way that is authentic and sensitive and, in doing so, helping others who are much less fortunate than oneself. Jenny Roberts has recently returned from one such appeal and now she looks back at how it was for her.
It's a beautiful sunny day and I'm relaxing in the shade of a tree on a caravan site somewhere in Surrey. I've been on holiday for the last week, and the Green Tara Appeal that seemed so all-consuming at the time, is now no more than a memory. During the last few days I've been reflecting on how those six challenging and  intensive weeks might have changed me. And I have to say that I have absolutel y no idea. Which is less than helpful when I'm writing a blog that I hoped might convey the transformative nature of Karuna door-knocking appeals. But bear with me, all is not lost. While it may be hard, subjectively, to notice any changes in myself (maybe that's for other people to assess anyway), it certainly isn't difficult to appreciate how much I've learned during those six weeks.
The most obvious teaching has been that of impermanence. Time seems to have moved on so rapidly, so tangibly that I'm left a little dazed by the process. Just over seven weeks ago I was sitting on a train heading for London, feeling apprehensive and unsure of what to expect, not knowing whether I would survive the appeal, wondering whether I would fit in. Fast forward a little to the first excruciating role-play in training, then again to that first scary evening on the doors, the first meeting of our community when we attempted to reconcile all our diverse needs and expectations, the steady improvement in confidence, that first intoxicating direct debit on the doorstep, the hard-knocks of feedback and the challenges of being with, and accepting, uncomfortable feelings day after day, the joy of constantly being valued and nurtured by my new friends and of valuing and nuturing them in return, the support of all of our teachers and, finally, that exhausting, exhilarating, joyful and inexplicable final week when we achieved the impossible and smashed our target beyond all expectations.
Somehow l think I've learned to value the present moment in a different way. An understanding that however hard it might be - or however easy - it isn't going to last. I believe I know something more, about patiently being where I am and simply experiencing whatever it is that I am experiencing - without trying to ignore it, push it away or hold onto it. I think I've learned a little more about equanimity too. Staying grounded with the feeling of success has been much harder than staying okay with the feelings of not doing so well. Intoxication takes many forms.
I've also learned someting about confidence. Not the outward bravado that hides the fear within, but the kind of inner certainty that allows me to trust that I am far more than I think I am. And to accept that that is enough to get me through. Over the length of the appeal I have been with my vedana (feelings) almost constantly, snuggling up to and stroking the unpleasant ones, trying to accept the pleasant ones without trying to prolong them.
There have been periods of intense spiritual death: when I admitted my fears about fitting into a women's community, when I realised that I had fallen back into old (and very male) habits on the doors, when I went nearly a week without a direct debit after being at the top of the chart the previous week. Moments too of a smaller, though no less valuable kind when a householder was rude, or simply ignored me, when someone who was pleasant on the first knock was irritated and closed-down on the call-back, when the evening's door-knocking yielded no rewards and Mara whispered in my ear that all this was pointless (and so was I).
And there have been gentler moments of self-transcendence as well: talking to the wife of a man who had been paralysed suddenly and really feeling her distress and confusion, conversations with a man who had just lost his grandfather and whose mother was incapacitated by grief, the connection with so many people who cared about others, who had their own stories to tell and who offered real encouragement to me in my fundraising work.
 There was the feeling too, that I was bringing loving-kindness to my streets and to each door - connecting in a very special way with complete strangers. Finally, there was a rich sense of connection with the people behind the doors and with my beautiful community back at the flat above the London Buddhist Centre. It really felt as if they were out there with me on the streets each evening. Which brings me to my appreciation, and perhaps a little more understanding, of pratitya-samutpada (conditioned co-production: that everything arises on conditions and ceases when those conditions cease). Conditions of all kinds were impossible to ignore during those six weeks. How I was on the doorstep affected, to a greater or lesser degree, how the person behind the door was - and vice-versa. In the latter part of the appeal I made great efforts to be more interactive and to allow more space for the householder to respond to me. It was very noticeable how this created the conditions for much deeper communication between us (and more donations). In the final week I started to challenge wrong views about poverty and the response to it, and this too resulted in a deeper connection with people who might well have shut the door on me in the earlier weeks. Most still didn't donate but maybe I planted the seed of greater generosity with a few of the people who were 'giving enough already' or who 'never give at the door, on principle'.
"Ask yourself, 'Is there joy, ease and lightness in what I am doing. If there isn't, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle.'" - Eckhart Tolle, Practising the Power of Now
I noticed too how meditation helped me keep my feet on the ground and moderated my inclination to believe that I was the centre of the universe. I noticed how the care taken on the training helped me break through the barriers on the doorstep and deal with my own potential feelings of rejection. How sometimes other people's conditions and conditioning affected me - pleasantly, unpleasantly, movingly and humorously. I learnt how to create better conditions for myself - by going slower, letting go, indulging in a little idling between doors or a sit in the park. I learned to stop clinging to outcomes and began to really see that just being, just resting in each particular moment with tenderness and acceptance was enough.
The biggest lesson that I have learned is about communication and intention. It is what I struggle with most of all, and this appeal brought it right into focus. I have been deeply moved by by the love and Anuruddha-like friendship of my friends in the community. How they have so often demonstrated what it means to care about the wellbeing of others ahead of oneself. Between them, they have given me the gift of seeing another path to transformation.
I confess it fully, that I too often believe that I am at the centre of my universe. I'm too easily drawn to talk about myself, to believe that this is the most interesting subject of all. In my ignorance I often forget to remember others and to take an interest in them. To ask about their feelings, their experiences, their sense of who they are. To take delight in their lives and to rejoice in the interconnectedness of all things. To give myself generously to others, rather than tending to wonder 'what's in it for me'.
So what I take away, above all else, is a personal precept to continue working on and letting go of this sense of self that gets in the way of where I aspire to be. I'm resolving to try much harder to really see other people, to try and bring more awareness to all my interactions. To learn, and practice, the skills of drawing other people out as well as allowing myself to be drawn out by them.
"It has been an enormous privilege to be one of the Magnificent Seven of the Green Tara Appeal and it is a memory which I shall treasure for the rest of my life."
Finally, as I said at the beginning of this blog, I feel an acute awareness that time has moved on and that good things have passed. I miss my friends in the community, I miss being around the LBC and amongst so many kind and beautiful practitioners. I miss the people and the streets that became so familar to me during those six weeks. But I rejoice wholeheartedly in the people I have met and the lessons I have learned. It has been an enormous privilege to be one of the Magnificent Seven of the Green Tara Appeal and it is a memory which I shall treasure for the rest of my life.
I am so grateful for all the riches that the experience has given me. And for the very real financial riches that will be helping to improve the degraded lives of countless men, women, and children in India. Now, the final lesson for me is to let go of those challenging, uplifting and joyful six weeks and move on. Not so easy.
Still... next year, I hope to be back on another appeal.
Would you like to join me?
Fundraising as Spiritual Practice
A Karuna Appeal has a daily programme similar to being on retreat, but with the added element of asking strangers for money each evening! The resulting intensity can support a dramatic deepening of spiritual practice - for some greater even than their ordination course - and also leads to successful fundraising. Why? The people that you meet on the doors have none of the usual investment in pleasing you, and so will instead respond only to you as you are: friendly or curt, present or distracted, engaged or listless.
Sangharakshita once described this as "objective feedback par excellence". And of course you want something from these people: you would like them to take a booklet about Karuna's work and later sign a direct debit. More often than not this wish is not fulfilled - in a sense you are rejected - and you are challenged to respond positively and creatively to this. For if you do not, there is no reason why the next meeting will go any better!
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Amoghasiddhi, Integration & Perfect Action
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Matt writes...In this simmering summer heat, when the days are so full of light, with the birds sweetly singing and the scent of flowers hovering in the air, it's difficult to contemplate the darkness. When the outer world is in bloom, our inner worlds can seem more distant and the need to work on our 'stuff' feels less pressing. Nevertheless, when it comes to contemplating 'action', we can find inspiration by casting a momentary glance into the shadows.
It's in the dark of the night where we encounter Amoghasiddhi - the Buddha of  the northern realm who rides a chariot drawn by beasts half-man and half-eagle. They pull him through the velvet blue sky carrying huge symbols that clash together as they fly. Amoghasiddhi - whose name means Unobstructed Success - sits atop of this chariot, he is dark green, clad in scarlet robes, one of his hands is raised in a powerful gesture of fearlessness while the other holds a mysterious emblem - a double vajra; two diamond thunderbolts crossed and fused together.
How does Amoghasiddhi achieve success and what does the double vajra signify? While a single diamond thunderbolt would be a thing of awesome power, two fused together is even stronger and implies that such power can be wielded with harmony, balance and equilibrium. Amoghasiddhi embodies these qualities. He possesses immense power yet draws his strength from the fact that he is perfectly integrated. He has no weak spot, no vulnerability lurking in a forgotten corner of the mind. Amoghasiddhi has conquered the shadows, he's harnessed the symbol-crashing creatures of the psyche and feels completely at ease in the midnight hours. This makes him fearless and therefore free to act perfectly. And in dependence on this perfect action, Amoghasiddhi achieves unobstructed success.
The multiplicity of the human psyche is a fascinating topic and one that has inspired so many stories. Herman Hesse's novel The Steppenwolf, for example, tells the story of Harry Haller, who sees himself as half-man/half-wolf. In the  struggle to satisfy his conflicting desires, Harry blinds himself to the fact that he actually has several sides to his personality, not just two. Nicholas Urfe, the central character in The Magus by John Fowles, is another character who is unable to see the complexity of his own being and the consequences of his unskilful actions. That's until he's given a dose of his own medicine by the wizard-like Mr Conchis. A more popular example perhaps, and one that seems appropriate here (not just because he's green like Amoghasiddhi) is the Incredible Hulk. As Bruce Banner, he's a gifted yet socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved scientist, while as the Hulk he possesses limitless strength and great invulnerability, although he's prone to anger and destruction. These two disparate personalities are never harmonised. In the original comic series, the Hulk regards Banner as 'that puny weakling', while Banner tries various times to 'cure' himself of the Hulk. In these various examples, the inability of each character to integrate the good, the bad and the ugly leads to suffering and even destruction, and therefore makes it difficult for them to act well, let alone perfectly - the opposite, we might say, of the totally integrated and perfectly performing Amoghasiddhi.
So in the coming weeks while we enjoy the last of the summer shloer, we might begin to turn our attention to the dark and forgotten corners of our minds. Where is the steppenwolf lurking? Where is the magus conjuring up spells? Where is the Hulk flexing his muscles? How can I combat them? How can I harness their power? And when I've made them yield and integrated my disparate aspects, where will I unleash my double diamond thunderbolt? What perfect acts will I perform?
Well if you do find yourself trembling with energy, in perfect harmony, and totally ready to act - or maybe just a bit bored! - we've compiled a list of exciting opportunities for you to get involved in the goings-on at the Buddhist Centre over the next few months. Have a read of the Active Hearts Column below and get busy!
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Active Hearts Column
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Tall, triangular and quirky Buddhist Centre seeks companions for cultural and spiritual adventures (maybe more)...
Get involved in the following events by emailing the Centre at (enquiries@leedsbuddhistcentre.org) or sign up on the noticeboard from 1 August onwards.
Buddhafield Retreat, 25-30th August
WANTED: Outdoorsy types to make something happen under blue skies and in open fields - shouldn't be afraid of getting down and dirty. Sign up to lend a hand erecting and dismantling Buddhafield's campsite near Ilkley at the end of August.
Centre Cleaning Day, Thurs 5th Sept, 10-4pm
Neglected Mr Muscle seeks companions, male or female, to scrub, mop, paint and generally re-shuffle. Should be slow and steady with a thorough eye for detail. No time wasters.
Heritage Open Days, 12-15th Sept
Are you willing to be a window for the world? Are you able to talk about anything from bricks to Buddhas? Open-minded, friendly folk needed to show off the Centre to the public on Heritage Open Days.
Light Night, 4th Oct
WANTED: creative types with a flair for a happening. Let's design and do something amazing on Light Night. Expect fireworks.
Monthly Pujas (Fridays)
Aspiring Avalokitesvara seeks extra hands to lead pujas, chant and do readings, dress shrines and be generally supportive. Please help make monthly pujas creative and a heartfelt expression of our many approaches to practice.
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Weekly Programme at Leeds Buddhist Centre
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Monday teatime - Start the Week (drop-in meditation class) - Join us on any Monday at 5.15pm to explore meditation with support and guidance. Intended for thiose new to meditation but more experienced meditators also very welcome.
5.15pm to 6.15pm (doors open 5.00pm) NOT RUNNING IN AUGUST
Suggested donation £4/£2
Wednesday Lunchtime - Mid-Week Breathing Space (drop-in meditation class)
Join us on any Wednesday lunchtime at 12.45 for a 'taster' of four different kinds of meditation practice (one each week and repeating). You can join on any Wednesday, each is taught independently of the others.
Relaxing body scan * Working with the breath * Developing kindness to yourself and others * Walking meditation
12.45 to 1.30 (doors open from 12.30pm) NOT RUNNING IN AUGUST
Suggested donation £3/£2
Thursday: Friends Night Regular Practice Evening - Friends nights are our main Sangha night and, in many ways, the heart of practice at Leeds Buddhist Centre. It is a drop-in session exploring different themes around meditation and Buddhism. From 7.00pm until 9.30pm. (Meditation begins at 7.10pm prompt)
Suggested Donation £6/£3 (unwaged)
Sunday Morning: Sesshin (meditation practice) - for people with some experience of meditation who are happy to meditate without guidance or instruction. Three 30 minute unled sits, with breaks between sits. First sit: 10:00am to 10:30am, Second sit: 10:45am to 11:15am, Third sit: 11:30am to 12:00 noon. You may attend one or more but please do not ring the bell during meditation.
Suggested Donation £4/£2 (unwaged)
***The Leeds Buddhist Centre relies on your generosity to keep going - please donate what you can when you attend events ***
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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
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