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In This Issue...
Join us on Twitter!
Sangha News
Postcard from Padmaloka
Ratnasambhava
Rosemary goes to San Francisco
A Glimpse of Solitude
Mandy's Top Tips
Adhisthana Opens in Style
The Big One!
Weekly Programme at Leeds Buddhist Centre
 
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Uddyotani
 
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"Great becomes the fruit, great the advantages of
samadhi (meditation), when it is set round with
sila (ethics). Great becomes the fruit, great the advantages of prajna (wisdom) when it is set round with samadhi."

THE BUDDHA, Digha-Nikaya ii.81 

September's Theme

It's harvest season and the hard work done in the fields over the summer is beginning to yield its rewards. Time then for us to reflect on our own efforts undertaken in the vast fields of the Dharma. 

 

This month's theme is FRUITS OF PRACTICE

 

In addition to the usual news and notices about forthcoming courses, we have articles by Rosemary and Kathy on their recent retreat experiences and the benefits they've since enjoyed, Jenny takes a look at the great riches shared by the archetypal Buddha Ratnasambhava, while Mandy offers helpful hints on what to do if you find yourselves buried beneath a glut of tomatoes, apples and other such tasty treats. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Forthcoming Courses 

Learning Loving-Kindness  

 
Living with Kindness Meditation Course 
Starts Tuesday 15th October 
7.00 - 9.15pm for 4 weeks 

In this course, we explore the Metta Bhavana, a practice which allows us to cultivate emotional warmth, kindness and friendliness towards ourselves and others. This enhances awareness of our responses to others and allows us to interact in an increasingly positive way with the world around us. The course includes Just Sitting meditation, an unstructured practice which complements formal meditation.

 

Cost for the course: £35/£20 concs, including the day retreat


 

Exploring The Buddha's Teaching 

 

Introduction to 
Buddhism 

Tuesday 19th November 

7.00 - 9.15pm for 4 weeks Buddha teaching
This course introduces some of the basic principles of Buddhism and the Buddha's threefold path of ethics, meditation and wisdom. Drawing on traditional sources and on our own everyday experience the module aims to bring the Dharma alive in our daily life.

 

Cost for the course: £35/£20 concs.

Book Here 

 

 

Day Retreat - Open to Everyone

  

Day Retreat - Exploring Buddhist Practice
Saturday 14th December 2013 
10.00am to 4.00pm
A day exploring meditation, ritual, chanting, discussion and friendship and looking at how the Buddha's teachings continue to resonate deeply with our lives in the 21st century, helping us to transform our lives for the better. 

 

For beginners this is an opportunity to see what Buddhist practice is all about; 

 

For our community this is an opportunity to practice - and to explore how we practice.

  

Suggested donation: £30/£20/£10, bring vegetarian lunch to share


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Sangha News 

 

Puja

Sunday 18th October, 7pm

The next puja at the Centre will take place on Sunday 18th October and will be led by the Men's GFR group. The evening will consist of meditation, chanting and making offerings. Doors open at 6.30pm, puja begins at 7 and finishes at approx. 8.30. 

 

Urban Retreat 2013

9-16 November

An "urban retreat" is a week of online talks, teachings, led meditations, and other resources, all designed to help you practice the Buddha's teachings effectively, as you go about your day.


From Saturday 9th to Saturday 16th November, an urban retreat will be taking place online at the buddhistcentre.com, and you are invited to join! 

 

The theme will be: "blazing like the sun": how can our hearts be more overflowing with kindness, compassion, confidence, and love of life? How can we find the "freedom of heart" that is loving-kindness? 

 

In Leeds there will be activities going on at the Centre throughout the week and the Urban Retreat will culminate in the...

 

Sangha Retreat! 

15-17 November

A retreat to the peace and quiet of Lineham Farm
is scheduled for the weekend of 15-17 November. Bookings will begin to be taken shortly, please keep an eye on the sangha noticeboard and look out for emails giving further details.  

 

 

'The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest'

William Blake 

Postcard from Padmaloka 

Having settled in nicely to his new life at Padmaloka, Ben has sent us a  postcard...

 

 

 

Ratnasambhava & the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel 

This is an occasional series exploring the five 'archetypal' (e.g. mythical) Buddhas in the Mandala of the Five Jinas. Each of these Buddhas reflects a quality of the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, in the realms of our imagination and, perhaps, as an aspect of our own consciousness. Many Buddhists find it helpful to identify with the qualities of one or more of them. They are: Ratnasambhava in the south, Amitabha in the west, Amoghasiddi in the north, Aksobya in the east and Vairocana in the centre.

This month:
Ratnasambhava and the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel of the South
by Jenny

As Summer turns to Autumn and the days get shorter and cooler, you might be reflecting, like me, on an exceptional summer when the world has seemed full of light and warmth. As we move towards the darker days of winter it's good to remember how good it felt to be warmed by the rays of the sun.

For me, at the moment, this also brings to mind the figure of Ratnasambhava, the  Buddha of the blazing midday sun who sits on a golden yellow lotus flower in the southern aspect of the mandala of the five Buddhas. He shines his radiance over all beings equally, on palaces and dung heaps, dissolving the boundaries between self and other; helping us to see that, since there is no 'me' to give and no 'other' to receive, we are free to share without restraint.

And this golden yellow Buddha - whose name means 'of the jewel born' or 'the jewel producing one' - is associated with wealth and riches. His right hand is stretched out, palm open, in a gesture of supreme giving, and he showers the world with precious things. Some of these may be material wealth, since that relieves suffering - for a while anyway - but there is also an abundance of spiritual riches. And dwelling on the image of Ratnasambhava we can begin to feel a great expansiveness, shifting our nature from a selfish or even mean perspective to a sense of generosity that, like Ratnasambhava's, is shared in abundance with all beings.

The poison of Pride is also associated with him. Wherever there is pride or a conscious over-valuation of ourselves, there is always the opposite, hidden deeply in the psyche, a sense of insecurity as well. Similarly within every ever-so-'umble Uriah Heap individual there is an egotist waiting to escape. So, Ratnasambhava's Wisdom of Sameness shows us that whether we see ourselves as high or low status, the result is the same - we are overly concerned with ourselves. He teaches us that generosity is the answer, since it is not possible to truly give without going beyond the self.


Ultimately we realise that spiritual riches can give the endless satisfaction that the material world cannot match. And because his source of riches is unconditioned Enlightenment, he has an infinite source of this positive spiritual energy to bestow upon us. This energy is symbolised by his animal - the horse - a symbol for the subtle energies in the human body which can be tamed, brought under control and refined. This symbolism is embodied in the figure of the windhorse, shown in Buddhist iconography as a messenger, flying through the air carrying the precious Three Jewels on its back.

 

Ratnasambhava's Wisdom helps us to endure our experience of the 'eight worldly winds' with equanimity. He teaches us to treat each of these 'twin imposters' - gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and pain - with a calm impartiality, seeing clearly that to chase after any one will simply lay us open to the other.

Ratnasambhava's super-abundance also extends to art and aesthetics and an encouragement to set aside time to appreciate beauty: that which is enriching but yet cannot be possessed. Since he is associated with the earth element, this appreciation also extends to ecology and environmental concerns - teaching us to enjoy the beauty of our world rather than looking for ways to exploit it.

The jewel that the yellow Buddha holds in his left hand is known as the wish-fulfilling jewel, the cintāmani, the jewel that gives you all you could wish for, which in Buddhism became the symbol for the Bodhicitta - the compassion that impels us to seek Enlightenment not just for ourselves, but for the sake of all beings.

So with Ratnasambhava's help, we can seek to find the real counterpart to this precious jewel, that is Enlightened Compassion. Then finally, we'll feel totally satisfied and, like the yellow Buddha, we shall have no other desire than to share our own limitless spiritual riches with all beings, creating:

'a pure land of harmony and warmth, of mutual love and generosity, a truly healthy human realm, free of pride and conceit.'*  

*From an Invocation to Ratnasambhava by Dharmachari Saccanama 1999 

 

Rosemary goes to San Francisco 

On the topic of her recent and very fruitful trip to San Francisco, Rosemary writes...

It all began with a suggestion from Uddyotani that I might enjoy the CDs of Viveka's talks on the Anapanasati sutta. Unenthusiatically, but obediently, I took them home. What a revelation! I was entranced by both the content and the speaker and it materially enhanced and deepened my meditation practice.
 
Going Forth
About a year later I finally got round to emailing Viveka to express my appreciation and gratitude and, in passing, enquired if she had plans to lead any retreats in the UK. The prompt reply stated that she wasn't planning to do so, but invited me to join a month long Total Immersion retreat led by herself and Tejananda (from Vajraloka) the following year in San Francisco. It sounded like a great opportunity to engage in silent communal practice and get a wider view of the worldwide Triratna community. Having the urge to 'go forth' - i.e step outside my comfort zone - I found myself replying to Viveka's invitation in the affirmative. What had I done?! I am a very inexperienced traveller and somehow it didn't feel as if it would ever really happen, more like a fantasy. However, before I knew it, friends who were more experienced travellers were helping me make arrangements and before I knew it I was setting off. Because I couldn't fly 5000 miles and go straight up a mountain on retreat, I also planned to spend 5 days before and 5 days after the retreat sightseeing in San Francisco.

The Retreat
The theme of the retreat was the 'Gates to Enlightenment' working with the Triratna 5-step system of practice (integration, positive emotion, spiritual death, spiritual rebirth, and receptivity). It was made explicit that the retreat in its entirety was devoted to awakening and retreatants were urged to be mindful that the dharma gates might open at any time, whether during formal sitting, while receiving teachings, or when washing up, wandering along a path, or sitting at the breakfast table. The retreat was based at the Jikoji Zen Retreat Center, null which is about an hour and a half's drive south of San Francisco in the Santa Cruz mountains. It is perched on the side of a valley at 2650ft above sea level in the 2000 acre Long Ridge Open Space Preserve with 12 miles of adjoining trails open to walkers cyclists and horse riders. From the ridge about 500 feet above the centre you could see across the canyon to the sunset over the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles away.

The retreat centre was split into three wooden buildings perched on the slope of the hillside so each had a balcony running round the upper storey which began at ground level and finished 10-215 feet above the ground. Excellent for spotting wildlife and catching a breeze. There were 35 of us which stretched the Center beyond capacity so a number of people camped in the wooded dell beside the dried up creek or on the banks of the small lake.

My first surprise on arrival was the sound of the resident chickens. After settling in and eating our first meal we congregated in the Zendo (shrine room) for an introductory chat from the head of the community. Other than commending our 26 days of silent practice to come, his talk consisted of warnings about Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, rattlesnakes, ticks and mountain lions - apparently the deer are harmless. Also he said the forecast and unexpected June rain would be no more than drifting mist. Three days of cold torrential rain followed!

Bambi, Snakes & the Retreat Environment
I think I can best capture the mood and ethos of the retreat if I quote an announcement from our lovely organiser, Amala. A few days into the retreat we were told: 'Now that the rain has stopped and you will going for hikes on the trails, do remember the snakes are likely to be basking there in the sunshine. They will be cold so not able to move fast so do be careful because they will be ...' - my mind filled in 'aggressive/dangerous' - '... frightened', she concluded. Well, it turned round my whole attitude towards snakes and highlighted the consideration and care for each other and our environment that was the predominant ethos of the whole retreat.

A typical day on the retreat was as follows:

6:00  Rise
6:30  Collective morning puja, meditation
7:20  Open practice (walking meditation, mindful break)
7:35  Collective meditation
8:15  Breakfast
9:00  Break/meditation reviews
10:30 Collective morning teaching/meditation session
12:00 Break
12:15 Optional yoga or open meditation
13:00 Lunch
15:00 Self-care open space or optional Tibetan yoga or open meditation/meditation reviews
16:10 Collective afternoon meditation session
17:45 Break/meditation reviews
18:00 Optional open meditation
18:30 Dinner
19:45 Collective evening practice which may be include puja, meditation, chanting or a walk to the ridge
21:15 Rest

The entire retreat was a complete delight. My avowed expectations were more than met. The teaching was superb and wonderfully connected meditation theory with practice and the Dharma at a level I had never before experienced. We had null the opportunity to practise 'Noble Silence'(no eye contact, no sign language) which I chose for most of the retreat. It was wonderful to see the workings of the wider movement and Triratna Order (the majority of retreatants were Ordained) and I certainly stepped out of my comfort zone both in experiencing and coping with prolonged extreme heat, the journey to and experience of the USA, and being on retreat with people from a different culture - plenty of room for humiliation there.

Although I took all the travelling, staying alone an a hotel, getting myself around SF and not knowing anyone on the retreat in my stride, the one thing which really threw me was the landscape, flora and fauna around the retreat centre. I had always assumed that the landscape and animals in Disney cartoons were imaginary. Wrong! The hills were a most unlikely egg shape and bright yellow with deciduous trees growing higher than conifers - that's not right! The birds were bright blue with black tufts on their heads. The wild flowers were almost recognisable but not quite, and on a walk to the ridge there was a huge turkey - in a tree! The last straw was whilst meditating in the zendo with my eyes open - Bambi and his mother casually walked past the open door. What next, Snow White? Yes, so the unnervingness of that was quite a surprise but it did seem as if the outer spaciousness of my surroundings evoked inner spaciousness.

Another notable feature of the retreat was the great sense of metta that pervaded the atmosphere. I felt among friends and accepted from the moment of my arrival. I also witnessed the close friendship between Viveka (an American-Chinese, vivacious woman) and Tejananda (a quieter, introverted man) and the respect and admiration they had for each other's practice and teaching.

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This sense of metta was also apparent at the time when three private ordinations took place. There was a clear and tender connection between the Order members and ordinanads. It gave a sense of the uniqueness and magic of the Order, which is held together by nothing more than mesh of friendship and commitment to a common spiritual goal. There was also something about a prolonged period of communal practice with other very serious practitioners that gave me more sense of how the bodhicitta arises from communal practice rather than individually. For the first half of the retreat we were joined by a very seriously ill member of the San Francisco sangha and this added its own dimension to the retreat: witnessing the grief and care of her friends and her own stioicism and courage and clarity.

Fruits of Practice
So what were the fruits of this experience? Confidence and clarity in my practice and its interconnection with the Dharma; a deeper understanding of the practices and institutions of the Triratna Buddhist Community and Order; a 'can do' attitude towards future adventures; friendships; self knowledge - useful but not very comfortable!; challenging my deeeply held but erroneous views; deeper commitment to my practice both on and off the cushion; a determination to  maintain a sense of spaciousness, stillness, contentment and simplicity in my life; and gratitude for having had an opportunity to live in the present moment for a prolonged period.

Without doubt I would recommend the retreat to others, it was a truly wonderful and enriching experience. My grateful thanks to all those who enabled me to have the experience of my life as a result of their generous gifts of practical advice, funding, encouragement, equipment, and for taking delight in my adventure.

 

A Glimpse of Solitude

Kathy writes...
 
I recently went on a solitary retreat, taking with me all my personal package that comes from living and working in modern western society.
 
On the evening of my arrival I took myself off for a walk on the edge of the woods overlooking the valley and reservoir below. I was so taken in by the beauty of the landscape and the animals and plants around me. Rows upon rows of fox gloves with the bees buzzing in and out of them, quick glimpses of pheasants with orange, gold and brown feathers glowing in the sun as they scurried quickly away from me, and the sheep with their startling brown eyes staring at me as I passed by.
 
Later on, as I sat down to meditate outside, I took in yet more sounds of bleating sheep, insects buzzing, all sorts of birdsong and identifiable sounds. All this with a soothing feeling of a gentle breeze against my skin. How lucky I felt to be in such a beautiful place and have this precious opportunity to be alone with myself.
 
Over the course of my 10 days on retreat I surprised  myself in all manner of ways. I noticed how quickly I could let go of the spiralling thoughts (papanca) that carry on so much in my everyday life. I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed reading the two dharma books that I had taken with me. I don't see myself as a natural reader and have struggled at times with studying the Dharma. I have recently been studying paticca samuppada (conditionality) in a study group at our centre. I felt I wanted to delve deeper into this subject so I took Dhivan Thomas Jones' book 'This being that becomes' with me. It seemed so much more accessible on this occasion. I have a deeper understanding of conditionality and I've been able to do some reflection from my reading. Sangharakshita once said with regard to a buddhist text that you are drawn to a teaching when you are ready for it. It is as though the teaching is moving towards you at the same time that you are more moving towards it.

Along side Dhivan's book I also read Ratnaguna's 'The Art of Reflection' which I found useful and practical. One of the things I reflected on was why I enjoyed reading on this retreat. I believe simply that I had more mind space to take in what I was reading and perhaps as Sangharakshita suggested I was ready to receive the teaching. I've opened up to the possibility that I can enjoy reading dharma books and I have also had a lot of positive encouragement and gentle pushes from various friends in this direction.

Another surprise to me was that I might find 'the gaps' uncomfortable on this retreat. At home I have a tendency to fill the gaps by keeping busy with some things that I must admit are usually a waste of time! What I did in fact encounter was an appreciation for all the space (in a metaphorical as well as a physical sense) that I had. I was able to be spontaneous and follow my intuition. Although I did similar things each day - meditating, walking, reading, reflecting, art work and nothing - there was no routine with regard to when I did them. I tend to agree with Dhivan Thomas Jones when he says that our individual worlds are so interconnected that we may discover our truest selves only in solitude. This is a difficult thing for me to realise when I see myself as someone who enjoys company and being amounst sangha.

On the last evening I sat down to recite a puja and right in front of me in the vast sky was the most beautiful rainbow. I saw this as an auspicious sign. This retreat has made me realise how important it is for me to go on the 3-month retreat at Akashavana in Spain when I get invited to be ordained and to reflect on how I can make more time and allow myself more freedom and space to become a true individual.

 

Fruits of the Season 

Here's Mandy with some top tips on how to turn an abundance of fruit and veg into many a jar of delicious 'brown stuff'... 

It has been a fantastic summer for growing fruit and veg. Plenty of sunshine, plenty of rain and what's even better, in alternating bursts. And now the preserving season is upon us.

At our house, we're not particularly partial to pickles (try saying that with a mouthful of gherkins). Mr Mandy Sutter had a piccalilli incident at seventeen and hasn't touched the bright yellow cauli, mustard and turmeric combo since. Dad is a mono-condimentalist (HP sauce). Dog MS's attempt to eat a pickled onion caused a sneezing fit that nearly took her head off.  And I haven't eaten Branston since someone put some down the toilet as a 'joke'.

But now we have an allotment and these aversions must be faced down. Gluts must be tackled, and the idea that vegetables can't be kept for longer than a week abandoned. What can't be endured must be cured.

The most popular chutney ingredient has to be the tomato. Although there hasn't been much blight this year (an annoying disease which turns tomatoes from green to rotten leaving out the useful - to us humans - stage in between) we have still ended up with a shed load of green 'uns.

Are you in the same boat? Help is at hand in the shape of this Nigel Slater recipe: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/04/nigel-slater-green-tomato-recipes. I recommend it. It introduces a nice nip of chilli, and puts forth the excellent idea of using a few ripe toms to help the unripe ones along.

We had some red and yellow ones in the garden. Added to the green ones at the null allotment they looked smashing, roiling, boiling and moiling in the pan like traffic light stew.

A shame it had to turn brown in the end. But despite now being the same colour as blighted tomatoes, the chutney tastes lovely, especially with a Bath Oliver and some cave aged Emmental. If you find those ingredients pretentious, as Mr MS does, or if you are a vegan, please substitute a Jacob's cream cracker and a nice thick slice of Cheezly.

Perhaps apples are your glut? Here's a nice recipe for apple chutney from BBC Good Food. We only finished our last jar of it a fortnight ago. Consumption had to be speeded up in August, to release receptacles for the tomatoes and to avert a 'jars of brown stuff everywhere' crisis.

Of course, you can make chutney from just about anything, including your neighbour's neglected plums. Even if they don't like chutney themselves, they might like a few jars to dole out to distant relatives at Xmas. Recipes abound online (a major boon of the Internet imho). And here's another idea for you: http://www.feeding5k.org/gleaning.php

'Gleaning Network UK is an exciting new initiative to save the thousands of tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables that are wasted on UK farms every year.'

Registering with the scheme gives you the chance to pick and share in the surplus produce that local farmers can't use. The Network hasn't reached as far as Yorkshire yet, but there's a hub in Manchester.

You could also just go out and buy your fruit and veg from Tommy Tesco.


However it works out, here's to you enjoying the fruits of the season - and making them last, so that come the depths of winter, you'll have lingering memories of warmer times.

 

Celebrating the Movement at Adhisthana

Last autumn, the Triratna Community bought a substantial property near Hereford and the Malvern Hills, known as Coddington Court (an ex oil-company HQ, and former school).

 

After ten months of incredibly hard work the newest Triratna Centre was opened on the first weekend of August. In fact the community there had arranged a triple ceremony, welcoming local people and others on Friday, the Order on Saturday, and the wider Triratna Buddhist Community sangha on Sunday. Zara, Ann and Jenny travelled down on the Sunday to represent Leeds Buddhist Centre at the formal dedication ceremony.

 

This is Jenny's account of that day...

 

I'd seen the news items and the videos and so I was prepared to see a big site with lots of potential for our movement, but what really surprised me was how a very small team plus volunteers had been able to transform a set of six empty buildings, in just ten months, into what felt like a stylish, contemporary and quite beautiful spiritual centre.

 

adhisthanaSet in beautiful countryside, with its own land around it the new centre has been renamed Adhisthana (meaning 'grace' or 'blessing'). It comprises a 100-seater lecture hall (a swimming pool until a few months earlier), a magnificent shrine room, a large kitchen and dining rooms with a magnificent beamed lounge, several community houses for both men and women, accommodation for our founder Sangharakshita who will spend his final years there, a biomass heating system, a wetlands sewage system with willows and reed beds ('making sewage beautiful and useful' they say) and a nascent library and study centre which will house all of Bhante's books, archives, images, thankas and other artefacts.

 

There is also accommodation for large retreats and already several larger Buddhist Centres are already holding sangha retreats there. Also, to one side, is a farmyard and barn which is to be converted into a huge shrine room which will be big enough to accommodate very large gatherings like the International Retreat. The vision is that Adhisthana will be somewhere where deepening experience of practice and teaching can be shared, ensuring the 'high level of commonality of practice' that a large spiritual community needs.

 

They've made a remarkable start.

 

It was a busy (and wet) day with around 400 people from centres all over the UK   being shown around, listening to talks, meditating, relaxing in the lounge, eating lunch (the queue was 100 feet long!) and socialising. We met lots of friends from around the country  and really enjoyed the beautiful and invigorating atmosphere. The day culminated in a formal dedication of the site in a packed shrine room when Zara and I approached the shrine with an offering of a small Buddha from the Leeds Centre which eventually will join hundreds of other tiny Buddhas in a special display in the large shrine-room-to-be.

 

Being part of a relatively small Buddhist Centre it is easy to lose touch with the size and energy of the Triratna movement. This day really brought home to us what a vibrant and progressive movement we are. Hearing close on 400 voices chanting the Refuges and Precepts at full volume was an experience in itself.There seemed to be real momentum here, deep commitment and a deep sense of the Dharma. Already Adhisthana feels like a very special place indeed. It was a privilege to be part of this special day.

 

Watch this video about the work that has gone into Adhisthana

http://adhisthana.org/video-a-place-of-practice/

 

Watch this video about the opening weekend

http://vimeo.com/71685785#

 

Young Buddhist's Retreat

 

 

Weekly Programme at Leeds Buddhist Centre

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) 
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)

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 ***

 

 

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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