Retreats

Spring Sangha Retreat

'Joyous in the Clear Light'

Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd March

The Spring Sangha Weekend is open to everyone with a meditation practice and - as those who have attended before will know - it is a great way to make friends and renew old friendships in a peaceful and inspiring setting. If you haven't been on retreat before then this is the perfect way to begin.

This retreat will explore the songs and teachings of the 12thc Tibetan yogi Milarepa. Led by Samanartha and Uddyotani.

Cost £85/£45 (concs). Bookings can be made by signing up on the noticeboard or emailing enquiries@leedsbuddhistcentre.org

Sangha Summer Weekend at Adhisthana

Join the Leeds Sangha members who are going to the BIG Triratna International Retreat 

Friday 23rd May to Tuesday 27th May (Bank Holiday)

 

The International Retreat happens every two years. It's a wonderful long weekend when sangha members from all over the world come together to practice. It's open to everyone (including kids) and is full of great fun, deep practice, and lovely food.

We're hoping that loads of people from Leeds will join us there and enjoy being part of the wider movement that is Triratna. 

 

Wouldn't it be great if there was a whole crowd of us joining in with the hundreds of people from our wider community - meditating, puja-ing, workshopping, listening to talks and storytelling, eating great meals (cooked by the Buddhafield Team)  - and generally having great fun!

We're hoping that someone will be organising transport or car sharing soon, but in the meantime, if you think you might go, please drop a line to Samanartha: samanartha@hotmail.co.uk

 

You will find details of the retreat and booking info here: http://www.triratnainternationalretreat.org/

 

 

Finally just to add: A few of us went in 2011 and found it very very inspiring - there was an amazing feeling of movement-wide sangha and we all thoroughly enjoyed it (in spite of the rain!). If anyone one wants to know how enjoyable this retreat/festival is then you only need to have a chat with one of us: Billy, Colin, Jan, Jonathan, Kathy, Khemasara, or Jenny.

Other Events

Jumble Sale with STYLE!

worth the effort!

This year's Jumble Sale is fast approaching and WE NEED YOU to lend a helping hand. Please contact David Turner (david@wonderworld.co.uk) or sign up on the sheet at the Buddhist Centre if you can volunteer as a...

Sorter- Do you have an eye for style? Can you spot a gem amongst the usual bric-a-brac that might fetch a good price? If so, please volunteer to help sort and price up the jumble between now and 15th of March. 

Leafleteer - Do you like to stretch your legs in the name of a good cause? Can you spare some time to deliver leaflets in the Chapel Allerton prior to the big day?

Seller - Do you delight in quality customer service and the odd bit of bartering? As many volunteers as possible are needed to sell stuff on the day itself.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, we need JUMBLE, loads of it!

Please bring it to the centre as soon as possible, or contact David who will organise a collection.

Parinibbana

The Last Days of the Buddha

Jenny Roberts writes about the story of the Buddha's passing as told in the Maha Parinibbana Sutta of the Pali Canon.

The fifteenth of February was Parinirvana Day, an important festival when Buddhists everywhere celebrate the death of the Buddha. And to mark the occasion there were special pujas all over the Triratna worldwide sangha - including at Leeds (and at Tiratanaloka where I happened to be at the time.)

This isn't, as some might assume, a time for sadness. On the contrary it is a day of great celebration, for it marks the occasion when the Buddha's Enlightenment found its full fruition. According to Vishvapani, who wrote Gautama Buddha, Parinirvana means complete or final Enlightenment  or, perhaps better, Final Nirvana.

Yet grief was present at the time, particularly among his Sangha, for whom it was the greatest experience in their history. And in some ways, to hear the story of the Buddha's last days, is also to remember Ananda, his faithful attendant who memorised all of his teachings. The two men had shared their lives for twenty-five years and would have understood each other instinctively. And here, in this sutta, without intending it, Ananda with his constant queries, worries, and amazements, becomes a central figure beside the Buddha himself

According to the Maha Parinibbana Sutta, Sakyamuni was eighty years old when he became ill and announced that his Parinibbana would occur in just three months. It was a time of political unrest, with the very real prospect of war, when the Buddha set off on a final journey across Northern India.

"Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports."

When Ananda asked if he had any last instructions regarding the Sangha, the Buddha replied:

"...Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge."

At one point Ananda, full of sorrow at his impending death, appeals to the Buddha, asking him to remain until the end of the world-period. But the Buddha refuses, saying that he had hinted several times previously, that he could stay if asked but that Ananda had not responded. Now it was too late.

"...Ananda, have I not taught from the very beginning that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change, separation, and severance? Of that which is born, come into being, is compounded and subject to decay, how can one say: 'May it not come to dissolution!' There can be no such state of things. And of that, Ananda, which the Tathagata has finished with, that which he has relinquished, given up, abandoned, and rejected - his will to live on - the Tathagata's word has been spoken once for all: 'Before long the Parinibbana of the Tathagata will come about' "

The Buddha had already taught all that was necessary for the attainment of Enlightenment so on this final journey his concern was to reiterate the teachings and impress on his followers the necessity of putting them  into practice. And, hearing that the Buddha was making his final round of visits, disciples flocked to him in great numbers.

It was cooler after the rains and the Buddha was in no hurry, walking a few miles each day, going from village to village, explaining the nature of the path and the necessity for sincere effort. After nearly three months, the sutta tells us, the Buddha reached a place called Pava and stayed in the Mango Grove of Cunda, the metalworker, with a large community of bhikkhus. Cunda spoke to the Buddha and invited him to his house for a meal.

The Buddha agreed and went to Cunda's house the following day. he told his host that he alone would eat the sukara-maddava that Cunda had prepared but that the bhikkhus should eat only the other dishes. After the meal, the Buddha instructed Cunda to bury what was left of his meal, so that no one else would eat it.

"When he had eaten Cunda's food, I heard,

With fortitude the deadly pains he bore.

From the sukara-maddava a sore

And dreadful sickness came upon the Lord.

But nature's pangs he endured. 'Come, let us go

To Kusinara,' was his dauntless word."

As he walked he told Ananda that no one should blame Cunda for his death. "By his deed the worthy Cunda has accumulated merit which makes for long life, beauty, well being, glory, heavenly rebirth, and sovereignty. Thus, Ananda, the remorse of Cunda the metalworker should be dispelled."

The Buddha and his bhikkhus eventually came to a grove of sal trees in Kusinara and Sakyamuni asked Ananda to prepare a couch between two trees, with its head to the north and the Buddha laid down on his right side, one foot upon the other, with his head supported by his right hand.

"At that time the twin sala trees broke out in full bloom, though it was not the season of flowering. And the blossoms rained upon the body of the Tathagata and dropped and scattered and were strewn upon it in worship of the Tathagata. And celestial mandarava flowers and heavenly sandalwood powder from the sky rained down upon the body of the Tathagata, and dropped and scattered and were strewn upon it in worship of the Tathagata. And the sound of heavenly voices and heavenly instruments made music in the air out of reverence for the Tathagata."

The Buddha was now clothed (as was Ananda) in the golden-hued robes presented to him by a follower of Alara Kalama, one of his teachers from before his Enlightenment. The sutta records that Ananda had been  surprised that these beautiful, bright golden robes seemed to fade in comparison with the radiant skin of the Buddha. The Buddha had replied that there were only two occasions when the Tathagata's skin was so clear: at the time of Enlightenment and at the time of the final passing away.

At one point Ananda left the grove. he leant against a door post and wept, "Alas! I remain still but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to pass away from me - he who is so kind!"

The Buddha sent for him and rebuked him: "Enough now, Ananda! Do not sorrow and cry. Have I not already repeatedly told you that there is separation and parting from all that is dear and beloved? How is it possible that anything that has been born, has had a beginning, should not again die? Such a thing is not possible.

"Ananda, you have served me with your acts of loving-kindness, helpfully, gladly, sincerely... You have gained merit, Ananda. In a very short time you too will become an arahant."

Then the Buddha goes on to praise Ananda's qualities to the gathering, saying that in him are to be found the four rare superlative qualities of a universal monarch. Then he dispatches Ananda to Kusinara and asks him to let the town's people know that the Parinibbana will take place in the last watch of that night.

So it was that all the people of Kusinara, men, women and children came to the grove to bid a last farewell to the Buddha. Family by family, they bowed low down before him and bade him farewell. A wandering ascetic called Subhadda sought an audience with the Buddha and became his last convert and was admitted to the Order.

The vast gathering in that grove included the mythic as well as the worldly. At one point the Buddha asked an attendant to step aside as, he said, the sky was filled for miles around with a gathering of "most of the gods of the ten world systems (who have) assembled here to see the Tatagata." Some of them apparently were muttering that they couldn't see properly.

Now the Blessed One spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying: "It may be, Ananda, that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Master; we have a Master no longer.' But it should not, Ananda, be so considered. For that which I have proclaimed and made known as the Dhamma and the Discipline, that shall be your Master when I am gone."

Then the Buddha asked three times whether the assembled disciples had any questions regarding himself, the Dharma or the Sangha; the path or the practice, and each time they remained silent.

Then the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Buddha. Following this he entered into deep meditation, after which he passed away.

"And when the Blessed One had passed away, simultaneously with his Parinibbana there came a tremendous earthquake, dreadful and astounding, and the thunders rolled across the heavens."

"And when the Blessed One had passed away the Venerable Anuruddha spoke this stanza:

No movement of the breath, but with steadfast heart,

Free from desires and tranquil  -  so the sage

Comes to his end. By mortal pangs unshaken,

His mind, like a flame extinguished, finds release.

"Then, when the Blessed One had passed away, some bhikkhus, not yet freed from passion, lifted up their arms and wept; and some, flinging themselves on the ground, rolled from side to side and wept, lamenting: 'Too soon has the Blessed One come to his Parinibbana! Too soon has the Happy One come to his Parinibbana! Too soon has the Eye of the World vanished from sight!'

"But the bhikkhus who were freed from passion, mindful and clearly comprehending, reflected in this way: 'Impermanent are all compounded things. How could this be otherwise?' "

So, around 2,500 years after that event, on a night in February, we remember that scene in the Sal Grove near Kusinara, light candles, read verses and make offerings.

Om muni muni,

maha muni,

Sakyamuni,

Svaha

Poet's Corner

When a Friend Dies

Mandy writes: Thinking about the Buddha's death, I'm drawn to thinking about Ananda, the Buddha's great friend, and how he - and the Buddha's other disciples - must have felt losing his friend and mentor.

This poem, by the American poet and novelist Stephen Dobyns (b.1941) really hits the spot for me. His lament for his friend, despite focussing on loss and confusion and asking repeatedly one of our most pressing questions about death - where do people go when they die? - is somehow uplifting and stand as a celebration of the friendship and of his friend's life.

Maybe that's because Dobyns refuses to be consoled by easy answers and allows the pain of loss just to sit in the poem. For me, this rawness conveys the depth of his feeling and reminds me of how greatly we affect one another and of how deeply we are all connected.

When a Friend (for Ellis Settle, 1924-93)

When a friend dies, part

of oneself splits off

and spins into the outer dark.

No use calling it back.

No use saying I miss you.

Part of one's body has been riven.

One recollects gestures,

mostly trivial. The way

he pinched a cigarette,

the way he crouched on a chair.

Now he is less than a living flea.

Where has he gone, this person

whom I loved? He is vapour now;

he is nothing. I remember

talking to him about the world.

What a rich place it became

within our vocabulary. I did not

love it half so much until

he spoke of it, until it was sifted

through the adjectives of our discussion.

And now my friend is dead.

His warm hand has been reversed.

His movements across a room

have been erased. How I wish

he was someplace specific. He

is nowhere. He is absence.

When he spoke of the things

he loved - books, music, pictures,

the articulation of idea -

his body shook as if a wire

within him suddenly surged.

In passion, he filled the room.

Where has he gone, this friend

whom I loved? The way he shaved,

the way he cut his hair, even

the way he squinted when he talked,

when he embraced idea, held it -

all vanished. He has been reduced

to memory. The books he loved,

I see them on my shelves. The words

he spoke still group around me. But

this is the chaff. This is the container

now that heart has been scraped out.

He is defunct now. His body is less

than cinders; less than a sentence

after being whispered. He is the zero

from which a man has vanished. He

was the smartest, most vibrant,

like a match suddenly struck, flaring;

now he is sweepings in a roadway.

Where is he gone? He is nowhere.

My friends, I knew a wonderful man,

these words approximate him,

as chips of stone approximate

a tower, as wind approximates a song.

Food Glorious Food

Being vegetarian or vegan - and encouraging others to be so - is always easier if you have some delicious recipes under your belt.  We're starting a monthly

recipe column here, and would be delighted to hear from you with your favourite veggie or vegan recipes. Sending in a recipe is a powerful yet relatively painless way to contribute to the newsletter and the sangha beyond, supporting as it does all our efforts to live without inflicting cruelty. Not to mention the fact that we'll all get some new inspiration about what to do in the kitchen! Email mandy.sutter@virgin.net with your favourites. You can say a little bit about why you like the recipe - or just send it in as it is.

 

Shorvedar chukander

(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients

¾ lb (350g) raw beetroot

4 tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

4 oz (110g) onion, peeled and chopped

1 tsp plain flour

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ lb (225g) tomatoes, peeled and chopped (you could also use tinned ones)

1 tsp salt

½ pt water (or a bit less if you use tinned toms)

Method

Peel the beetroot and cut them into wedges. Heat the oil over a medium flame. When hot, put in the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. Add the garlic, stir and fry until golden. Add the onions. Stir and fry for a few minutes. Add the flour and cayenne. Stir and fry for a minute. Add the beetroot, the tomatoes, the salt and water, bring to a simmer then turn the heat to low and simmer until the beetroot are tender (45 mins approx). If you need to thicken the sauce, remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium and cook uncovered for ten minutes or so. It makes a great side dish to serve with any pulse-based curry and rice.

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