Live Events
A KOAN FOR OUR TIMES
WITH MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE OF PUBLIC PRECEPTORS
APRIL – OCTOBER 2024
![Banner 4 Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/06/Banner-4-scaled.jpg)
What does a Buddhist Order have to offer the world in times of conflict, violence and environmental destruction? How is the creation of spiritual community relevant to wider society? What would a genuine, adequate and radical response to the cries of the world look like? How do we ground a burning aspiration for liberation from suffering in a tangible path of practice?
The Buddha’s teachings have both profound and pragmatic implications for living our life, addressing the root causes of suffering and calling for a transformation of self as a way to a corresponding transformation of world.
Through exploring the practice of the six paramitas, or transcendental virtues, we will approach this sublime and challenging ideal of the Bodhisattva, who is dedicated to awakening for all beings, in a series of talks from a line-up of experienced practitioners within our tradition.
Though the many beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Though greed, hatred and ignorance rise endlessly, I vow to cut them off.
Though the Dharma is vast and fathomless, I vow to understand it.
Though the Buddha’s way is beyond attainment, I vow to embody it fully.
![Speakers 400 Tejananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/03/Speakers-400.jpg)
There are no tickets for this event. We’ll share Zoom links for each event here on the day!
Generosity (Dana) with Nagaketu (Part of Triratna Day)
Ethics (Sila) with Vajratara
Forbearance (Ksanti) with Jnanavaca
🖥️ Watch the talk
Saturday July 13: Energy (Virya) with Parami
(90 mins) USA PST 12:00 | Mexico 13:00 | USA EST 15:00 | IE & UK 20:00 | Europe 21:00 CET | India 00:30 (next day) | Australia AEST 05:00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 07:00 (next day)
Friday August 2: Meditation (Samadhi) with Amala
(90 mins) USA PST 12:00 | Mexico 13:00 | USA EST 15:00 | IE & UK 20:00 | Europe 21:00 CET | India 00:30 (next day) | Australia AEST 05:00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 07:00 (next day)
Saturday October 19: Wisdom (Prajna) with Mahamati (time to be confirmed)
(90 mins) USA PST 02:00 | Mexico 03:00 | USA EST 05:00 | IE & UK 10:00 | Europe 11:00 CET | India 14:30 | Australia AEDT 20:00 | New Zealand NZDT 22:00
THE PROMISE OF A SACRED WORLD: SHINRAN’S TEACHING OF OTHER POWER
WITH NAGAPRIYA AND FRIENDS
17 – 21 AUGUST 2024
![The Promise of a Sacred World (Phone) Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/06/The-Promise-of-a-Sacred-World-Eventbrite.jpg)
Explore with Nagapriya and friends the cosmic story of the Buddha Amitabha (Amida) and the creation of his Pure Land
The light of compassion that grasps us illumines and protects us always,
And the darkness of our ignorance is already broken through;
Still the clouds and mists of greed, desire, anger, and hatred
Cover as always the sky of true and real shinjin.Shinran
The mythic story of the cosmic Buddha Amitabha (Amida) and the creation of his Pure Land is the backdrop to one of the most popular and enduring of the late Buddhist traditions. In this Home Retreat with Nagapriya we will be exploring how meditating and practising the Dharma within this rich world of images and ideas can be personally transformative, bringing Amida to life with a deep wonder, gratitude, and openness.
We’ll be practising around key themes from Nagapriya’s book ‘The Promise of a Sacred World.’ In particular, we will evoke the idea of ‘Other Power’, as understood by the Japanese master Shinran, engaging with how this relates to self-directed effort on the Buddhist path – and how it connects with the Triratna Buddhist Community’s vision of practice.
The Pure Land is life itself understood as a field of perpetual going for refuge, in which awakening is ‘given’ not ‘achieved’. And Amida can be experienced as the sacred world breaking in on our awareness or irrupting within us. Using meditation, ritual, imagery, and reflection, we will immerse ourselves in this profound myth of liberation and the opportunities it opens up to us in any moment.
Saturday August 17 – Wednesday August 21, 2024
First session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 02:00 | México 03:00 | USA EST 05:00 | IE & UK 10:00 | Europe CET 11:00 | India 14:30 | Australia AEST 19.00 | New Zealand NZST 21.00
Second session (2 hrs): USA PST 06:30 | México 07:30 | USA EST 09:30 | IE & UK 14:30 | Europe CET 15:30 | India 19:00 | Australia AEDT 23.30 | New Zealand NSZT 01:30 (next day)
Third session (2 hrs): USA PST 11:00 | México 12:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 | Europe CET 20:00 | India 23:30 | Australia AEDT 04.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST: 06.00 (next day)
![Nagapriya 400 Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/06/Nagapriya-400.jpg)
Nagapriya was born in the UK in 1969. While studying for a philosophy degree in Leeds, he began practising with the Triratna Buddhist Community and was ordained in 1992. He later studied for a master’s in the history of religions at the University of Manchester.
In 2013 he moved to Mexico and helped found the Centro Budista de Cuernavaca. He is also co-founder and director of Editorial Dharmamegha, a small publishing venture dedicated to sharing Buddhist teachings in the Spanish-speaking world. In addition, he works as part of a team training men from Latin America for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. Since 2019 he has been a member of Triratna’s College of Public Preceptors.
Nagapriya lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he is chair of the Cuernavaca Buddhist Centre.
THE HEART OF IMAGINATION
CONNECTING TO CREATIVITY AND THE IMAGINATION THROUGH ART, MINDFULNESS AND NATURE
WITH VISHVAPANI AND AMITAJYOTI
13 – 19 SEPTEMBER 2024
![Golden Earth Light Phone Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/04/Golden-Earth-Light-Eventbrite-2.jpg)
A home retreat to inspire and enrich your imagination
The mind, freed from the pressure of the will, is unfolded in symbols
W.B. Yeats
Following last year’s successful Mindfulness and Imagination retreat, The Heart of Imagination offers a week of meditation and creative practice, drawing inspiration from poetry, art, nature and Buddhist symbols.
The focus of the retreat will be on cultivating awareness as a gateway into more expanded and enriched states of mind. We will reflect on what the imagination is, what it means to us individually and what it can serve in our lives. There will be an emphasis on meditation and mindfulness with periods of creative exploration – drawing and writing. You’ll receive a rich body of resources to stimulate your imagination and help you access images/themes of significance to you. We will also explore the transformative power of the imagination to enrich our lives and open our mind to new ways of seeing and being.
To deepen our understanding of the transformative power of the imagination we’ll draw on a body of teachings called the ‘System of Spiritual Practice’ that outlines a naturally unfolding process, as awareness deepens through dedicated practice. This can help us to navigate our unique way, with more confidence and freedom. We’ll explore:
- Integration, meaning embodied awareness
- Positive emotion: an open, loving and empathic heart
- Spiritual Death: releasing limiting attitudes, and finding a more authentic way of being
- Spiritual Rebirth: the realm of imagination that brings an expanded experience of ourselves and opening to a sense of mystery
- Spiritual Receptivity: resting in the freedom of open, spacious awareness and creative flow
These are doorways to a more creative experience that we can access whatever our circumstances.
Enlightenment is the state of irreversible creativity
Urgyen Sangharakshita
Friday September 13 – Thursday September 19, 2024
First daily session (2 hrs): USA PDT 2:00 am | México CST 3:00 am | USA EDT 5:00 am | IE & UK BST 10:00 am | Europe CEST 11:00 am | India IST 2:30 pm | Australia AEST 7:00 pm | New Zealand NZST 9:00 pm
Second daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PDT 7:30 am | México CST 8:30 am | USA EDT 10:30 am | IE & UK BST 3:30 pm | Europe CEST 4:30 pm | India IST 8:00 pm | Australia AEST 12:30 am (next day) | New Zealand NZST 2:30 am (next day)
Third daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PDT 11:30 am | México CST 12:30 pm | USA EDT 2:30 pm | IE & UK BST 7:30 pm | Europe CEST 8:30 pm | India IST 12:00 midnight | Australia AEST 4:30 am (next day) | New Zealand NZST 6:30 am (next day)
![Vishvapani and Amitajyoti Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/04/Vishvapani-and-Amitajyoti.jpg)
Vishvapani is a writer, broadcaster and mindfulness teacher based in Cardiff with over four decades’ years experience of Buddhist practice.As a writer, he’s best known for Gautama Buddha: the Life and Teachings of the Awakened One and as the Buddhist contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. He’s a prominent figure in the UK’s mindfulness world and has taught over 150 mindfulness courses.
He loves to explore poetry, myth and imagination, along with Buddhism, in his writing, teaching and practice.
www.vishvapani.org
www.mindfulnessinaction.co.uk
Amitajyoti is a full-time artist, tutor and freelance teacher/trainer living and working in London. She received BA (Hons) Fine Art in 1998, and in 2003 studied drawing, to MA level, at the Royal Drawing School. Her work is held in private collections across the UK, Europe and America.
THE THREE BODIES OF BELONGING
A HOME RETREAT WITH BALAJIT, SINGHASHRI AND VIVEKA
OCTOBER 25 – 31, 2024
![Three Bodies of Belonging Phone Banner Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2024/02/Three-Bodies-Eventbrite-1.jpg)
An embodied opportunity to explore meditation in community
Following on from last year’s successful Home Retreat ‘Forces for Good: Challenging Emotions as Portals to Liberation’, our friends Balajit, Singhashri and Viveka are back and joining forces again to offer another wonderful embodied opportunity to explore our system of meditation in depth and in community.
This year we’re all invited to draw inspiration from the Mahayana Trikaya (“three body”) teaching that points to who we actually are via three simultaneous dimensions of reality:
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Nirmanakaya: coming home to presence within this body, this world
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Sambhogakaya: befriending the dynamic flow of feeling and energy, and the relational dimension of being
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Dharmakaya: opening to the luminous, boundless dimension of awakened being
We will delve into poetic themes of “coming home” and “belonging” as an emotionally engaging and relational approach to insight that allows:
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Respect and appreciation of core human needs – belonging, safety and dignity
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Holding of the tension between our ideals and our current (often messy) experience
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Healing the illusion of separation and the habits of dualism
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Learning to feel sensations of belonging at the levels of self, community, place, world
and to express compassionately responsive activity -
Deepening of mindfulness and metta as practices capable of helping us see the true nature of reality
This retreat will include meditation, movement (somatics), music, chanting and ritual, exercises and discussions, teacher input and practice reviews.
If friendship in community is the whole of the spiritual life, here’s your chance to go deeper in your own practice in the supportive company of others.
“The Dharmakaya is… the embodiment, or the perfection of mind. Mind meaning here the deepest part of oneself, because it is with that deepest part of oneself…that one realises the ultimate. So Dharmakaya corresponds to mind, what in us is mind, in a Buddha is Dharmakaya.
In the same way Sambhogakaya corresponds to speech, what, in us is speech or communication, or communication principle, in a Buddha is Sambhogakaya. So in his Sambhogakaya form, in his ideal form, his archetypal form, he communicates with others on the same spiritual level, communicates with other Buddhas and with highly advanced Bodhisattvas.
And then Nirmanakaya corresponds with – it literally means ‘body of transformation’ – …what is Nirmanakaya in a Buddha in us is physical body. Our physical body determines where we are. The fact that we have a physical body means that we exist at a certain point in space and a certain point in time…”
Sangharakshita, Seminar on the Songs of Milarepa
Friday October 25 – Thursday October 31, 2024
The retreat will start at the time of the second session on October 25. This is to allow the full team to begin the retreat together. All other days will feature three sessions at the times shown on the booking page.
N.B. This retreat is for peole with at least six months’ meditation experience. Please get in touch if you have any questioins about attending: support@thebuddhistcentre.com
![Balajit, Singhashri, Viveka 3 Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2023/02/Balajit-Singhashri-Viveka-3.jpg)
Balajit
Balajit (he/him) has been leading retreats and events across the UK for around 15 years. For several years he lived and worked at Vajraloka Retreat Centre in North Wales.
He is currently based in Birmingham, where he mixes Buddhist teaching responsibilities with work as a trauma therapist. He has studied the newly emerging psycho-biological approaches to trauma work- and is qualified in Somatic Experiencing, NARM therapy and SHEN Therapy.
In the past few years, Balajit has been exploring correspondences between these emerging approaches and the canonical Dharma, as aids to becoming more embodied and the arising of the bodhicitta.
Singhashri
Singhashri (she/her or they/them) is a queer, Latinx-American dharma teacher and writer. They teach mindfulness and compassion as means to awakening to love, beauty and truth and have committed their life to supporting collective liberation for all and the joy and freedom found there. They teach at various retreat and urban centres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and support a number of projects aimed at creating greater diversity and inclusion within Buddhist sanghas and the secular mindfulness field. They currently live in London with their partner.
Viveka
Viveka (she/they) has worked for social, racial, economic, environmental and gender justice and civil rights for 30 years as a consultant, facilitator, trainer, coach and somatic coach. She specializes in guiding leaders and organizations through transformational processes: race equity and liberation culture change and strategy, team building and coaching, vision and strategy, leading innovation and change and working with conflict, leadership transition, and alliance building.
Viveka was chair of the San Francisco Buddhist Center for 15 years, until 2015. She still serves on the board, and leads meditation and Dharma retreats in the Bay Area and around the world.
Daily Meditation
![Meditate Online Viveka and Paramananda](https://thebuddhistcentre.com/stories/toolkit/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2023/08/Meditate-Online.jpg)
We offer two open meditation spaces Monday to Saturday every week.
Please be aware that there will be seasonal time changes for the US, India and Oceania in spring and autumn/fall.
First sit (45 mins):
USA (PST): 23:30 (previous day)
México: 00:30
USA (EST): 02:30
IE & UK: 07:30
Europe (CET): 08:30
India: 12:00
Australia (AEST): 16:30
New Zealand (NZST): 18:30
Second sit (45 mins):
USA (PST): 05:00
México: 06:00
USA (EST): 08:00
IE & UK: 13:00
Europe (CET): 14:00
India: 17:30
Australia (AEST): 22:00
New Zealand (NZST): 00:00 (next day)
Donations