Bristol Buddhist Centre
Bristol Buddhist Centre

Verses invoking the Jinas to purify the poisons

By jvalamalini on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 22:59

Verses invoking the Jinas to purify the poisons

By jvalamalini on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 22:59OM AKSOBHYA HUM
By the power of your Samaya
Deliver us from the hells
By purifying the demons of hatred and aversion
And transforming them into the Mirrorlike Wisdom
The deep blue, imperturbable Buddha Aksobhya

OM RATNASAMBHAVA HUM
By the power of your Samaya
Deliver us from the human realm
By purifying the demons of pride and conceit
And transforming them into the Wisdom of Equality
The golden yellow, jewel born, Buddha Ratnasambhava
...
Bristol Buddhist Centre
Bristol Buddhist Centre

We're under way!

By jvalamalini on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 22:47

We're under way!

By jvalamalini on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 22:47This afternoon the spaces in Bristol Buddhist Centre were transformed - what used to be a shop at the front of the building is now a food preparation and dining room, and the shrine room has become a wonderful five Buddha mandala. Kumuda’s wonderful paintings of the Jinas fill the walls and we have a beautiful 5 Buddha shrine in the centre of the room.

As Alyson reminded me as people arrived - this is magic!

It...
Bristol Buddhist Centre
Bristol Buddhist Centre

Some Ways To 'Live In the Mandala' by Ratnavandana

Some Ways To 'Live In the Mandala' by Ratnavandana

By Centre Team on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 21:13

As part of her preparatory notes for the Spring urban retreat on the theme of ‘Living In The Mandala’ and the Brahma Viharas, Ratnavandana has prepared this great set of reflections on ways to stay connected when you’re doing an ‘urban retreat’ of this sort (whether online or at a Buddhist Centre!).

To download, read the document in full screen mode and choose ‘download’ from the sharing options (top left of the navigation panel).

Log...

Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Send Your Mandala Pictures For The Rainy Season Retreat

By Candradasa on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 15:30

Send Your Mandala Pictures For The Rainy Season Retreat

By Candradasa on Fri, 13 Mar, 2015 - 15:30
All this weekend and next week we’ll be bringing teaching and blogs from the Rainy Season Urban Retreat that starts this evening in Bristol, UK. The theme is ‘Living In the Mandala’ and we’ll be exploring the...
Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Monasteries and the Rainy Season Retreat

By Candradasa on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 20:24
Take part in a Rainy Season Retreat with us and Bristol Buddhist Centre from March 13th-20th!

A track from the classic 1971 Dharma talk on ‘The Individual, the Group and the Community’ by Urgyen Sangharakshita, exploring how the Buddha and his early disciples practiced together.

Listen to the rest here | Login and join the Rainy Season Retreat Online

pictures [at] ...
Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Living In The Mandala - Rainy Season Retreat Online!

By Centre Team on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 19:30

Living In The Mandala - Rainy Season Retreat Online!

By Centre Team on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 19:30To mark the arrival of Spring in the northern hemisphere we enjoyed a great, unexpected opportunity to go a bit deeper with our practice together. Bristol Buddhist Centre in the UK took part in a ‘Rainy Season Retreat’ together on the subject of Living In The Mandala - looking at the Brahma Viharas. And they invited everyone to join in online!

View all posts from ‘Living In The...
Bristol Buddhist Centre
Bristol Buddhist Centre

Why is it called a 'Rainy Season Retreat'?

By jvalamalini on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 16:59

Why is it called a 'Rainy Season Retreat'?

By jvalamalini on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 16:59It’s pretty damp in Bristol today, and last year our rainy season retreat happened in a very wet month with flooding over much of the UK. But that isn’t why it’s called a rainy season retreat (though people did joke about us invoking rain gods last year)

We’re actually referring to the times when the Buddha and his followers shetered from the monsoon.

As you know, the Buddha and his followers had a wandering lifestyle. But every...
Bristol Buddhist Centre
Bristol Buddhist Centre

Living in the Mandala - Rainy Season Retreat

By jvalamalini on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 15:29

Living in the Mandala - Rainy Season Retreat

By jvalamalini on Wed, 11 Mar, 2015 - 15:29From 13th - 21st March Bristol Buddhist Centre will host our second Rainy Season Retreat for Order Members and Mitras. This means suspending all regular Centre activities and classes and dedicating the building to providing as close as we can to retreat conditions for the week.

Last year this had a really positive effect on our Sangha, and was clearly part of us Building a Buddhaland together.

This year we’re fortunate to have Ratnavandana leading the retreat. She...
Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Flower mandala

By Candradasa on Mon, 18 Feb, 2013 - 16:20

Flower mandala

By Candradasa on Mon, 18 Feb, 2013 - 16:20
Every day, starting afresh using petals and stamens, young women at the Nagarjuna Institue here at Nagaloka make a flower mandala for us as a beautiful gift for the shrine room. Incredibly generous and very moving. We’ll try and post each day’s as it appears…
Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Suriyavamsa Boo!

By Candradasa on Fri, 24 Aug, 2012 - 18:08
A great wee discussion on religious art in the community with Suriyavamsa, artist and Dharma farer extraordinaire. He’s just back from four months on retreat as part of the team on the men’s ordination retreat for the Triratna Buddhist Order at Guhyaloka Retreat Centre in Spain near Alicante. Lovely to hear his thoughts on beautifully intricate models he made for a sand mandala - including his evocation of the making of pleated palm crosses in ...

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