THE BUDDHIST CENTRE [LIVE]

Buddhism for everyone
Coming Up

Live Events

EMPTINESS AND COMPASSION: THE DIVINE ABODES

LED BY TEJANANDA WITH FRIENDS

29 MARCH – 4 APRIL 2024

Viveka and Paramananda

The Buddha taught the meditative ‘divine abodes’ (brahamaviharas)– unconditional love, compassion, joy and equanimity – not just as states of calm, but as ways to liberate the mind. The practices enable us to cultivate these qualities and to engage with our afflictive emotions – craving, hatred and ‘ignoring’ – in relation to them. In doing so, we’re already engaging with insightful perspectives. Sooner or later, we’re likely to start glimpsing the uncultivated, unlimited, unconditional nature of these qualities, free from afflictions. We’ll explore these possibilities in the first part of the retreat from a perspective of deep, embodied awareness and in a spirit of openness and curiosity.

This will provide us with an excellent basis for our contemplations of emptiness. Based on the ‘Shorter Discourse on Emptiness’, an early Buddhist text, this approach to emptiness is more direct and experiential than some developed by later Mahayana schools. Starting with our everyday experience, it enables us to ‘experience’ emptiness progressively in relation to our perception of space and consciousness, right up to the liberation of ‘signlessness’. It doesn’t matter how far through this progression we manage to get –  discovering emptiness in relation to our actual experience now would be quite profound enough!

 

Friday March 29 – Thursday April 4

Please note: clocks change in some parts of the world during the course of this retreat. Weekly time changes for different regions are shown on the booking page.

Suggested donation for the whole series:
$175 / £125 / €150 or $35 / £25 / €30 per day

We offer all our Dharma classes and retreats by donation. Please give generously so others who can’t afford to pay can attend more events like this.

Tejananda

Led by Tejananda. He has been teaching and leading retreats for many years at Vajraloka Retreat Centre in Wales, UK, one of Triratna’s earliest and foremost centres of in-depth meditation practice. He also teaches around the world, with a special connection to the Dharma community in and around San Francisco in the USA.

ORIGINS OF TRANSFORMATION | ORÍGENES DE TRANSFORMACIÓN

TRIRATNA DAY 2024 ONLINE | DÍA TRIRATNA EN LÍNEA

April 6 | 6 de abril

Viveka and Paramananda

Content from around the world, hosted live from locations around London!

In 1967 a new Buddhist Movement was set in motion in a basement in Central London when Sangharakshita and friends ritually dedicated the space to the Three Jewels. On Triratna Day we celebrate this occasion and the many lives transformed as the fire ignited that day continues to burn around the world.

This year Triratna Day online is on the actual anniversary of our founding. It’ll be our 57th ‘birthday’ and we’ll be coming to you live from Monmouth Street, the site of the first centre, and other historical sites associated with the early days.

The shape of the day
This year’s online festival will begin with Mahamati and Nagabodhi evoking our origins as they explore treasures from the Foundations exhibition at Urgyen House. Our first Centre in London has grown into a fully fledged Buddhist village – and helped seed a network of other Centres around the globe. We’re all invited to join the London Buddhist Centre’s Saturday morning class for a special International Metta Bhavana. From there we’ll take a tour of businesses and residential communities around the LBC and meet the people who are making them happen. Later in the day we’ll travel to India and hear from our friends there about Dr Ambedkar’s vision for the transformation of society and what this means for Triratna today. And we’ll end festivities crossing between Mexico, the US and England where new kinds of Right Livelihood teams are attracting people to dedicate their working lives to the Dharma.

¡Contenidos de todo el mundo en vivo desde Londres!

En 1967 se puso en marcha un nuevo movimiento budista en un sótano del centro de Londres, cuando Sangharákshita y sus amigos dedicaron ritualmente el espacio a las Tres Joyas. En el Día Triratna celebramos esta ocasión y las muchas vidas transformadas a medida que el fuego encendido ese día continúa encendido hoy en todo el mundo.

Este año, el Día Triratna en línea coincide con el aniversario de nuestra fundación. Será nuestro 57º “cumpleaños” y llegaremos a ti en directo desde Monmouth Street, el emplazamiento del primer centro, y otros lugares históricos relacionados con los primeros días.

El programa del día
El festival en línea de este año comenzará con Mahamati y Nagabodhi evocando nuestros orígenes mientras exploran los tesoros de la exposición Foundations en Urgyen House. Nuestro primer Centro en Londres se ha convertido en un pueblo budista de pleno derecho y ha ayudado a crear una red de otros Centros en todo el mundo. Estamos todos invitados a unirnos a la clase del sábado por la mañana del Centro Budista de Londres para una Metta Bhavana Internacional especial. Desde allí haremos un recorrido por los negocios y comunidades residenciales de los alrededores del LBC y conoceremos a las personas que las están haciendo realidad. Más tarde viajaremos a la India y escucharemos a nuestros amigos de ahi hablar de la visión del Dr. Ambedkar sobre la transformación de la sociedad y lo que esto significa para Triratna hoy en día. Y terminaremos las festividades cruzando entre México, EE.UU. e Inglaterra, donde nuevos tipos de equipos de subsistencia correcta están atrayendo a personas para que dediquen su vida laboral al Dharma.

Content from around the world, hosted live from locations around London!

In 1967 a new Buddhist Movement was set in motion in a basement in Central London when Sangharakshita and friends ritually dedicated the space to the Three Jewels. On Triratna Day we celebrate this occasion and the many lives transformed as the fire ignited that day continues to burn around the world.

This year Triratna Day online is on the actual anniversary of our founding. It’ll be our 57th ‘birthday’ and we’ll be coming to you live from Monmouth Street, the site of the first centre, and other historical sites associated with the early days.

The shape of the day
This year’s online festival will begin with Mahamati and Nagabodhi evoking our origins as they explore treasures from the Foundations exhibition at Urgyen House. Our first Centre in London has grown into a fully fledged Buddhist village – and helped seed a network of other Centres around the globe. We’re all invited to join the London Buddhist Centre’s Saturday morning class for a special International Metta Bhavana. From there we’ll take a tour of businesses and residential communities around the LBC and meet the people who are making them happen. Later in the day we’ll travel to India and hear from our friends there about Dr Ambedkar’s vision for the transformation of society and what this means for Triratna today. And we’ll end festivities crossing between Mexico, the US and England where new kinds of Right Livelihood teams are attracting people to dedicate their working lives to the Dharma.

¡Contenidos de todo el mundo en vivo desde Londres!

En 1967 se puso en marcha un nuevo movimiento budista en un sótano del centro de Londres, cuando Sangharákshita y sus amigos dedicaron ritualmente el espacio a las Tres Joyas. En el Día Triratna celebramos esta ocasión y las muchas vidas transformadas a medida que el fuego encendido ese día continúa encendido hoy en todo el mundo.

Este año, el Día Triratna en línea coincide con el aniversario de nuestra fundación. Será nuestro 57º “cumpleaños” y llegaremos a ti en directo desde Monmouth Street, el emplazamiento del primer centro, y otros lugares históricos relacionados con los primeros días.

El programa del día
El festival en línea de este año comenzará con Mahamati y Nagabodhi evocando nuestros orígenes mientras exploran los tesoros de la exposición Foundations en Urgyen House. Nuestro primer Centro en Londres se ha convertido en un pueblo budista de pleno derecho y ha ayudado a crear una red de otros Centros en todo el mundo. Estamos todos invitados a unirnos a la clase del sábado por la mañana del Centro Budista de Londres para una Metta Bhavana Internacional especial. Desde allí haremos un recorrido por los negocios y comunidades residenciales de los alrededores del LBC y conoceremos a las personas que las están haciendo realidad. Más tarde viajaremos a la India y escucharemos a nuestros amigos de ahi hablar de la visión del Dr. Ambedkar sobre la transformación de la sociedad y lo que esto significa para Triratna hoy en día. Y terminaremos las festividades cruzando entre México, EE.UU. e Inglaterra, donde nuevos tipos de equipos de subsistencia correcta están atrayendo a personas para que dediquen su vida laboral al Dharma.

For many transformation begins with an encounter with the Dharma in its spoken or written form. This year Triratna’s publisher Windhorse Publications is 50 years old and there will be a celebration of their pioneering work creating life-changing Dharma books. We’ll also hear the inspiring story of Dharmachakra whose work in the early days recording and distributing Sangharakshita’s lectures on tape has been transformed online to reach tens of thousands of people every year.

Please join us as we celebrate our origins, witness everyday transformations taking place right now, and glimpse how we can grow together as a sangha in the future.

Para muchos, la transformación comienza con un encuentro con el Dharma en su forma oral o escrita. Este año, Windhorse Publications, la casa editorial de Triratna, cumple 50 años y se celebrará su labor pionera en la creación de libros de Dharma que cambian vidas. También escucharemos la inspiradora historia de Dharmachakra, cuyo trabajo en los primeros días grabando y distribuyendo las conferencias de Sangharákshita en cinta se ha transformado para llegar a decenas de miles de personas cada año en línea.

Únete a nosotros para celebrar nuestros orígenes, ser testigo de las transformaciones cotidianas que están teniendo lugar ahora mismo y vislumbrar cómo podemos crecer juntos como Sangha en el futuro.

For many transformation begins with an encounter with the Dharma in its spoken or written form. This year Triratna’s publisher Windhorse Publications is 50 years old and there will be a celebration of their pioneering work creating life-changing Dharma books. We’ll also hear the inspiring story of Dharmachakra whose work in the early days recording and distributing Sangharakshita’s lectures on tape has been transformed online to reach tens of thousands of people every year.

Please join us as we celebrate our origins, witness everyday transformations taking place right now, and glimpse how we can grow together as a sangha in the future.

Para muchos, la transformación comienza con un encuentro con el Dharma en su forma oral o escrita. Este año, Windhorse Publications, la casa editorial de Triratna, cumple 50 años y se celebrará su labor pionera en la creación de libros de Dharma que cambian vidas. También escucharemos la inspiradora historia de Dharmachakra, cuyo trabajo en los primeros días grabando y distribuyendo las conferencias de Sangharákshita en cinta se ha transformado para llegar a decenas de miles de personas cada año en línea.

Únete a nosotros para celebrar nuestros orígenes, ser testigo de las transformaciones cotidianas que están teniendo lugar ahora mismo y vislumbrar cómo podemos crecer juntos como Sangha en el futuro.

Tejananda

A KOAN FOR OUR TIMES

WITH MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE OF PUBLIC PRECEPTORS

APRIL – OCTOBER 2024

Viveka and Paramananda

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.

Tejananda

Saturday April 6: Generosity (Dana) with Nagaketu (within Triratna Day)
USA PST 08:00 | Mexico 09:00 | USA EST 11:00 | IE & UK 16:00 | Europe 17:00 CET | India 20:30 | Australia AEST 02:00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 03:00 (next day)

Saturday May 4: Ethics (Sila) with Vajratara
USA PST 02:00 | Mexico 03:00 | USA EST 05:00 | IE & UK 10:00 | Europe 11:00 CET | India 14:30 | Australia AEST 19:00 | New Zealand NZST 21:00

Saturday June 22: Forbearance (Ksanti) with Jnanavaca
USA PST 02:00 | Mexico 03:00 | USA EST 05:00 | IE & UK 10:00 | Europe 11:00 CET | India 14:30 | Australia AEST 19:00 | New Zealand NZST 21:00

Saturday July 13: Energy (Virya) with Parami
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
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)
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 THREE BODIES OF BELONGING

A HOME RETREAT WITH BALAJIT, SINGHASHRI AND VIVEKA

OCTOBER 25 – 31, 2024

Viveka and Paramananda

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:

  • Nirmanakaya: coming home to presence within this body, this world

  • Sambhogakaya: befriending the dynamic flow of feeling and energy, and the relational dimension of being

  • 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:

  • Respect and appreciation of core human needs – belonging, safety and dignity

  • Holding of the tension between our ideals and our current (often messy) experience

  • Healing the illusion of separation and the habits of dualism

  • 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

Viveka and Paramananda

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.

We offer all our classes by donation. Please give generously so others who can’t afford to pay can attend more events like this.

Suggested donation for the whole retreat:
£175 / $220 / €205
or drop in for £30 / $38 / €35 per day.

Daily Meditation

Viveka and Paramananda

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): 00:30
México: 01:30
USA (EST): 03:30
IE & UK 07:30

Europe (CET) 08:30
India 13:00
Australia AEDT 18:30
New Zealand NZDT 20:30

Second sit (45 mins):

USA (PST) 06:00
México: 07:00
USA (EST) 09:00
IE & UK 13:00
Europe (CET) 14:00
India 18:30
Australia AEDT 0:00 (next day)
New Zealand NZDT 02:00 (next day)

Donations