Dear Friends

With the end of October approaching and the evenings drawing in, it has been almost a year since Dharmavadana embarked on his feat of reading The White Lotus Sutra over a whole night. He raised the incredible  sum of £2,039 for our wonderful centre.  Following in the footsteps of Dharmavadana’s golden path of inspiration…. the annual Sutrathon is born!

Here we are now, 15 courses, 13 events, 10 retreats and many hours of shared practice in our weekly and monthly classes later. This is an invitation to bear witness to a group of friends who take it on themselves to share the Sutra of Golden Light with you.  It is said that reciting this sutra brings much merit, and in the world where this sutra is heard, all wishes are fulfilled while peace and prosperity endures.  

With this intention in mind, join the stream of golden light recited on the hour and followed by a period of meditation.  Nineteen chapters – nineteen hours, starting on Thursday 28 October at 2 pm and finishing with the transference of merit at 9 am on Friday 29 October.  Join us online for as long as you like, whenever you like – you could even join for the whole 19 hours! 

The event will be live from 2pm on Thursday 28 October.

Please sponsor us generously - donate for each chapter read and meditated upon, perhaps £10 per chapter, £5 per chapter, £1, or any sum you are moved to give.  All proceeds will enable us to continue to run our centre, and create the conditions for people to come together and support each other in our collective practice. Your encouragement will sustain us, along with the words of the king of sutras we will share with you. For donations: https://donorbox.org/west-london-buddhist-centre-sutrathon-2021

Programme: 

Each chapter will be recited on the hour in the context of a ritual, followed by a meditation and there will be a 10 minute leg stretch at the end of the hour.  

2 pm – (1) Introductory Chapter 

3 pm – (2) Chapter on the Measure of Life of the Tathāgata

4 pm – (3) Chapter on Confession

5 pm – (4) Chapter (called) Abundance of Lotuses

6 pm – (5) Chapter on Emptiness

7 pm – (6) Chapter on the Four Great Kings

8 pm – (7) Chapter on Sarasvatī

9 pm – (8) Chapter on Srī

10 pm – (9) Chapter on the Maintenance of the Names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

11 pm – (10) Chapter on Drdhā

12 pm – (11) Chapter on Samjñāya

1 am – (12) Chapter on Instruction concerning Divine Kings

2 am – (13) Chapter on Susambhava

3 am – (14) Chapter on the Refuge of the Yaksas

4 am – (15) Chapter on the Prophecy concerning the Ten Thousand Divine Sons

5 am – (16) Chapter on Healing Illness

6 am – (17) Chapter on Jalavahana

7 am – (18) Chapter on the Tigress

8 am – (19) Chapter on the Praise of all the Tathāgatas

9 am – Transference of Merit 

“By the excellent drum of golden light let the woes in the triple-thousand world be supressed,… And by this resounding of the sound of the drum may all troubles in the world be suppressed, may beings be without fear, free of fear just as great sages are without fear, fearless.” (The Sutra of Golden Light, trans. R. E. Emmerick, p. 9)