Dear Colchester Sangha and friends, 

I'd like to remind you of a special event we are holding on Sunday October 9th starting at 10:30am until 4:30pm in order to celebrate Dr Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary (14 April) as well as the 60 years since he converted to Buddhism along with 500,000 of his followers (14 October).
 
We will be meditating, chanting (in Indian style) the refuges and precepts, and having an Indian feast for lunch! 
In addition we will watch the following video:
Video - ‘Celebrating Dr B.R. Ambedkar’ featuring Dhammachari Subhuti:
Produced by the India Dhamma Trust, ‘Celebrating Dr B.R. Ambedkar’ is a 15 minute video in which Subhuti offers four main reasons why we might remember and honour this great man; he points out that Dr Ambedkar's vision for the potential of Buddhism to create a pure land is not just for India - it is an important message for Buddhists worldwide. 
We will also be hosting an Indian Order Member who will give a short talk on how the dharma has transformed their life.
It should be a great day so I really encourage you to attend.
We will prepare boiled rice but please bring vegetable curry, dhall, and all hosts of Indian foods to share for a banquet at 1pm. 
Feel free to dress up too. 
Jai Bhim!
Love Amalaketu 
 

26 June 2016 in Castle Park

(meet by the war memorial at 3pm)

Why now?

In 2016, parliament will vote whether to replace and modernise the UK's nuclear weapons system called Trident. It's made up of four submarines – one of which is on patrol at all times - carrying up to 40 nuclear warheads on board. Each of these warheads is eight times more powerful than the atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima.

The government is in favour of replacing Trident at a cost of around £100 billion. This money would be enough to fully fund A&E services for 40 years, employ 150,000 new nurses, build 1.5 million affordable homes, build 30,000 new primary schools, or cover tuition fees for 4 million students.

Why Triratna?

In his talk on Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War Sangharakshita said: “Full-scale nuclear war means fire-storms and `black rain'. It means the destruction of the ecosphere. It means the death of the earth. It means the suicide of humanity.” Because the issue is so serious, he calls on us to act:

“Pressure can also be brought to bear by the persistent lobbying of members of parliament, by the presentation of petitions, by public meetings, marches, and demonstrations, by fasts and solemn vigils - even by `love-ins' and `be-ins'. By these and similar means the government should be left in no doubt as to what the wishes of the electorate really are. If it remains unresponsive to those wishes, or not sufficiently responsive - and the situation is one of extreme urgency, where every day is precious - then more serious measures should be taken and pressure brought to bear on the government by means of mass civil disobedience along Gandhian lines.”

Dear all,

I'm delighted to say that I've just received the paperwork accepting us for a grant to provide the new Colchester Buddhist Centre with a new 4kW solar panel system, which will probably offset our entire electricity use for the coming years. Along with the feed-in-tariff  generated from the panels which will offset our gas bills, we will be almost entirely bill free. This will free up monies for other projects as well as meaning we are truly sustainable. I'm also looking forward to running a solar powered meditation session!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for voting, for sharing, and for promoting the project- which went around the world with almost 600 votes coming from all across the Triratna community.

Many thanks to all concerned and I look forward to seeing them on our new centre!

With metta

Amalaketu

Vote for Colchester Buddhists to get Solar PV on our New Centre

JUST ONE WEEK TO GO! 

The deadline for voting is 30 Sep so please vote for us to get PV!

Colchester Buddhist Centre has been operating for over 15 years in the town centre, offering the people of Colchester the opportunity to find out about and practice Buddhism, meditation, and yoga.

We have now purchased our very own building and wish to make the centre as sustainable as possible, being one of the founding members of the Sustainable Buddhist Centre Scheme. We have been shortlisted through the M&S Energy Scheme and rely on your generosity to vote for us to have solar PV to generate renewable energy.

It takes just a couple of minutes and will be deeply appreciated. Without your vote we will not be able to afford the solar panels, which would costs thousands of pounds and save us even more. Use this code:-

https://www.mandsenergyfund.com/project/28452/

• Wednesday nights - 7.30pm-10.00pm - Newcomers Night Drop In
• Friday afternoons - 1pm-2pm - Lunchtime meditation