Over the weekend of 16-18 June over a 100,000 events took place all over the UK in the name of ‘The Great Get Together’ - to mark the anniversary of the murder of Labour member of parliament Jo Cox who was known as a defender of immigration and killed for her beliefs. This quote from her first speech to Parliament summed up what the Great Get Together was about
We are far more united and have far more in common that what divides us
At the West London Buddhist Centre, a small but very engaged group of us spent the day yesterday trying to emulate Tara’s wise and compassionate energy, both internally and externally. After a meditative morning and shared brunch, we spent an hour in the hot afternoon helping pick litter at nearby Meanwhile Gardens, followed by a picnic there. We also observed some bird-families who had taken to urban terraced living: a moorhen nest in a boat, a neighbouring family with 7...
Sorry it’s taken me until now to contribute . All I can say is we have been so busy organising things at the centre I have not had the time to spend on this. But here I am now. We seem to have lots going on in Cardiff for Buddhist Action Month and have plenty more things lined up for the next two weeks. Maybe some of them will so successful they will carry on for the rest of the...
This Sunday, June 18, 10AM - 12:30 PM, we will conclude our May-June topic, What is the Good Life? Seeing Past Materialism, Inequality & the Cult of Fashion. This has been a meditation-focused program exploring the Brahma Viharas - four powerful meditation practices that help us cultivate kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. We will meditate together, as always, and then look at how the efforts and the fruits of meditation really do help us bring key aspects of a good...
At this mid-way time through BAM, I am already reflecting on what a journey it has proven to be and what a rich and profound time it has been connecting with others. I have been well aware of the plight of ‘boat people’ fleeing persecution in their homelands and trying to make their way to safety in Australia - only to be held in detention here and treated like criminals - but for the first time today I met with someone who has endured these experiences and...
Nearly everyone assumes that I would know how to ride a bike. I probably would, if I had grown up with bikes, but I have never had one - although I must admit as I child I did want a bike and I did want to learn how to ride one. However, as an adult it has never been an essential and I have been perfectly happy to walk whenever I can. Even after I got my first car...
Its a common misconception that eggs are central when baking cakes, and that vegan cakes are dry and tasteless. But this isn’t true! You can make delicious cakes that are totally vegan without compromising on taste and texture. For the recent Taraloka open afternoon Momtaz and I spent the day baking vegan cakes, to show visitors how wonderful vegan cakes can be.
Momtaz baked a ‘Luscious Lemon and Poppy Seed’ cake; ingredients were vegan margarine, brown sugar, lemons, soya milk, flour, baking powder and...
Last night at Exeter Sangha Night we continued our theme of the ‘Divine Abodes’ - AKA the brahmaviharas, or the Four Immeasurables. We are exploring this theme as part of Triratna’s Buddhist Action Month 2017!
Our topic this week was to practice the skill of being joyful at other’s good fortune and rejoicing in their merits. We talked about taking every opportunity to express our appreciation for others (or in fact to ourselves too!) and noticing the effect that...
