News from Germany: FWBO Day in Essen; Düsseldorf celebrates their 2nd birthday

FWBO members from Holland, Belgium, France, Poland and Germany (collectively known as the FWBO’s ‘Middle European Region’) are very happy to announce that they will be celebrating FWBO day this year in Essen, Germany on Saturday 4th April (starting 2 pm) and Sunday 5th April (ending at about 2-3 pm).

Sanghadarsini writes “We are very lucky that Bhante Sangharakshita has agreed to celebrate with us and to give a talk on Sunday at 10.30. If you would also like to come to celebrate FWBO day with us, we are happy to organise accommodation for you.

"For the last 7 years we have been celebrating FWBO day in our Region and have previously met up in Ghent, Amsterdam and Essen. Its great that we have this opportunity to come together and to form strong bonds of friendship. As there are so many languages involved, we still seem to communicate most of the time in English.

“The theme for the weekend will be: “Sitting under the Bodhi Tree”. As quite a few of us met up in Bodhgaya a month ago for the International Order Convention, we were so inspired about being there, that we quite naturally decided on the theme.

“Please write to essen@fwbo.de for more details and contact us as soon as possible if you are actually planning to come”.

Meanwhile Sraddhabandhu writes from Dusseldorf -

"Only two years after the founding of „FWBO Düsseldorf” we welcomed 20 guests to our second birthday party. Admittedly, 20 is not the number of people we have on “open nights” (it varies between five and eight people), but we can see significant progress. If you imagine that we started with about three people attending just two years ago…”

“The scope of events we offer has widened considerably over that time. We now have two beginners nights per week, a study group which will finish “Vision and Transformation” in a short while, a meditation course will start in April, meditation afternoons every second month, and we want to celebrate Wesak and to take part in the “International Urban Retreat - www.theurbanretreat.org”.

"I’m very happy to work with such a committed team. With metta to all, Sraddhabandhu”.

News from the Network of Buddhist Organisations

The Network of Buddhist Organisations, http://nbo.org.uk, or NBO, is the UK’s principle forum for Buddhists of all schools to meet and collaborate. Last weekend saw them launch two important new initiatives at their AGM: a ‘helpline’ for those who have, in the words of the NBO, "Bumped into Buddhism and come away Bruised" and, for the first time, a Code of Conduct.

In addition the afternoon session was devoted to exploring the topic of Young People and the Dharma, with an informative presentation by Venerable Amaranatho and Sister Cittapalo from Amaravati; this was followed by discussion. Amaravati have a website with many useful resources at www.family.amaravati.org, of especial interest may be their Child Protection Policy at www.family.amaravati.org/cp/main.

The NBO’s new Code of Conduct asks members to promote their aims, which are:
a) To promote fellowship and dialogue between Buddhist Organisations.
b) To facilitate cooperation in matters of common interest.
c) To work in harmony with Buddhist and other like-minded organisations throughout the world.

Furthermore it says “In order to maintain harmony and promote Buddhist teachings in the UK, as a Buddhist organisation and member of the NBO we undertake the following:

a) To observe the ethical standards as exemplified by the Five Precepts in all our activities.
b) To undertake that our members will not defame or attack each others organisations or teachers in public or through the media.
c) If disagreements arise between NBO organizations or with other organizations or groups, every attempt will be made to resolve them through internal processes or through private discussion and mediation.

A fuller Code is under discussion and may be introduced during 2009.

Of the new helpline they say -

“From time to time people have bad experiences in the context of their exploration of the Buddhist path. Sometimes this is as a result of mistakes and misunderstanding on the part of one or both parties involved. More rarely, some organisations or some teaching relationships have become dysfunctional for a variety of different reasons. Either way, individual Buddhist practitioners may have been profoundly upset and disturbed. The UK’s Network of Buddhist Organisations http://nbo.org.uk/home.htm first came together to discuss the idea that the wider Buddhist community should offer a compassionate response to the distress that is evident in these situations.


“Over a period of time it has become clear that the NBO does not have the resources to establish a comprehensive counselling service for people who are experiencing this type of distress. Neither does the NBO have any role to play as policeman to the Buddhist community. However, over the years the NBO has built up a useful range of contacts, a certain amount of background knowledge concerning Buddhist groups in the UK, and counts among its members experienced practitioners of Buddhism who have some understanding of the issues that can arise. The Network would like to make a small start towards offering useful help in appropriate circumstances.


“Those who feel that they would like to discuss a problem of this nature are invited to speak to the Secretary who will be happy to provide a listening ear and may be able to offer constructive suggestions. The current Secretary is a qualified general medical doctor who practices Buddhism in the Chan tradition. If you would like to contact her, please send an e-mail to secretary@nbo.org.uk and a phone call can then be arranged. Please note that as she does this work for the NBO on a part-time basis, e-mails are not checked every day”.

On tour in Sri Lanka

Following yesterday’s report from Thailand, Ujukarin has sent us this from his recent travels in Sri Lanka.  The FWBO has a small centre in Sri Lanka run by Saddhavira, with Ujukarin joining him twice a year for retreats and classes.  It’s an instructive tale of the difficulties of introducing a new way of doing things into a traditional Buddhist culture…

He writes –

  

“Wow! Another Lanka Dharmaduta tour finished, two weeks by Saddhavira and Ujukarin. And it’s getting curiouser and curiouser, as we enter the Wonderland of countryside viharas…

“How many of you have experienced a Buddhafield retreat in the English summer mud? Or participated in a Dharma Talk, including some ‘quite specifically conditioned’ interested grandmothers? Or seen a version of the ‘top-or-flop’ TV show, where the audience votes to keep or dismiss the artist? NOW… imagine a combination of all of these…!

“A main activity during our tour was a 3-day rural vihara retreat at Polpitigama town in Kurunegala district.  It’s a typical countryside vihara on the outskirts of town, with the usual more or less conservative lay audience – and premises that don’t stand the monsoon showers very well. Our party included Saddhavira and 5 mitras/regulars, and the special dimension was that the retreat was around a full-moon day. So we were scheduled to give 3 talks and meditation sessions to the temple audience, numbering around 60-70, including many of the proverbial ‘grandmothers leading a sila life to prepare for their afterlife’ (and wanting reaffirmation of their pious quiet life, not virya or other ‘dangerous’ Dharma elements…).

“The morning talk (on personal mandalas) was loved by our group and by quite a few attending families and some grannies, but not all. Around lunch a group of them visited the senior bhikshu, and behaved like the audience of the ‘top-or-flop’ TV show: “OUT with these artists” (they’re far too dynamic for us…) was what they said. First we were told that the Bhikshus had bowed to their demands, and we’d have to shut up and retreat to our kutis for a mini-retreat for the rest of the day. But one hour later, shortly before the next talk slot, the Bhikshus told us that ‘well we had been invited for the full day and as good hosts they’d stick to that invitation and allow two more talk sessions – any way we wanted it’.

“The afternoon talk was on devas, sraddha and white magic, and was accompanied by heavy showers and lightning – by chance or not :-). And the evening session was experienced by everyone as amazing and inspired because we dived into ‘bringing Dharma to your heart’. So I am glad that we survived the top-or-flop vote, and we definitely felt that we had a new ‘Wonderland’ experience in the twilight zone between Western and Cultural/Ethnic Buddhism. And probably most of the regulars attending and maybe even some locals will find inspiration in this fullmoon day for following up with us!

“Other highlights included a talk in another rural area (Kekirawa near Anuradhapura) by Ujukarin together with a bhikshu who had attended our earlier retreat. At the end some of the audience, teenage girls working as Buddhist Sunday school teachers, asked Ujukarin for magic threads around their waists blessed with mantras – for a number of reasons, including his own Srilankan family life ;-), he backed down. And we had a well-attended day retreat in Colombo, and a weekend retreat at the Sagaraloka centre which was also attended well but NOT by exactly the (at least two) men who had asked to become mitras and could have become so during that retreat. So those ceremonies will have to wait till the fall…

“And in the sidelines we also had organisational progress. A 3-month Dharmaduta visit of an Indian Order Member (Pradnyajeet) is now sure to happen within a year. And we hope that some of the men GFR mitras will start attending the Nagpur ordination courses in India. So all-in-all it was a much more positive picture than last year: our sangha-building investments are starting to pay off!”

You can see more photos from their trip on their Facebook album.

The East West Sanctuary goes East

Sinhagupta, an Order Member based in Cambridge UK has for some years also been engaged in setting up the East-West Sanctuary in Hungary, a “Center of contemplative inquiry and healing”. She’s recently returned from a four-week visit to Thailand and sends this report to FWBO News -

“I am writing this towards the end of a 4-week period in Thailand. I was fortunate enough to make it here on the last plane, diverted to a military airport. Many, many hours later, after a 9-hour trek through Thailand, I arrived at Ubon Ratachani University, where I have been invited to teach on an undergraduate course on Buddhist Business Administration.

“This has been quite an experience, including running a 2-day retreat for 45 students , on the campus. Mostly, my brief has been to teach basic Buddhism to Thai students, and to find a way of helping the students understand the importance of this to business . Which is a strange request in a country where 30% of the economy runs under ‘sufficiency economy’ principles, as developed by the Thai king, following the work of Schumacher.

“Whilst this is 90% Buddhist country, there is still a distinct lay/monastic divide, so the understanding of Buddhism here is different . The practices and principles of the FWBO have been extremely useful, as has my own work at the East West Sanctuary, where I have been introducing basic concepts and psychotherapeutic skills into the community.

“A further interesting element here is the Asoke community, of which there is one on campus. This works on Buddhist sufficiency economy principles, and throughout Thailand there are several, each with about 5-6000 people. Generally, this is a ‘movement’ which is considered ‘heretic’ from the point of view of traditional Thai Buddhism, but it is supported by many Thai people, both in spirit and financially. I received such a warm welcome, and am sure that I will be coming back. It is a privilege to see such wonderful work being carried out, and to make Buddhist connections in these different ways.

“Part of the work I am developing at the EWS is that of creating sustainable community, as in these times especially it feels very important that spiritual traditions are built back into our places of work. I am engaged, here and at my university, in developing and promoting Buddhist economics, and communicating its importance in the current crisis. Unfortunately, the conference I was also attending was postponed until April because of the unrest in Bangkok, and the international visitors could not make it here.

“At the end of this week, I shall be running a further workshop in a monastery near Bangkok, but this will be on psychotherapeutic methods. I understand there are already 50 people attending – from the monastic community, from those wishing to introduce Buddhist methods into their daily lives, and from a group of people studying Buddhist psychology”.

Dharmacharini Sinhagupta in Thailand.

You can find more about the work of the East-West Centre on its website www.eastwestsanctuary.com

Tomorrow we publish an account of another FWBO pioneer: Ujukarin's adventures in Sri Lanka.

An invitation: spend FWBO Day 2009 with Sangharakshita

April 6th sees the 42nd anniversary of the founding of the FWBO, and to mark the occasion the Sangha in the UK’s West Midlands invites you to join them and Sangharakshita for a celebration.  This’ll be held at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on Saturday 11th April.

During the event there will be a launch of The Essential Sangharakshita, Wisdom Publications’ new book that describes its author as “equally at home with science, philosophy, myth, art, and poetry,” and using “every inner avenue to communicate the timeless Dharma.”

They say -

“Bhante will be joining us for the launch and giving a talk.  He will be accompanied by Vidyadevi (aka Karen Stout), who edited the text and who has worked with Bhante for many years, who will introduce us to the book itself. 

“We invite you to join us as we celebrate Bhante, his writings, the FWBO, and all these as expressions of the Three Jewels”.

The program is as follows -

Arrival from 2pm onwards.  It is fine to arrive earlier than this, but we might encourage you to help with the preparations!

2.30pm: Optional Meditation

4pm: Book launch of ‘The Essential Sangharakshita’ with talks by Sangharakshita and Vidyadevi

5.30pm: Sandwich snacks available

6.30pm: Puja and close

Young Buddhists meet in Birmingham; more gatherings planned

Kev from the FWBO’s Birmingham Buddhist Centre sends us this report:

“We recently hosted a ‘Day for Young Buddhists’ in Birmingham. And what a fantastic day it was - people travelled from as far as Norwich and Leeds for what turned out to be a vibrant and inspiring gathering.

“The day began with a dedication ceremony and meditation, followed by four short talks by young people in the Sangha on the subject of ‘What inspires me’. From this simple brief came four very rousing and inspiring talks.

“The afternoon was left as open space for people to explore what was of particular interest to them at the time; this included discussion groups, 5 rhythms dancing, and drumming in the garden. This was all rounded off with a Bodhicaryavatara Puja to finish. A great day, and we’ve another event for young Buddhists on the cards for the summer”.

To help people contact one another, there’s a Facebook group “Young People in the FWBO”; this now includes a Calendar of events especially recommended for young Buddhists. It currently has 109 members from all over the world.

Next up is a similar day event for young people in Brighton, scheduled for 26 April.

New videos of Sangharakshita available online

Last month we published a recording of an interview with Sangharakshita, recorded in Birmingham but screened at the International Order Convention in Bodhgaya. This had to be temporarily withdrawn due to overload on the host site; we are pleased to announce that it is again available for general viewing. This time it is on VideoSangha, the FWBO’s video-sharing website.

The link is -
www.videosangha.net/video/Sangharakshita-and-his-Legacy

If you want to order a copy from Clear Vision you can do so at
www.clear-vision.org/videos/interviews.aspx

The following links may also be of interest

Bhante talking about Bodhgaya:
www.videosangha.net/video/Sangharakshita-on-Bodhgaya

Bhante's talk on some of the Teachers on the FWBO Refuge Tree - Jan 09: www.videosangha.net/video/Sangharakshita-on-the-Refuge-Tr

Bhante's unveiling of the new LBC shrine:
www.videosangha.net/video/Unveiling-the-new-LBC-shrine

Bhante's conversation with Maitreyabandhu in November 08:
www.videosangha.net/video/Sangharakshita-in-conversation

Photos taken at the Convention in Bodh Gaya can be viewed at
http://gallery.me.com/timkp1#100106. (taken by Vilasamani)
or
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/samacitta1/WBOConventionInIndia2009 (taken by Samacitta)

Sydney Buddhist Centre in Meditation Marathon

The FWBO’s Sydney Buddhist Centre in Australia is planning a meditation marathon event for the Easter long weekend this April. They are inviting others to meditate with them no matter where you are in the world. They say -

"All funds raised by this event will go to paying for badly needed refurbishment work at our retreat centre Vijayaloka. The immediate aim is to use the funds raised to help us complete the work needed to meet a local council’s May 2009 deadline".

If you'd like to participate, here are the details -

How it works:
No matter where you are, you can nominate the amount of time you would like to set aside for meditation over the Easter weekend. Some of us in Australia will be together on retreat at Vijayaloka and it would be lovely if you could join us, but you can participate from wherever you are.

Once you have decided on the amount of time you'll be spending in meditation simply drop us an email to let us know (fundraising@sydneybuddhistcentre.org.au), or join our online fundraising team at www.everydayhero.com.au/meditation_marathon (more instructions below).
Ask your family, friends, and workmates to sponsor you! They can do this by making a donation via the website, or through you.

How to join online:
To join the online fundraising team:
• Go to http://www.everydayhero.com.au/meditation_marathon
• Click the 'Join this team' button
• Fill in the form that comes up and click 'Continue to Next Step'
• When asked for the team password, type in 'vijayaloka' (all lowercase)
This will create a personal page for you under the meditation marathon team page, where you can display a message and set your fundraising target.

• Then, send an email to your friends, family and colleagues asking them to sponsor you, and include a link to your page. Your sponsors can then go to your page and make a donation by credit card or PayPal.

If it's all too technical, Yael will be happy to create your page for you. Contact her at yael63@gmail.com and include your phone number, postal address, date of birth, fundraising target and a short message to include on your page. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia.

What it's all about:
We are all growing, in one way or another., in each moment. This year we are setting in place a number of activities that encourage us all to reflect on and set conditions that help foster a deeper contentment in our lives and in the world around us. We are combining these activities with our efforts to see our retreat centre Vijayaloka grow and prosper.

In this spirit, we are encouraging sangha members to take some time out over the long-weekend to meditate. In doing this we will be joining together with sangha friends from around the world meditating together that same weekend.

New Centre opening in Ghent, Belgium

Upekshadaka, an Order Member from the FWBO's centre in Ghent, Belgium has written to say -

“On March 21st the Ghent Buddhist Centre is officially opening its new centre.

At the beginning of last year it became clear that we had to move out of the old centre because it was getting too small (well, there were just more and more people coming - the centre was just as big as it always had been!) We found a new place to rent close to the old one and in November 2008 started renovating it.

“Six months of hard work by our sangha have transformed what used to be a greasy old restaurant into a nearly finished wonderful new Buddhist Centre. have a look at the pictures and judge for yourselves!

“On Saturday March 21st we're celebrating the hard work and the hard workers and the big change this involves for the Ghent sangha. Everyone is invited to join us in this celebration. This is the programme:

11.00 - opening ceremony & meditation
14.00 - 17.00 - everyone is welcome for a visit and some tea and cake (which will be abundantly present, as is the habit for flemish people).

“Our new address is: Oudescheldestraat 14, Gent, Belgium (www.gent.vwbo.net)

“Hope to see you there on the 21st or some other time!”

New Anthology for FWBO News

A new anthology of stories from FWBO News has been added to the FWBO News website. It includes news from India, Sweden, Holland, US, and the UK, plus information on the new Dharma training course for Mitras; the launch of the interactive Dharma DVD from ClearVision, a full report from the FWBO's European Chairs Assembly, an update on this summer's ‘International Urban Retreat’, and photos from the recent International Order Convention in Bodh Gaya - and more.

It is designed for easy printing for use at FWBO Centres or groups - or simply to give you a more permanent record of our news.

You can download it from the Resources section of the site, or directly here:

www.fwbo-news.org/resources/FWBO_News_stories_Feb09_Mar09.pdf.

Comments and suggestions on the site are always welcome – and news stories too of course!

New teaching resources for schools

For the last couple of years the Bristol Buddhist Centre has been building up its school visits program, and as part of that, its library of teaching resources for schools.

These have now been uploaded and are available for others to use. There’s a special Resources Page on their website; this contains both Primary and Secondary School Resources, including -

A simple stilling exercise for younger children A simple to follow stilling exercise for younger children which can be read through or adapted for an older audience. This often has a very stilling effect, so a useful resource in calming excited energy!

Introducing Buddhist Practice This sheet includes information about important symbols in Buddhism (the lotus, three jewels). It also explores the meaning of 'enlightenment', as well as other important teachings: the three fold path, karma, going for refuge to the three jewels and how a 'western' Buddhist practices Buddhism.

Introducing Buddhist Shrines An introduction to Buddhist shrines, including a description, an explanation of the symbols on the shrine, when and where they are used, how to build a shrine and reflections/activities. This sheet could be adapted to be used for different age groups. Probably most relevant for Key Stages 2 and 3 in the UK educational system.

Introduction to Buddhist Festivals This includes information about all the major Buddhist festivals, plus why, how and when we celebrate festivals. It includes activities and reflections. This sheet is a resource for teachers which can be adapted for different age groups.

More will be added to this in the coming months - among other things they are working on an introduction to death in the Buddhist tradition for the local cemetery.

Kindred Spirit applauds FWBO retreat centres

Kindred Spirit is a long-established alternative magazine, describing itself as “the ultimate global guide to positive change”. Each issue covers a range of diverse subjects such as spiritual growth, personal development, complementary therapies, travel, health and much more.

Their latest issue picks out five ‘top spiritual retreats to nourish your holistic health’ – and two of the five are FWBO retreat centres. There’s the ‘Jungle Club’ in Thailand offering outdoor Scaravelli yoga; there’s meditation in Marrakech, there’s Findhorn’s ‘Experience Week’ in Scotland – and there’s our own Rivendell and Dhanakosa retreat centres… They describe the FWBO approach as “making Buddhism and meditation accessible as a living tradition in the modern world and open to people of all cultures and heritages”.

About Rivendell they say “surrounded by picturesque grounds, fields and woodland, with a library and garden, introductory group weekend retreats here are the ideal way to experience Buddhist values and principles for the first time”. Dhanakosa is described as “the most beautiful retreat centre I have been to, sitting on the shore of Loch Voil, with the Highlands just a short walk away”. Dhanakosa runs a wide range of retreats where meditation is allied with other activities – Kindred Spirit specifically mentions their ‘meditation and clowning’ and ‘meditation and hill-walking’ retreats.

The FWBO has some eight retreat centres in the UK, and details of all can be found on our website www.goingonretreat.com.

A million pages for internet fundraising website - 30 from the FWBO

Last month JustGiving, the internet fundraising site celebrated the creation of its one millionth fundraising page – they say they have helped raise an extraordinary £388,175,603 for 6,462 charities.

Since the FWBO has contributed around 30 of those pages we thought we’d mention it – and celebrate the fact that between them they’ve raised over £30,000 over the past year, each page raising money for a different Dharma project. First, so far as we know, was Simon and Tim’s Marathon page for the LBC’s ‘Breathing Space’ project.

Around a year ago FWBO Dhammaloka joined, and a wide range of pages appeared under their auspices appealing for funds for a wide range of Dhamma projects in India – starting with Chandrabodhi’s Buddha Festival at the Urgyen Sangharakshita Meditation Centre. This was a wonderful use of the internet, as it allowed Dhamma workers in remote rural India to communicate with donors in the West.

The most recent Dhammaloka appeal, for travel expenses for Indian Order Members to attend the recent Order Convention in faraway Bihar, met it’s target and more in just 36 hours – many thanks to all who contributed!

Dhammaloka was followed by pages advertising a selection of projects managed by the FWBO Development Team – projects as varied as sponsoring a large new painting of the FWBO’s Refuge Tree; Dharma work in Poland and Canada; and the Preceptor’s College.

Other FWBO charities have also registered and made their own pages, for instance Tiratanaloka and Karuna – whose pages include an auctioned haircut by one Ginger Fringe!

Besides all the dedicated project pages, there’s two ways to give to ‘general dharma funds’ -
one for India, managed by FWBO Dhammaloka; and one for the rest of the world;
managed by the FWBO’s Growth Fund Committee.

All contributions gratefully received - and will be used to spread the Dharma far and wide...!

New centre for the FWBO in Valencia

The FWBO has had a Centre in Valencia, Spain, for 20 years now. Anyone browsing their website and blog (http://srimat.blogspot.com) will have followed the story of their fundraising appeal and property search – and their eventual success.

FWBO News’ editor wrote asking for an update and was told -

“I'm up to my arms in wet plaster and rubble at the moment and will be in the same position for at least another 6 weeks so not able to write at the present time. But yes we have a new property, a very big improvement on our current centre: bigger, better distribution of spaces, etc. We are currently doing the place up and hope to open in April-May 09. It's a lot of work, a big project and we're investing about 40k euros, but it will be money well spent and hopefully we will have a lovely, custom built centre to show for it after all our hard work is finished”.

On-line web translation by your reported yielded the following from their website -

“… we have had the luck to already find the ideal premises for this moment and have signed a contract by 10 years with an almost equal rent to which at the moment we have with almost the space double! Doubt does not fit that Ratnashamvaba helps us."

Happily they have also sent us a YouTube link to a ceremony they did recently to dedicate the space which is to be their new centre -
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=S6mttH5q22c.

Sadhu Valencia…!

A death in the Order

Amrutdeep has written to FWBO News to inform us of a death in the Order. He says -

"This is to inform you of the extremely sad news of the death of Dhammachari Akashabodhi from Pune, India. Akashabodhi died at approximately 7.00 a.m. Indian time on Wednesday March 11th. He died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack.

"Akashabodhi was aged 49, and he was ordained in 1994, with Suvajra as his private preceptor and Subhuti as his public preceptor. His sadhana was Sakyamuni.The funeral took place the same evening , first at the Mahavihara and then at the nearby cremation ghat. There were maybe 3,000 people present, from Dapodi and surrounding areas where he was very well known and much respected and loved, and also from many other parts of Maharastra as people had set out for Pune immediately on hearing the shocking news of his death.

"Only last night Akashabodhi had given a vote of thanks after a talk by Sudarshan on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the inauguration of the Mahavihara, and then he joined others in performing a song of Maitri. Those who heard him said that he was in a very positive mental state indeed. The previous week he had been at the International Convention at Bodhgaya which he found greatly inspiring and immediately preceding this he had visited Sarnath, Vaishali and Nalanda with friends.

"Akasabodhi was a poet and singer, a hugely friendly man who made strong connections not only with many Order members but also with those from other Buddhist groups and political parties, and always he made friends not only with individuals but also with their whole families. For several years he was Chairman of our centre in Dapodi (Mahavihara).

"It's very shocking for us that Akashabodhi has left us, especially so suddenly, and he is going to be greatly missed.

Yours in the Sangha, Dhammachari Amrutdeep,
Co-ordinator of Order Convening Team, India.

Wildmind on Love, Sex, Non-Attachment, and living in the age of distraction...

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation.

Each month they publish a newsletter exploring one or another aspect of meditation or dharma practice. 

February 2009 looks at the perennial issue of ‘Love, Sex, and Non-Attachment’  and March the very topical theme of ‘Living in the age of distraction’.  Each carries articles by FWBO teachers and links to Dharma and meditation courses.

If you want to keep in touch with Wildmind they’ve recently launched a new Wildmind Facebook page  and Twitter feed, which will deliver ‘tweets’ right into your Twitter in-box each time they post an article - sign up at twitter.com/medit8.

New FWBO Dharma Training Course for Mitras launched

The new FWBO Dharma Training Course for Mitras was launched on a recent Order Weekend at Padmaloka. This is an important new development for Dharma teaching within the FWBO.

The full course is four years long and comprises a Foundation Year followed by a three-year study program. The Foundation Year is based around the three declarations people make on becoming a Mitra: being a Buddhist; practising the Dharma; and participating in the FWBO. Each section contains material extracted from the Buddhist texts, Sangharakshita’s writings, and writings by other contemporary Buddhist teachers, backed up with reference material and teacher’s notes.

The course has its own dedicated website at www.fwbomitracourse.com, where the Foundation Year and part of Year 2 are now available. Subsequent modules will be rolled out over the next few months, and the whole course should be on-line by the summer.

Saccanama, the course’s creator, has been working on it for the past 18 months; it's a major new 'synthesis of the FWBO's approach to the dharma.  He launched it at Padmaloka with a talk entitled ‘Giving the Gift of the Dharma’, which you can listen on FreeBuddhistAudio here: 

www.freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=LOC87.

Free Buddhist Audio News - New Content and Changes for Spring

Welcome to the news from Free Buddhist Audio, the free download, podcast and streaming service from the Dharmachakra audio and text archives. To receive more regular updates on the site, you can always subscribe to our own blog.

New Content and Changes for Spring

Well, spring is on its way and it's the financial year-end here at FBA - not normally the time for introducing new features but we just couldn't help ourselves! So, some welcome little tweaks and essential additions to the site for your delectation and delight...

First up, we've some news on the Community section of the website. After a year of working with community users, we've now integrated uploaded talks from several places into the home page stream. So, starting this week community talks from Taraloka, Padmaloka, and talks given to the Order and from major FWBO events, will all be available via the front page. You'll find lots of new talks there already - and it's always worth using our update service to save you the trouble of checking it daily.

Another new feature is a handy option to quickly find talks from the same place as the one you're viewing. So, if you're looking at the details page for a talk from Taraloka, for example, with one click you can see all the talks from there too. Check it out!

We'll be revamping the Community site in the summer, so we look forward to bringing you a lot more then...

Until next time!

Free Buddhist Audio has been developed to enable a service to be kept in place for all users without charging for access. To help us keep the service free, please think about making a donation. Many thanks!

Sarvananda on the radio

This month sees two radio plays by Sarvananda, a Scottish Order Member and writer.

Both have been broadcast by the BBC, where he goes by his old name of Alastair Jessiman.

Available on-line now is his third play about Thomas Soutar, a psychic who uses his gifts to help the police. In this latest play he is called in to investigate the disappearance of a gifted and beautiful music student; his investigation uncovers a number of uncomfortable truths – not least for Thomas himself who falls under the missing girl's spell.

‘The Sensitive: A possession’ is the Afternoon Play on BBC Radio4, and can be heard here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hv3j0/Afternoon_Play_The_Sensitive_A_Possession/

Coming up later in March is "Boxer and Doberman", also by Sarvananda and this time a 4-part comedy series broadcast on DAB and BBC Digital Radio 7. Each episode will be broadcast three times according to the following schedule;

• Episode one: Headless in Glasgow
» Monday 23rd March 2009: 9am - 9.30am, 8pm - 8.30pm; Tue 24th March: 1 - 1.30pm.
• Episode two - the Killings in Kirkibrae
» Tue 24th March: 9am - 9.30am, 8pm - 8.30pm; Wed 25th March 1 - 1.30pm.
• Episode three - the Big Cheese
» Wed 25th March: 9am - 9.30am, 8pm - 8.30pm; Thu 26th March 1 - 1.30pm.
• Episode four - the Seat of Evil
» Thu 26th March: 9am - 9.30am, 8pm - 8.30pm; Fri 27th March 1 - 1.30pm.

Enjoy...!

Taraloka on the radio

Maitrimala, Catering Manager at the FWBO’s Taraloka retreat centre, was interviewed this week by BBC radio. You can listen to her here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0028xfh/Mornings_with_Joanne_Malin_03_03_2009
(to listen you’ll need Realplayer installed on your computer; it can be downloaded for free here if necessary).

Simply click to play and then drag the time bar to 42 minutes.

The interviewer' s curiosity seems to have been prompted by news that Delia Smith, the famous chef, needs an hour of silence a day, which she describes as “time to be, just to be still”, with Delia apparently advising her followers to time this period with a kitchen timer!

Maitrimala begins by describing the view from her bedroom window, then life at Taraloka more generally – and then what it might be like to go on a retreat there. She assuages the interviewer’s anxiety about periods of silence by making it quite clear that it’s ok to laugh while on a retreat!

The program is on the BBC’s 'Mornings with Joanne Malin' program, described as “the radio version of the very best woman's magazine”.

There's pictures of the rest of the Taraloka community on their website here.

Tomorrow we bring news of another FWBO radio appearance, this time a new radio play by Sarvananda, just aired on BBC Radio 4.

A retreat centre for the Low Countries

Akasasuri sends us this report from Holland -

“For over twenty years FWBO retreats have been held in The Netherlands. They were started by Vajragita in the eighties and later also in Belgium by Dhammaketu.

"Over the last four years we’ve held about twenty retreats a year, from a weekend to a fortnight, and most of them are reasonably booked up (about 20 -30 people). We hire three different locations ( a monastery and a youth hostel in Holland, and a monastery in Belgium) for the retreats, every time we have to create the retreat environment from scratch. We have been a ‘virtual retreat centre’. Our charity is called Metta Vihara – please do have a look www.mettavihara.nl.  As the site is in Dutch, English speakers may like to go straight to "nieuw retraitecentrum" and then to "foto's".

“But now I'm very happy to say it looks like we’re reaching the end of transporting cushions, mats, Buddha images, food, etc!!!

“After 4 years of property search in a densely populated country like The Netherlands we’ve finally found a suitable place in the South of Holland (not far from the Belgium border).

“In the photograph it’s the building on the left with in the distance the church of the small village Hengstdijk (521 inhabitants).

“The Netherlands being what it is, there are LOTS of regulations to satisfy before we can finally say we’ve done it.

“Although we’ve bought the property, it won’t be until the 1st of June that we’ll know whether or not we can renovate the farm into a retreat centre – and even then we’ll only be 90% sure. By January 2010 we’ll know for definite. At present the buildings include a set of pigstables, and as part of the work we will have to take them all down. In their place a purpose-built retreat centre will appear, designed by Peter Van Assche who is a Mitra.

“At the earliest we hope to open our doors in autumn/winter 2010!!!

“For the Dharma to take hold in a country takes a very long time, like holding a lotus flower next to a boulder and hoping it will take root. So waiting for another 1 ½ years should not be too difficult even though we are very very keen. Manigarbha and I will be so glad once we’ve done the last van run for our virtual retreat centre and settle into our own place.

“I’d like to use this opportunity to thank people in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK who have encouraged, supported and helped us financially.

“We are truly all interconnected. Akasasuri”

The Order Convention in Bodh Gaya in pictures

Mahamati, International Order Convenor and organiser of the Order Convention at Bodh Gaya, sends us this update –

“Hello all, a brief note from Bodh Gaya where the Convention is going exceptionally well. We have nearly 350 Indian Order Members here and 160 Order Members from outside India – in fact it could be slightly more as we have not yet got the final figures from the registration of the Indian Order Members.

The interview with Bhante went down very well – and as some of you will have heard if you have watched the video, at the end of the interview he gives the new name for the land

It is "The Three Jewels Centre". Amazingly, the name is already up on the signboard, with our big Three Jewels order emblem as instructed by Bhante!

We are all doing refuge tree practice beneath the Bodhi Tree each morning, and puja beneath the Tree each evening.

In fact here is the programme below...

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION PROGRAMME

Daily events:
Refuge Tree practice in front of the Bodhi Tree.
Evening Puja in front of the Bodhi Tree.

Tuesday 24th February
“Seven events after the Enlightenment”: Talk by Sudarshan
TBMSG Day: Book launches: Vimalasara’s Hindi edition of “Broken Voices”; Prajnajit’s book of Marathi poetry
Screening of Interview with Bhante: “The Legacy of Sangharakshita”.

Wednesday 25th February:
“The Significance of Bodhgaya”: Talk by Nissoka
Dedication of land with new name given by Bhante.

Thursday 26th February
Women’s Day and Men’s Day:
separate programmes

Friday 27th February
Celebrating 30 years of TBMSG: “30 Years On”: Talk by Lokamitra
“Panorama of memories: 30 Years of TBM”: Symposium of talks chaired by Bodhisen

Saturday 28th Feb
The Unity of the Order - Talks by Parami and Silavati:.
Tabla recital by Mukesh Jardo with accompaniment on our land.

.