triratna buddhist community in Leicester

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation:
6-week course 

Tuesday 3rd July - 7th August 2012   7.25 – 9.45 pm
Quaker Meeting House, 16 Queens Road, Leicester LE2 1WP 
Starting on 3rd July, for six Tuesdays, we will be offering a course introducing key Buddhist principles and the basics of Buddhist meditation. The course, which will be led  by a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, will be aimed at newcomers to Buddhism and will explore the fundamentals of the Buddhist life. All welcome. Charge by donation (suggested donation: £3/5/7 per week).
Please come along or phone Sanghaketu: 07825 774868 for more details.

Going Deeper 

Thursdays 7.25 – 9.30 
Those wishing to take their interest further are welcome to join our ongoing follow-on course on Thursday evenings.
Change of venue: Please note that from Thursday 24th May until 14th June we will be meeting at the Adult Education College in Wellington Street while the Quaker Meeting House is closed for repairs.

Day retreat

Saturday 15th September 2012 
Led by Abhayadhi, this day retreat will provide the opportunity to focus on our meditation practice.
More details later.  

Festival dates 2012    

Parinirvana Day            Saturday 18th February
Buddha Day (Wesak)     Saturday 12th May
Dharma Day                 Saturday 7th July
Sangha Day                  Saturday 24th November

RECENT EVENTS

Buddha Day Festival   

Thanks to everyone who came to Buddha Day on Saturday 12th May and helped make it such an enjoyable day. Sanghaketu led the day, Mal created a beautiful shrine, Emma made an excellent soup and other sangha members brought food contributions, Sanghaketu, Clive and Sue transported us with their musical offerings, and Sanghaketu invoked the Buddha with carefully chosen readings and led the puja. The sunny weather was a bonus and we enjoyed eating lunch, drinking tea and chatting outside in the lovely garden of the Qukaer Meeting House.

Art and imagination day retreat   

On Saturday 24th March 2012  Amitajyoti, an Order Member from The London Buddhist Centre, led a day retreat called ‘Exploring imagination, the creative heart/mind and play’. The purpose of the day was to explore the richness of imagination, colour and symbolism as a vehicle for human growth and transformation. Which sounds rather grand and those of us who don’t think of ourselves as artistic were a little apprehensive. However, Amitajyoti’s input was gentle and encouraging and she created an environment in which we were soon able to feel comfortable and enjoy experimenting and playing with paint. Thanks very much to Amitajyoti for leading a very successful and enjoyable day, and to the participants for the fantastic lunch.  Feedback about both has been effusive!

Sangha Day  

Our Sangha Day festival on Saturday 12th November was well-attended and very enjoyable. We began with meditation, led by Vidyasara, who also created the beautiful shrine. After lunch, Sanghaketu, Kath and Vidyasara gave excellent short, personal talks on sangha and friendship. During the tea break, we enjoyed a musical offering from Andrew, accompanied by Clive and Sanghaketu. There followed a rousing puja led by Sanghaketu, which included a lovely – and sometimes giggly – candle ceremony, symbolic of our growing sangha or spiritual community. Thanks to all who helped to make the day such a success.

Dharma Day

On Saturday 16th July, we celebrated Dharma Day. 
Dharma means the Buddha’s teaching and anything that helps us develop spiritually.  Our festival had an arts focus and various members of the sangha shared their art and music and talked about its role in their life. A very inspiring day.

Weekend retreat

Our third weekend retreat was held on 8th – 10th July at Glenys’s lovely house in Waltham on the Wolds. We enjoyed wonderful food, good company and the peaceful rural setting as we explored our theme, Going Forth, led by Sanghaketu.  A delightful weekend, as always, which left us all with much to think about.

Wesak

On Saturday 14th May, we held our Wesak festival, to celebrate the Buddha’s Enlightenment. Alobhin hosted the day, Vidyasara and Mal created a beautiful shrine, and members of the sangha set the room up, prepared food and kept the tea flowing. Vidyasara led a period of meditation before lunch, then the afternoon’s activities began with a short re-enactment of the moments leading up to the Buddha’s Enlightenment.
Martin was an inspirational Buddha, imperturbable in the face of Mara’s attacks and temptations.  Musical accompaniment was provided by Andrew, Ian and Sanghaketu. We are lucky to have such talented people within our small sangha.
The day was rounded off with a festive puja, led by Sanghaketu. Within the puja, Mal Daultrey became a Mitra.
Thanks to all who attended and to everyone who worked so hard to make our Wesak festival such an enjoyable and successful day.

Parinirvana Day  

On Saturday 12th February, friends, regulars and visitors gathered at the Quaker Meeting House on Queens Road (the regular venue for Triratna Leicester activities). There was a programme to mark Parinirvana Day, the festival celebrating the Buddha’s final passing away into ‘Enlightenment without remainder’. After a short meditation, Jnanarakshita (visiting from Birmingham) told the story of the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. Kath Barton-Harvey and Andrew Cheffings become Mitras in the context of a puja, to much hearty rejoicing.