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Chris Ward's year as Development Officer, has now finished. He has a weblog where you can read articles and see pictures about his activities during his term of office
Click here to |
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go to Chris's weblog |
From the Buddhist Group of Kendal
Ajahn Amaro Abbot of Abhayagiri (Forest Sangha) Buddhist Monastery (California) and Nick Scott (plant ecologist) recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1983 walk between Chithurst Monastery in West Sussex and Harnham Monastery in Northumberland. They retraced their steps and met people they had met in 1983, including at the Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada).
The first walk is described in the book Tudong: the Long Road North (1984).
More information from www.abhayagiri.org
Interfaith Network Annual Conference, 30th June 2008
This year’s annual conference was held in the Glazier’s Hall beneath London Bridge. NBO’s delegates were Revd Modgala and Yann Lovelock, who have compiled this report. Also attending was Ven. Seelawimala, the new Primate of the Sri Lankan Sangha in Britain, who was so impressed by the glasswork on display that he made enquiries about the possibility of a stained glass Buddha for the Chiswick Vihara.
The general theme of the conference was “Face to Face and Heart to Heart”, a variation on the title of the consultation paper on interfaith dialogue (Face to Face and Side by Side), and anticipating the launch of the resulting Government Interfaith Strategy on 21 July. Below are notes on the morning and early afternoon presentations.
- Talk 1: Valuing Dialogue – Harriet Crabtree, Director, Inter Faith Network
News of work done in various groups encouraging dialogue so as to understand differences and disagreements while also finding common ground. Aims are to have equivalent and just dialogue to build a positive, respectful society. There have been new initiatives at all levels and explorations of different forms of partnership. IFN’s “Soundings” initiative will look at patterns of involvement and at groups not in membership, including non-religious belief groups. This will address anxieties about inequalities in dialogue in the changing social and legal landscape (a theme also addressed in the AGM). - Talk 2: Dimensions of Dialogue – Dr Nawal K Prinja, Vishwa Hindu Parishad; IFN Co-Chair
Dr Prinja spoke about how flawed media accounts of faith matters are so we need more direct dialogue. Hinduism stresses unity within diversity. “Issues need to be tackled with sensitivity” so that we can live with eternal and natural laws. The current ongoing Hindu-Jewish dialogue is inspired by how the Jewish community provided a role model of how to integrate into the social, economic and political system without losing their own religious/social identities. - Talk 3 David Gifford - CEO Council of Christians and Jews
Second oldest interfaith initiative in the UK. Dialogue is about learning and building relationships. The journey is the most important so it’s best not to jump in at the deep-end and not to have a one-sided agenda. Remember we all come from a particular perspective, so start where we are. And guard against being too cerebral. - Talk 4 Sughra Ahmed - Advisor, Women in Faith; Research Fellow, Islamic Foundation
The Women in Faith Network aims to encourage predominantly young Muslim women to engage in interfaith activities via a broad-ranging course. There were challenges both in confidence and practicalities like child care and safety. Found a need to go slow and think long term. Also to have practical support and encouragement of participants: a major key is to make them feel important and to feed the growing faith that they can do the work. - Talk 5 Dialogue on the menu - Stella Opoku-Owusu, IFN Project Officer
This pre-lunch talk focused on how different interfaith group initiatives used food as a focus to bring people of all ages together via picnics, community meals, family twinning, formal settings and classroom learning. - Talk 6 Young People and Dialogue – “Shared Futures project”
Susan Moss introduced the project, which brings together pupils from single faith schools and engages them in many different forms of interaction as well as training teachers in how to handle situations and building friendships between teachers so they could help and advise each other. Two participants, Jasdeep Singh Degun and Ushna Moghal, showed slides and talked with great enthusiasm about the work of the Yorkshire & Humber Youth Interfaith Council. They looked at issues of faith and identity, justice and discrimination, that they learnt about from living with people of other faiths. They were doing this “for the benefit of all our communities”.
Workshops followed on a range of issues, facilitated by various members of the Executive. Themes here included The Art of Dialogue; Dialogue in Public Life; Reasons for (and against) Engaging in Dialogue; Faith Communities and Dialogue; Young People and Dialogue; From Joint Action to Understanding; A Practical Dialogue on the Environment. Each of these chose one over-riding conclusion to bring to the plenary session. A fuller report of all points raised will be sent to members later.
During the late afternoon AGM, some 15 new local interfaith groups were voted into membership. Among the 38 members voted onto the Executive were Ven. Seelawimala and Yann Lovelock as Buddhist representatives. It was reported that discussion concerning the widening of faith affiliation had been ongoing in the Executive during 2008 and the Director had also talked to the UK Pagan Alliance, which had been pushing for admission. IFN’s lawyers had been consulted about the implications of the new equalities legislation and it seemed that a wholesale rewriting of some parts of the constitution may be necessary. Meanwhile a mechanism for admission of new members requiring 75% agreement by the Network’s voting membership at an AGM was passed without opposition.
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January 2008 VENERABLE KASSAPA RECEIVES AN OBE |
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Ven. Kassapa of Birmingham Maha Vihara was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 New Year honours list. He is the third Theravadin monk to achieve this, having been preceded by Ven. Vajiragnana and Ven. Khemadhammo. It was stated that the award is for his humanitarian work in the UK and abroad over the course of nearly thirty years. Among those who nominated him were members of the Chinese and Vietnamese boat people whom he helped when they started arriving in Birmingham. It was largely due to him that Ven. Phuoc Hue was located in a refugee centre in Wales and brought to Birmingham to serve as a focus for the spiritual needs of those beginning to settle there. |
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He was also nominated by members of the Indian community in the same area of the city since he originally settled in Handsworth in 1986 to head the Ambedkarite Vihara there. He was among the founders of the International Buddhist Relief Organisation, of which he is president, in 1992. Over the years this has helped the disadvantaged in Africa, Asia and Europe and has included the welfare of animals in its work. |
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News from Sakyadhita UK: October 2007 |
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This is Sakyadhita in Hamburg 2007 (plus the photographer),during the International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages and His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Teachings. Ranjani says, she never really knew about the situation of the dasalsilmathas (ten-precept nuns) in her own country, until she took part in the first Sakyadhita Conference in 1987 in Bodhgaya, where she became a founder member. |
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Since then, she has devoted her time and energy to support the nuns and to help restore the lineage of full ordination for nuns in her country. She started training nuns to do hospital work in Sri Lanka and in 1992 founded the Sakyadhita Sri Lanka Branch. In 1993 she organized the 3rd Sakyadhita International Conference in Colombo. She acted as Vice President from 1993 to 1995 and served as President from 1995 to 2002. In 2000, she was finally able to open a Centre for nuns, the Sakyadhita Training and Meditation Centre, near Colombo. She never had any money, just her intent and an open heart. She says 'it just all came together, it was for the sake of the nuns, it was the Dhamma.' Sri Lanka has now about 400 fully ordained nuns, reviving the lineage after a period of about a thousand years. From small acorns ..... This is a short extract from the Sakyadhita October Newsletter. To download the full newsletter in PDF format, click here |
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 NBO Activities Committee members Yann Lovelock (right hand end of the row of Ordinands), and next to him Phil Henry at their Ordination Ceremony |
The Thai-led Buddhavihara Temple, formerly located in the north of Birmingham, moved in February to the Staffordshire village of Kings Bromley, just north of Lichfield. It is now situated in Eastfields House, which has large and attractive grounds, including a lotus pond and an arboretum. Its incumbent, formerly known as Maha Laow Panyasiri, now bears the royally bestowed title of Prakhu Panyasudhammawithet. Partly in gratitude and partly to fulfil an old dream, now that he has less restricted premises, he lately ordained twelve people in honour of the royal birthdays. This took place over nine days between August 4-12; the last day coincided with Queen Sirikit’s birthday and is also Mother’s Day in Thailand when dutiful children transfer merit to their parent. King Bhumibol’s 80th birthday falls on 5 December. |
The only full ordination was of a mixed heritage Londoner in his twenties. Of the eleven novices created, four were Thai boys; of more mature years were six English and one American. They were privileged to have as their preceptor Phra Rachabhavanavimol, abbot of Wimbledon’s Wat Bhuddapadipa. Among this group were no less than two members of NBO’s Activities Committee - Phil Henry, our Membership Secretary (Tejapanyo), and Yann Lovelock, our Interfaith Co-ordinator (Thitadhammo). They were helping make history in two other ways during the course of their stay. To begin with, this was the first time Westerners had been accepted for temporary ordination in any Thai monastery. And then they took part in the first formal alms round since Wat Buddhavihara was originally founded. The column of fifteen people was hailed enthusiastically all along the road into the village and back, which convinced those at the monastery that it should become a regular practice. Following the disrobing ceremony, Phil Henry contributed the following piece to the Faith Reflections feature run on Saturdays by the Birmingham Post: “For nine days at the start of August, I undertook novice monastic ordination at the Buddhavihara Temple near Kings Bromley. The Thai abbot there holds that to understand the nuances of the Buddhist life it is beneficial for those of us who are serious about our faith to undergo the process.
As a Buddhist for nearly twenty years, the emphasis on disciplining the senses through meditative experience is fundamental to my practice. And not only mine - Christians, Hindus, Cabbalistic Jews, Sufis, Zoroastrians and Jains all have meditations within their respective traditions, and nearly all practice in ways that reduce sensory activity to create clarity of mind. There may well be a variety of motivating factors, but it is fair to assess that the end result – inner peace – is the aspiration of most. My recent experience took on a more significant role, not only as meditator, but also as a renunciant. Despite the short time, the effect was profound, allowing my mind to work at a level that would otherwise be difficult to achieve without the intensity of a monastic day, which starts with the waking bell at five in the morning and concludes with the sleeping bell at 10 p.m. Those who have been on retreats will know that it can help train the mind to deal with the anxieties of everyday experience, but I have to confess to having some difficulty adjusting back to the pace of life. I don't think I have ever found it quite so hard!” |
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REV. GYOSEI HANDA 1957 ~ 2007 |
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Milton Keynes newspapers recently reported the death of the chief monk at the local Peace Pagoda on Tuesday 21 August in a horrific accident as he was cutting the grass. It is believed Reverend Gyosei Handa, 50, was on a sit-on lawnmower when he fell and became trapped underneath the heavy machine. A family came across him and called the emergency services. Firefighters were called to release him from underneath the lawnmower just before 11.40am and police carried out their own investigations. His chief nun, Reverend Sister Yoshie Maruta, who had been his associate for more than 30 years, reported that "He never criticised. He was always calm, always listening to people. He had lots of compassion. He would never ask people to do things, but always worked so hard himself. He was always trying to save money. This is why he was cutting the grass himself. If the lawnmower needed fixing, he would do it himself. He was shortly due to visit his elderly mother in Japan to help her move house.” |
Japanese born, Rev Handa became a monk in Sri Lanka aged 20, joining the Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist Order, a religious movement rooted in Nichiren Buddhism and founded by the late Nichidatsu Fujii. It is distinguished by its indefatigable participation in the global peace movement, especially in the area of nuclear disarmament. Rev. Handa himself had been arrested in the past for his peaceful protests against nuclear activity. He also spent 12 months in the early 1980s on a peace walk across Asia to Japan. He left high school, rejecting materialism, and met Rev. Fujii in Sri Lanka, where he later ordained. On a visit to the UK he met the architect Tom Hancock, who was interested in building a Peace Pagoda, and managed to persuade the Development Corporation to build one in Milton Keynes. Writing on behalf of Birmingham Buddhist Vihara, Yann Lovelock paid this tribute: “Our late incumbent, Dr Rewata Dhamma, had a great regard for Rev. Handa and always counted him as a friend. Indeed, when he came to plan our own stupa in Birmingham, it was Rev. Handa’s example which inspired Sayadaw to call it a peace pagoda too and to dedicate it to bringing peace and reconciliation in the world as well as within the human heart. Rev. Handa was ready to help anyone in need, not just his spiritual brothers and sisters, so his death is not just Buddhism’s loss but the whole country’s. However, he leaves behind for our inspiration the first peace pagoda of its kind in the UK which he helped bring into being and has served for so many years. He will always be remembered with gratitude for that. May the meritorious result of all his good deeds bring him a fortunate rebirth.” |
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Burke's Peerage - new Buddhist entry.
Jacquetta Gomes, also known as Upasika Jayasili, a teacher and founder member of the Buddhist Group of Kendal has had her work recognised by an entry in Burke's Peerage under the section People of Distinction. We congratulate her and celebrate with her this mark of recognition for a teacher in a minority faith in the UK.
Those wishing to access the entry may like to consult www.burkes-peerage.net
http://www.burkes-peerage.net/.
On the 11th October this year, Jacquetta Gomes visited the Mayor of Kendal in the Mayor's Parlour in Kendal Town Hall to celebrate Jacquetta's inclusion in Burke's Landed Gentry. The Mayor requested her to conduct a blessing ceremony for the parlour. This was conducted in Pali. An Osmanthus Burkwoodii bush has been planted in the Interfaith Memorial Garden at Kendal's Unitarian Chapel to commemorate this occasion.
NEW DIRECTOR FOR THE INTER FAITH NETWORK
Since it was founded in 1987, the Inter Faith Network UK has had Brian Pearce as its Director. He has now announced that he will be retiring in September and the Executive has taken the decision to promote the present Deputy Director, Harriet Crabtree, to his place.
Harriet Crabtree grew up in Yorkshire and Sussex and read theology at the University of London. During the 1980s she lived in the United States, where she went as a Fulbright scholar. She did her masters degree and doctorate in theology at Harvard Divinity School, living and working as a lecturer for a number of years at the Centre for the Study of World Religions.
In 1990 she returned to the UK to become IFN’s Deputy Director. Soon after this, her doctoral thesis was published as The Christian Life: Traditional Metaphors and Contemporary Theology (Fortress Press, Minneapolis1991) and she edited (with John Horton) Toleration and Integrity in a Multi-Faith Society (University of York, 1992). During 2003, Dr Crabtree was also responsible for the research and writing on the local inter faith project which resulted in the two publications - Local Inter Faith Activity in the UK: A Survey and Partnership for the Common Good: Inter Faith Structures and Local Government.
As part of her work she represented IFN on the 'Lambeth Group' which advised Government and others on the religious aspects of the Millennium celebrations and helped create the Shared Act of Reflection and Commitment by the Faith Communities of the UK which took place at the Houses of Parliament on 3 January 2000, an event at which Dr Vajiragnana represented Buddhists as IFN’s Co-Vicechair.
In 2002 Dr Crabtree worked on behalf of the Network to advise on the religious aspects of the Golden Jubilee and, with the Golden Jubilee Office, to arrange the Golden Jubilee Young People's Forum which brought 80 young people of different faiths together at St James' Palace in June 2003 to discuss faith and service to the community. Currently she is one of the Commissioners preparing a report for the Government on Cohesion and Integration.
An Anglican, she is a member of a number of initiatives, such as the Christian Socialist Movement and the Fawcett Society, which campaign for social justice.
The Interfaith Network was founded with the co-operation and support of the late Ven. Vajiragnana, who also held office on its Executive and as its Co-Vice Chair. Our own Network of Buddhist Organisations has been a member of IFN for the last decade and its Interfaith Co-ordinator is elected to the IFN Executive as its Buddhist representative.
It is our pleasure, therefore, to congratulate Harriet on her promotion and to wish her success as IFN’s new Director when she takes over this autumn.
VENERABLE MYOKYO-NI, 1921-2007
Born Irmgard Schloegl in Austria, she obtained a PhD in Natural Sciences from Graz University before joining the Zen Group at the Buddhist Society under Christmas Humphreys in 1950.
In 1960 she went to Japan and trained at Daitoku-ji monastery for twelve years under Sesso Roshi and, after his death, under his successor Sojun Kannun Roshi. In 1966 she returned to England for nine months, during which time she started a small Zazen Group at the Buddhist Society which continued until she returned permanently in 1972. The Zen Group grew in size until the Zen Centre was formally established in 1979. During this period she was living at Humphreys' residence, which was later bequeathed to the Zen Centre, eventually being inaugurated as Shobo-an, the main administrative location and training temple of the Zen Centre.
In 1984, she was ordained by Soko Morinaga Roshi, who had been head monk at Daitoku-ji during her time there. The ordination took place at Chithurst Forest Monastery at the invitation of Ajahn Sumedho, and she was given the name Myokyo-ni. She was the author of a number of books on Zen and Buddhism, including a translation of The Zen Teaching of Rinzai (Linji).
In his letter of condolence on behalf of NBO, Jamie Cresswell wrote
“Ven. Myokyo-ni was one of those pioneering women connected with the Buddhist Society who went to practice in Japan at a time when Buddhism was barely established as a practised religion in the UK. It was thanks to her, and the very few like her, that future generations found the vision to translate their interest in the faith into practice and even to dedicate their lives wholly to it by entering an order. The benefit of this example has therefore spread far wider than Zen practitioners. Either directly or indirectly, the majority of those practising Buddhism in this country today have been influenced by it .We are in her debt and remember her life with gratitude and respect.”
Message from Lama Ole Nydahl about the passing away of Hannah Nydahl |
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Dearest students and friends worldwide, Hannah left us April 1st, 01:43 Central European time in the finest of style. After five months of disease and three of knowing that it was deadly, her last hours expressed the essence of her life. With the handful of friends around her who were doctoring and nursing her and under an enormous dosage of morphine, she returned 15 times to her body, re-starting it with a jolt from clinical death to see if it could still be of use. As cancer had destroyed her brain and her lungs already came up as a bloody mush, this was clearly not possible and I convinced her to let go. With our Phowa and the first lines of the Dewachen-wishes she returned to space, timeless and beautiful. |
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Though losing her is an amputation and the wound is deep, I thank Hannah for insisting so strongly on having me constantly at her side. She inspired me since we met first in '51 in the woods north of Copenhagen and especially since October '06 I used every moment to learn from her what I could. I hope to bring some of that over. As you can imagine, work for the perfection of all goes on and may we meet soon. Yours, Lama Ole Nydahl P.S. As we are thousands of lay Diamond Way Karma Kagyu Buddhists around the world and there is no frame at present for hosting all, we shall celebrate Hannah when we place her ashes in a stupa on the high grounds of our World-Centre. H.H. Karmapa totally supports this wish. The finest gift to Hannah now is to continue your practice. |
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 Dalai Lama with his Tibetan followers |
During the World Buddhist Leaders Council, Tibet's "god-king" urges Indian Buddhist sects to remove any sign of social discrimination and join together to form a single denomination. The Dalai Lama has called on Indian Buddhist Dalits to "transcend the Hindu caste system" that exists in India and instead fight this vice. He lamented the "differences that divide the various Buddhist sects, which are in fact caused by the caste system". In this spirit he has called for "a sincere debate that would lead to reunification into a single denomination". The Tibetans' "god-king" made these remarks at the World Buddhist Leaders Council organised at Sarnath, the Buddhist shrine town in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightenment. |
n his address, the Dalai Lama noted that since his arrival in the 1960s he endeavoured to bring together and foster unity among Indian Buddhists but acknowledged his failure against the tenacity of the caste system, feeling "dejected to see the outcome of my efforts". Caste-based differences among Buddhist groups persist in India to this day and have sometimes been the cause of violent clashes between Buddhists from different castes. For the religious leader, believers should follow the example of Ambedkar, one of India's founding fathers, who left Hinduism to convert to Buddhism in opposition to the caste system which undermines society. "Religion," the Dalai Lama said, "cannot be allowed to be the source of further divisions". He ended his speech stressing that "religion, the real basis for humanity's prosperity, is still used as a pretext to cause conflicts in the world. This must stop because each religion teaches peace and anyone using it to make war is wrong or in bad faith". Source: South Asia news |
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