020 7700 1177

 
 
 
 
Buddhism
 
"Just as the mighty ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt, so too my teaching has but one taste, the taste of freedom."

Buddhism has developed effective methods for working on and transforming our lives for the better. It opens up a path of personal growth and spiritual development leading to greater awareness, integration and compassion. Our Buddhist teachings are open to all and you are free to explore them at your own pace.

For further information about Buddhism please refer to the following site: http://fwbo.com/buddhism.html

Our courses are suitable for those with hearing impairments, please contact us before booking.  email:
 

Sangha Retreat !!!
   
Exploring Buddhism courses
 

Meditation "Toolkit" Part 2: with Visuddhimati
A six week course on Tuesday evenings
5 Aug–9 Sept 7,15pm – 9.30 £40/20
For those wishing to explore our core meditation practices in more depth. We will sample a range of approaches to meditation practice with the aim of helping each participant build his/her personal meditation toolkit. The course includes weekly handouts and opportunities to discuss our practice. Suitable for those who know the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana.It is possible to join in even if you missed Part 1 of the toolkit or just drop in for one or two stand alone sessions.
Drop in rate £8/4 per class.

Walking with the Buddha with Vajramitra
6 week course introducing the Buddha's approach to ethical behaviour with opportunities for discussion and questions.
Tuesdays 7.15 – 9.45 pm.
5 August– 9 September £40/20
For those familiar with Mindfulness of Breathing and Mettabhavana meditations.

Stories of the Life of the Buddha
with Ananta, Kusala and Paul Powell
6 week course for anyone interested in learning more about Buddhism.
Each week we will look at a story from the Life of the Buddha and draw out practical lessons to help us in our everyday lives.
Six Thursdays 7.15pm - 9.45pm
£40/20 for advance booking.
7 August – 11 September 

Buddhist Ritual with Suryaprabha and Friend
6 week course exploring ritual
Wed 7.15 – 9.30 pm. 24 Sept – 29 Oct
Straightforward and practical approach appropriate for all levels of experience.
The collective ritual practices cover
Inspiration, Purification, Offering, Healing, and Pacification.
Each session starts with either Mindfulness meditation or Positive Emotion meditation.
2 members of the Western Buddhist Order bring years of training in Dharma practice. £40/20
Meditation Days & Workshops
 

During 2008 we are offering a series of day and weekend events to explore the underlying principles of our System of Meditation. Regular attendance will give a comprehensive overview and deeper understanding of the meditation practices we teach and how they inform each other and work together.

The events all work on a stand alone basis: do come along even if you’re only able to get to one or two of them.


Some of these events are by donation. We wish our events to be affordable for all those who want to attend. (We suggest £30/25/15 per Day). Do feel free to give as much or as little as you can afford.

Mindfulness in Action with Karunagita
Karunagita will draw on her teaching of mindfulness based cognitive therapy in this day of moving seamlessly between mindfulness in meditation and daily activities. Open to all, newcomers and experienced meditators..
Sun 28 September 10am–5pm 
By donation. (We suggest £30/25/15).
Please book.

Body Like a Mountain with Suddhaka
A day exploring how we can use awareness of the body to connect our meditation practice to the infinite depth and stability of the earth. Open to all, newcomers and experienced meditators.
Sun 26 October 10am–5pm 
By donation.(We suggest £30/25/15). Please book.

Images of Awakening with Manjuka
Two meditation workshops:
Explorations in an imaginative approach to meditation. Taking the naturally occuring images of the mind as an ally rather than a distraction, we can become less overwhelmed by difficult experiences while also opening to the non-discursive 'insight' of poetic truth.
Who is Manjuka?
Sat 15 Nov and Sat 13 Dec 10am–5pm by donation.
(We suggest £30/25/15 per Day). Please book.

The Edge of Certainty with Vasumitra
A Day cultivating insight. There is nothing happening, no individual, no separation, no understanding, and yet it seems as if there is a separate individual who chooses things to happen.
It feels as if "I" am in control but actually everything happens to no-one.
With discussion, and just sitting.
For regular meditators and Buddhists. Booking essential.
Sun Nov 23 10am–5pm £30/20


Booking Essential for all days & workshops.  Bring vegetarian lunch to share.
    
Festivals and Sangha events
    
FESTIVALS

Ambedkar Day
Saturday 13 Sept with the NLBC Sangha and friends
Celebrating the legacy of Dr Ambedkar
All day 10am - 10pm.
Speeches, workshops, films and DVDs, music, food.

Padmasambhava Festival
Saturday 18 October with Lalitaraja, Visuddhimati and friends
Celebrating the Life and Liberation of Guru Rinpoche

Sangha Day
Sunday 16 Nov with Sangha friends
Celebrating the Arya Sangha and our own practice community here in North London


Full Moon Pujas
7.00 for 7.30 – 9.30

 15 August  with TBC
12 September  with TBC

17 Oct  with Visuddhimati and friends
An evening preparing the ground for our Padmasambhava festival celebrating the Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava.

14 November  with TBC
12 December  with TBC

with the Friday class team and special guest leaders.

suggested donation £6

Puja as a practice gives us an opportunity to make an emotional connection with our ideals through the use of ritual. The aim is to awaken the imaginative faculty bridging the gap between our intellectual understanding and our emotional response to Buddhist practice.

Friday Practice evenings are a weekly event.The full moon is seen as a particularly good time to practise together; if you can't make it any other time mark these dates in your diary. For theme and further information Click Here

All are welcome to these events. Please feel free to ask before-hand for information about puja as a practice. 

Sangha evenings on Wednesdays:
6.30 Food to share
7.30 Event: By donation



Four evenings exploring the Building Blocks of Sangha (Sangrahavastus):

4 June  A Heap of Jewels
with Padmajata
Find out what is going on behind the scenes and get an update on how the centre is doing. An evening to explore our fundraising drive, generate ideas for raising funds, and create plans for the future.

9 July Priyavadita/Kindly Speech with Visuddhimati

6 August Arthacarya/ Skilful Means with tbc

date to be confirmed Samanarthata/Exemplification

DAY EVENTS


Event for families
with Karunagita, Amaragita and team.
for parents/ carers and children, including time together, time apart, creativity and ritual. All ages welcome. Bring veggie lunch to share and come prepared to help with the smooth running.
Sun 9 Nov 10.00 - 1.30. £10/ £7 conc. Booking essential.

ORDER MITRA EVENTS

The Awakening of Faith
with Ratnaprabha
Sat 20 Sept 10am – 5pm By donation
For Order Members and Mitras Who have asked for Ordination

Ratnaprabha provides the following background information:
"Surfacing 1500 years ago, The Awakening of Faith became one of the greatest texts of East Asian Buddhism. It takes "The Mind of Man" as the starting point of all spiritual life. The Mind "includes in itself all states of being of the phenomenal and the transcendental world". This Mind is equated with Suchness, the Dharma-body, the Dharma-realm, and the Buddha-embryo. One's own mind, says The Awakening of Faith, is not ultimately different from this Mind-as-reality. But the perfuming effect of ignorance has whipped it up into anxious activity, like a wind gusting over a calm ocean, or like a mirror or gem with superficial dirt adhering to it. Some later Buddhists took this to mean that all we have to do is to realise that we are already in possession of original enlightenment. So the only practice you need is to keep telling yourself -- and others -- that you are already enlightened, until you believe it! But The Awakening of Faith also expounds the gradual path to enlightenment in some detail. There is "no such thing as skipping over the stages". "I recommend Hakeda's translation (Columbia University Press, 1967), translation available here

The Vajra Bell
A day event exploring the Vajraghanta (Vajra bell).
with Vajraghanta and Dhiraprabha
Sun 12 Oct 10am – 5pm By donation
All Mitras and Order Members welcome.
You are welcome to attend if you're thinking you might like to become a Mitra.



More Sangha events Click HERE
Residential Weekend Retreats 2008
 
Retreats are an ideal way to deepen your meditation practice in the quiet and beauty of the countryside. Typically, there are 2 or 3 meditation sessions a day, discussion about practice plus opportunities to explore the countryside. Lifts may be available.
Suitable for those who already know the Metta Bhavana and Mindfulness of Breathing. Contact us for more details.

A NLBC Sangha Retreat at Venue to be confirmed.
theme tbc
Led by the Thursday class team
Date: Friday 7 - Sunday 9 Nov
Booking required: Fee: £90/70/50. Call us on 0207 700 1177 for details.