Sangha Night is our regular get-together for members of the Bristol sangha. Each evening includes a mixture of meditation, teaching and discussion suitable for anyone who has completed an introductory course.

On Sangha Night, we cover various topics in the form of short courses or series.

COMING UP:

June 3

Mitra Evening on Gratitude

This week the Sangha Night Team Mitras Robin and Paula focus on the underappreciated quality of GRATITUDE. How can a focus on gratitude help us in our Buddhist practice and in our lives more generally? Come along to join in the discussion.

June 10

An Evening With Kulamitra

Kulamitra is an extremely experienced Order Member of nearly fifty years standing, having been ordained by Bhante Sangharakshita in 1977! He has lived locally for several years, is a regular attendee of Sangha Nights; and this week he will be leading his own evening. Join us to benefit from Kulamitra’s experience.

June 17

Solitude & Solitary Retreats: Continuing the Conversation

On Sangha Night on 20 May, we started a conversation about solitary retreats – and the benefits of solitude in general. Satyalila catalysed the conversation by evoking inspiration for solitary retreats going back hundreds of years, sharing some of her own experiences and poems, and offering some practical tips on how to get started or go deeper.

It was a lively evening and there was clearly more to be said! So Satyalila is returning to Sangha Night on Tuesday 17 June to offer a follow-up session. There will be a recap for anyone who missed the first session, further sharing of inspiration, and an opportunity to discuss and meditate on the theme.

Do join us – and feel free to bring whatever questions you may have.

June 24

Ashoka the Great

Ashoka the Great was a man of contrasts and of transformation. A mere human being, yet a colossus. Is it true that this brutal despot, whose wars of expansion killed hundreds of thousands, became the most important person after the Buddha in the development of Buddhism?

How do we cope when the flaws of our heroes and sources of inspiration are revealed?

Listen to this talk and decide for yourself.

July 1 – 22

The Taste of Freedom

Week 1 (July 1) – What Is Freedom? / The Dakini as a Symbol of Freedom

Week 2 (July 8) – The Spiral Path

Week 3 (July 15) – Breaking the Fetter of Habit

Week 4 (July 22) – Breaking the Fetters of Superficiality and Vagueness

A practical course in freeing ourselves from what binds us

The point of being a Buddhist is to free ourselves from whatever keeps us trapped in a mundane and repetitive cycle. But how do we do that, and what does real freedom mean?

In this course we explore a pivotal point in the Buddhist path where we have our first taste of real freedom. Traditionally this is called ‘stream entry’ – we enter the stream that leads to the ocean of Enlightenment.

At this point we break three fetters that prevent us from entering the stream, or we could say, from reaching our full potential. We take a good look at these and see how they play out in our lives, both individually and collectively, and we explore ways in which we can loosen, and eventually break them.

Listen Again: Tuesday April 1st: The Dharma is Like an Avocado! – The Buddhist Poetry of Gary Snyder

https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details.php?num=LOC6460

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Material from the meditation course with Prajnamati

Handouts on the approaches covered can be downloaded below:

Listen to an introductory exercise on balanced effort:

Listen to a talk and exercise on balanced effort:

Listen to a talk and exercise on the polarity map of Concentration and Relaxation:

Previous Talks:

Listen to the talk by Taranita given 7th January where he introduces the theme and skillfully offers some helpful suggestions https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details.php?num=LOC6367

Listen to talk given by Maitrijyoti 14th January

Listen to the third talk in the series by Kayamoksini 21st January

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The year will also be peppered through with individual evenings on the theme of Living the Dharma Life. In our movement we live our Dharma lives in a wide variety of ways – in families, communities, work, study, the creative arts, activism, in solitude, in our Centres and organisations – to name only some.  Through the year we will be inviting people to come and share with us these rich and varied experiences.

All our classes are run on donations which means everyone, regardless of income, can learn about Buddhism and meditation. To keep this revolutionary approach going, please do give what you can!

If you’d like to catch up with what’s been happening at Sangha Night, subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest recordings, or our Listen Again pages for material from 2020 and before.