Join us for a craft session and a meditation. Our friendly make & meditate class is here for you to dip into meditation, get to know some other creative people and walk away with a fabulous creation!
In the past we have done sessions on making candles, drawing mandalas and collaging.
No need to book – just drop in on the day.
By donation.
Open to newcomers (all under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times).
“What would it be like to turn all that we do into practice? How different would we experience the world, ourselves and others?
Come and experiment in Sangha Works – turning the ordinary into the extra-ordinary! We start with a check in, before choosing a task to work with as practice from cleaning the centre, to cleaning rupa’s and shrine materials, to light gardening work. We can offer sitting down jobs and more active jobs. We also get to connect with each other and dwell in active, off the cushion practice in the centre.
We start at 10am with a half-hour check in, then get to work!
Just turn up – no need to book.
10am – midday on Wednesdays
Please note – these events are for those who have completed an intro course at any time.
The theme for 2021 was ‘Tools for Building a Sustainable Practice’
This theme was used to shape the community night which involves talks, discussion, meditation as well as ritual and other delights!
6 Jan: Tools for Building a Sustainable Practice
13 Jan: Advayamati shares his experience of building a sustainable practice… partly through cycling!
27 Jan: Losing and finding ourselves in the service of others with Amaladipa
11 Feb: Guided Stupa Visualisation
14 Feb: The Final Letting Go (Paranirvana)
24 Feb: Intermediate Level Meditation
24 Feb: Focus and Awareness in Meditation
24 Feb: Stillness and Movement in Meditation
3 Mar: Beauty and Truth in Life
10 Mar: Twenty Points for Dealing with Overwhelm (1 overview)
17 Mar: Balancing the Five Spiritual Faculties
31 Mar: Twenty Points for Dealing with Overwhelm (2 faith)
6 Apr: The Tyranny of Perfectionism & the Distrust of Authority
6 Apr: The Enchanted World
15 Apr: The Four Myths
30 Apr: Stepping Down from our Aloneness
5 May: Twenty Points for Dealing with Overwhelm (3 meditation)
5 May: Twenty Points for Dealing with Overwhelm (4 wisdom)
5 May: Uncontrived Mindfulness with Vajradevi
14 May: The Five Spiritual Faculties with Achalavira
9 Jun: Triratna – A History and Distinctive Emphases
22 Jun: The Four Myths and the Parable of the Raincloud
7 Jul: The Questions of King Malinda
7 Jul: The Anatomy of Awareness (meditation series)
10 Jul: The Anatomy of Awareness (meditation series)
21 Jul: The Anatomy of Awareness (meditation series)
22 Jul: The Anatomy of Awareness (meditation series)
27 Jul: The Anatomy of Awareness (meditation series)
7 Sep: First Steps into a New World
14 Sep: The Burning House (series)
21 Sep: The Burning House (series)
28 Sep: The Burning House (series)
6 Oct: Animism and Openness
6 Oct: Dreams and Generations
12 Oct: A Warrior with a Big Heart
12 Oct: Changing India, Changing the World
12 Oct: Breaking Free from Caste
12 Oct: Dr Ambedkar and the Dharma Revolution (further conversations)
19 Oct: Why I Can’t Meditate
19 Oct: Practising with Pain and Love
15 Nov: The Faculty of Wisdom
Stop taking everything so literally!
So much of how we speak, our vision of things and our communication is metaphorical and expressing something beyond the words themselves. Words are like a finger pointing at the moon. You’re not meant to be looking at the finger.
Imagination is key to the spiritual path and if we take dharma texts (the Buddha’s teachings) too literally in the wrong context / situation we can get ourselves into a right pickle. Many people struggle with the myths and fantastical imagery of some of Buddhism… don’t take it so literality! It’s easy to misunderstand what is trying to be communicated. This can distance us from others as well as halting our spiritual progress and dedication.
Join the Bristol Young Buddhists team and Kamalavajra.
A beautiful forest canopy appear in the shrine room at the Bristol Buddhist Centre. Those attending the retreat dwelled in this ‘mango grove’ to hear Buddhist teams and and reflect on their practise within the community (sangha).
Talks:
Befriending Your Mandala of Being for the Benefit of Sangha
Bookkeeper for the Bristol Buddhist Centre
The individual in this post will take responsibility for providing an effective financial service for the Trustees and
management of the Bristol Buddhist Centre. The work includes
Skills:
Good attention to detail
Accurate record-keeping
Computer literacy, especially familiarity with spreadsheets, databases and accounting software
Multi-tasking and organisational skills to manage different financial duties, including the ability to prioritise tasks
in order to meet deadlines
Good interpersonal skills
Good communication skills
Personal Circumstances:
A mitra, ideally training for ordination.
Desire to make work a spiritual practice
Openness to learning about self and others through work
Desire to contribute to team development and growth, and ability to work effectively with other team members
The post holder will become part of the Heart Kula (Admin team plus the Chair and Mitra Convenors). This involves
engagement with the various, day to day team tasks involved in effectively running a busy Centre. We are a team-based right livelihood and recognise the importance of deepening our spiritual friendships with each other and working together harmoniously and collectively in order to serve the Sangha.
You would be encouraged to join a support team for at least one regular class or event during the week, be in a mitra
study group and in regular communication with at least two Order members.
The post is for 16 hours per week. The current rate of pay is £9.30 per hour, based on the real living wage. In addition,
an annual retreat allowance of up to £1,500 pro rata is available. Leave for retreats or holidays are 32 days, including all
public holidays. These are annual allowances running from January 1st to December 31 st each year and cannot be carried forward.
The closing date is Mon 25th October; interviews will be held in the following week.
We are looking for someone available to start by the first week of January 2022. If you wish to apply for the post or have an informal chat about the role email Bhadra@bristol-buddhist-centre.org & info@bristol-buddhist-centre.org
Your application should detail your experience and also why you would like to join the Right livelihood team at the Bristol Buddhist Centre. Please enclose your CV and details of two referees.
Contact: bhadra@bristol-buddhist-centre.org and (CC in) info@bristol-buddhist-centre.org to apply or ask any questions.
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 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
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.
Sunday evenings | 7:30 – 9pm
Held as a mixture of online meetings and in person at the Centre.
First meeting in person at the Centre is 12th September, then 10th October, 7th November and 5th December.
All other Sundays are online meetings 7.30 – 9pm. See events page for details.
In the spirit of wanting to reach out and meet you, Bhadra and Dharmamrta invite you into a facilitated circle every Sunday evening. We hope you will find this meeting resourcing through simply being with the Sangha. We will start with a short guided meditation to make contact with our felt experience, to tune into what is really alive within us. From there, we will be invited to simply be and listen, or to talk from that aliveness, to be heard and be seen. Everyone is welcome whether you feel you are new or experienced in relation to the precious jewel of Sangha. Building Sangha (community) is an important emphasis of our lineage of Buddhism.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86462849963
Sunday 12th September | 11am – 5pm | hybrid event
Termas, Bardos and Transformation:
Padmasambhava and the realm of the in between
As we return hesitantly or enthusiastically from our enforced retreat… what do we carry from that experience? A day of Talk, vision quest and ritual celebrating the magical exemplar, Padmasambhava and the in between realm.
To book an in person place email Esme on info@bristol-buddhist-centre.org by 4pm on Friday 10th.
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86046297139
Tue 21st | 7:30pm
How do we process our responses to the climate and ecological emergency and find ways to live and work with the reality of climate change by using Buddhist teachings?
The evening will be led by Shantigarbha, Buddhist meditator and activist, following on from the publication of his book The Burning House – A Buddhist Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The evening will be workshop-based with input, exercises and reflections.
Join us online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85439719858