Buddha Community

Dear friends

Welcome to the Amaravati Lay Buddhist Association's twelfth email bulletin of 2012, in which you will find news of forthcoming ALBA events at Amaravati. 

We have been trialling the use of our new email account at buddhacommunity@gmail.com to send out the bulletin, but this has not been as successful as we’d hoped – for a very positive reason: we have so many subscribers now that we’ve already nearly reached the limit that the distribution list can accommodate. We’re therefore planning to set up a new mailing list in the form of a Google Group called ALBA Bulletin which we will invite you to join to ensure that you continue to receive the bulletin.

This new group will operate alongside the ALBA account buddhacommunity@gmail.com which we use for all ALBA correspondence. Remember that you can email any of us at this address – we all have access to the account - and we’ll continue to publish our telephone numbers where relevant, for example for booking queries or to find out more about a particular retreat.

As usual, this bulletin will also be posted on the ALBA website .

In this issue:  

• Our forthcoming Day of Practice on Saturday 15 December which is entitled Integrity and the world and which will be led by Chris Ward.
• Dates for your diary: ALBA events at Amaravati in 2013
• Bodhinyana Group
• Amaravati Kathina 2012 - thenks for your help
• Find out more about the ALBA Community
• ALBA Connections Facebook Group
• The Triple Gem Buddhist Foundation
• LifeSkills Mindfulness Course
• The Network of Buddhist Organisations

I’d also like to use this space to say farewell to you all after eight very happy years editing this bulletin. It has been a real privilege to be part of ALBA and the Amaravati lay community and I’ve valued the chance get to know many of you over the years. However, now that I’m based in the Scottish Borders it seems more appropriate to hang up my editor’s hat and to join you all as a subscriber.

I shall be leaving the bulletin in the capable hands of senior ALBA teacher Chris Ward, whom many of you will know.

If you have any queries or comments about what you read here, Chris or I would be pleased to hear from you.  

Alison Moore, on behalf of the ALBA Committee

Email: buddhacommunity@gmail.com

Tel:     01896 831953 (Alison)
           07885 067374 (Chris)
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COMING UP

Saturday 15 December
Day of Practice
Integrity and the world
Led by Chris Ward

How can we maintain our integrity – our sense of ease with ourselves and our actions – in a world of change – a world that can at times seem crazy?

A day of mindfulness practice, dhamma discussion and reflection. Open to all. Suitable for those new to practice and Buddhism as well as those with more experience.

At the end of the day just before we finish we will review the 2012 year for ALBA, the financial position, and changes on the committee, and ask for any feedback from participants.

Hot drinks are available from 9.30 and we start at 10:00 am

For more information contact Chris Ward on or email: buddhacommunity@gmail.com 

You are invited to bring a little pre-prepared vegetarian food for a shared lunch. There will be tea at 5.00 pm after the closing session.

All are welcome. No booking required. No charge, although there will be an opportunity to donate towards Retreat Centre costs.

For further details about the day, contact:

Chris Ward
Email: buddhacommunity@gmail.com
Tel: 07885 067374

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ALBA EVENTS IN 2013 – DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Here are the dates for next year’s events at Amaravati Retreat Centre. Details of leaders are subject to change, and topics have yet to be decided. We will give you updated information as soon as we have it, so please check this section regularly.  

Saturday12 January
Winter Day of Practice
Led by Richard Bober

Saturday 9 February
Winter Day of Practice
Led by Chris Ward

Saturday 9 March
Winter Day of Practice
Led by Martin Evans

Friday 12 – Sunday 14 April
Weekend retreat
Led by Chris Ward

Saturday 25 May
Day of Practice
Led by Martin Evans
Ajahn Sundara will lead in the afternoon 

Saturday 8 June
Day of Practice
Led by Chris Ward

Friday 5 – Tuesday 9 July
Five-day retreat
Led by Martin Evans

Saturday 14 September
Day of Practice
Led by Martin Evans

Friday 4 – Sunday 6 October
Weekend retreat
Led by Chris Ward

Saturday 9 November
Day of Practice
Led by Martin Evans
Ajahn Amaro will lead in the afternoon

Saturday 7 December
Day of Practice
Led by Chris Ward
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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ALBA DAYS OF PRACTICE AND RETREATS

Days of Practice – no need to book
Registration begins at 9.30 am for 10.00 am – 5.00 pm

Retreats – advance booking essential with ALBA booking form
Fri 5.30 pm – 2.00 pm on last day

Download a booking form 

For more information about booking contact us at buddhacommunity @gmail.com, or if you do not have access to the internet, contact Chathurani Jayaratne on 07951 198 271

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BODHINYANA GROUP 

Meetings are held at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery each Thursday during term time. 

For further details contact Martin Evans on buddhacommunity@gmail.com or 01442 409844    

AMARAVATI KATHINA 2012 - THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

Thanks to all of you who volunteered to help make this a special and memorable day.  If you enjoyed it, please volunteer again next year.  ____________________________________________________________

CONNECT WITH ALBA – ON FACEBOOK AND ON YAHOO! GROUPS

Do you live a long way from a monastery or a local group? Or are you housebound or otherwise limited in how much you can get out and about? Would you like to meet like-minded people in your part of the country? Are you looking for a lift to the monastery to come to a day of practice? Or would you be prepared to offer one. 

Now there are two online groups you can join. You can join either or both, but you’ll need to sign up for each separately as there are two different procedures – see below.

1) The ALBA Connections Yahoo! group  enables you to contact each other directly, for example to discuss Dhamma topics, to support each other's practice, to make practical arrangements, for example for lifts to events at Amaravati, or simply to make conversation with Dhamma friends. Click on Join This Group! , in the top right-hand corner of the home page, to join.

2) Our Facebook group open to all who subscribe to this bulletin and who are also on Facebook.

Like the ALBA Connections Yahoo! group, the Facebook group lets you contact each other directly, for example to discuss Dhamma topics, to support each other's practice, to make practical arrangements, for example for lifts to events at Amaravati, or simply to make conversation with Dhamma friends. You can also share links and photos.

We’ve set it up as a ‘secret’ group, which provides the highest possible level of security and privacy within Facebook. Only you can see the group and it’s invisible to non-members. It will not show up on your profile or come up in a general search, and posts to and from the group will not show up on your wall.

Membership is by invitation only. If you’d like to join, you’ll need to become my friend on Facebook – just add me – and I can then add you to the group. If you know me, you’ll recognise me by my picture – if not, just pick the Alison Moore with ‘Oxford University - Innerleithen’ under her name (I think I’m the only one).

If you’re not on Facebook, I hope this will tempt you to join! But rest assured, although we’ll be posting information about events, ALBA news and so on, you won’t miss anything important – you will still get the bulletin as usual, and you can visit the Buddha Community website for all the latest news.

If you have any queries about Facebook and/or the group, so email Alison Moore on buddhacommunity@gmail.com

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THE ALBA COMMUNITY

The Amaravati Lay Buddhist Association is no more nor less than its members and supporters ... and that includes you!

Every one of you who attends an ALBA event, who subscribes to ALBA's newsletter, Community, who is a member of our Yahoo! group, ALBA Connections, or of the ALBA Connections Facebook page, or who reads this bulletin, is part of ALBA, and helps to make it what it is. Of course, ALBA is also a working organisation, and as you're a part of it, you might like to: 

Find out more about ALBA, its purpose and how it operates
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TRIPLE GEM – THE BUDDHIST FOUNDATION

The Triple Gem Buddhist Foundation (TGBF) is an independent charity set up by a group of ALBA members to support a range of activities including organising mindfulness and related courses and events, the provision of Dhamma teaching and publications, and providing analyses of social issues and contemporary events. 

The TGBF website provides details of all TGBF activities.

Visit Triple Gem - The Buddhist Foundation

THE TGBF LIFESKILLS MINDFULNESS COURSE 

The LifeSkills Mindfulness Course (LSM) is derived from Buddhist meditation practices that have been used in a range of training courses over the past 30 years to help alleviate stress, unhappiness and chronic pain.

Mindfulness refers to the ability that we all have to stay present with our immediate experience and to be fully aware of the context of our experience.

During the LSM course you will re-connect with your natural ability to be with and accept what you are currently experiencing. LSM involves sustained, in-depth training in suspending habitual ways of thinking and perceiving and in relaxing into direct awareness. This relaxation into ‘being’ is the key way in which we learn to release ourselves from automatically believing in and following our thinking minds.  

More about the LSM full course:

• It consists of a series of 2 hour sessions once a week for 8 weeks
• It is skills based
• Full notes are provided by email for the course
• The fee includes a course book 

If you wish to register your interest in the next course – date to be determined – please email Chris Ward at c.ward@triplegem.org.uk

Please visit the TGBF website for more information

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THE NETWORK OF BUDDHIST ORGANISATIONS

The Network of Buddhist Organisations (NBO), of which ALBA is a member, has been active for many years in bringing together Buddhists from all backgrounds and traditions and in working on behalf of the UK Buddhist community.

To find out more about the NBO and how to get involved, contact ALBA’s representative, Chris Ward, at c.ward@triplegem.org.uk

Visit the NBO

Join the NBO’s Facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/groups/ukbuddhism/

Log in to Facebook in the usual way, then search for Buddhism UK, or just post the link above directly into your browser.

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BUDDHA COMMUNITY BLOG

Every month we invite you to visit ALBA’s website, Buddha Community, on which you will find a wealth of information about ALBA and our events, with a news page that is regularly updated.

We’d particularly like to draw your attention to our blog, where we post articles, views and opinions and invite comments. You are also welcome to submit contributions of your own to be considered for publication on the blog.

Contact Chris Ward at buddhacommunity@gmail.com to find out more.

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PRINT IT OUT AND PASS IT ON

This is the full version of the bulletin which many of you receive by email. If you know of anyone who would be interested to receive this newsletter but who doesn't have access to email or to the Internet, do please consider printing out the full version and passing it on to them. This might be on an individual basis, between friends, or if you are a member of a local group, for example, you could pass round a copy at meetings. I do receive requests for printed copies from time to time, so if you would be happy to 'buddy up' with one other person and take responsibility for sending them a copy through the post, let me know on 07411 831953 or metta@petalmoore.net and I can let you have their contact details.

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HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to receive a regular copy of this bulletin in your inbox – just email Chris Ward at buddhacommunity@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.

Amaravati Lay Buddhist Association (ALBA)

Tel: 07885 067374

 Email: buddhacommunity@gmail.com

Visit us at www.buddhacommunity.org 

Visit Amaravati Buddhist Monastery at www.amaravati.org