Wales One World Film Festival

Wales One World Film Festival brings films from around the world to various arts venues across Wales.

A segment of the WOW 2012 programme has a distinct emphasis on films from far-flung parts of Asia, with two films from Mongolia; the incredible music documentary; AnDa Union, From The Steppes to the City and the beautiful The Eagle Hunter’s Son, a Mongolian Kes with its exploration of the extraordinary relationship between a nomad boy and his eagle.  Also screening is Old Dog from the wilds of Tibet which works both as the story of an old man and his loyal mastiff and a metaphor for Tibet's relationship with China.

These films are showing on 10th and 11th April Taliesin Arts Centre at Swansea University.

For more information about these films, venues and the rest of the festival programme please visit www.wowfilmfestival.com

You can follow us on Twitter.com/wowfilm and we’re using the hastag #wowfilm2012

Buddhist Council Meeting

The first meeting of the Buddhist Council of Wales for 2012 was hosted by the Cardiff Buddhist Centre.  It was an excellent meeting with much fruitful discussion and a warm and friendly atmosphere.  The primary issue discussed was a change to the constitution to allow associate membership as well as full voting membership of the Council.  This will be finalised in time for voting in at the September meeting.  The meeting also welcomed Marcus Staff as representative of a new Council member organisation: Rissho Kosei-kai.

The photograph—taken by Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin Tridral—is of the triptych in the upstairs practice room of the Buddhist Centre.  We were shown round the Triratna centre by Padmasimha.

Clinical Pastoral Education

The Awakened Heart Sangha are hosting a course in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Mary Waterford from Canberra, Australia will conduct the CPE programme. Mary is a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor and coordinator of pastoral care in palliative care in Canberra. Mary has wide experience and a passion for pastoral care across the diversity of belief traditions that make up our world. It promises to be a very interesting course.

The introductory course is being held at:

Hermitage of the Awakened Heart, Ynys Graianog, Ynys, Criccieth, Gwynedd, LL52 0NT

email: hermitage@ahs.org.uk; tel: 01766 530839

Dates and Cost: 
14 – 18 May
£225 full board or
£125 if staying off site

If you would like to apply for the Introductory Course, please contact Shrimala Devi at shrimala@ahs.org.uk or phone 01766 810847
See also:  www.buddhism-connect.org   and   www.hermitageoftheawakenedheart.org

Clinical Pastoral Education is training for pastoral care, involving the acquisition of skills, personal development and spiritual integration. It is an experiential adult learning process.

It began as a movement in the 1920’s in the USA, and since then has spread throughout the world. Successful completion of a unit is recognised world-wide. Courses at The Canberra & Region Centre for Spiritual Care & Clinical Pastoral Education are authorised and accredited by the NSW College for CPE www.cpensw.com, which is an affiliated body of the Australia & New Zealand Association for Clinical Pastoral Education.

The trainee learns how to be effectively present to the person and to relate appropriately to the emotional and spiritual life of the person, enabling the person to draw on their own inner resources to help with their current situation. The trainee learns also to call on all their own resources, including their spiritual and inner life, to best provide care for the person in need.

The Canberra and Region Centre covers pastoral and spiritual care for all contexts including hospitals, prison, parish, mental health and aged care.

Introductory Course

This is a 40 hour unit designed to introduce the concepts of pastoral care and the nature, scope and philosophy of CPE. It includes:

• what pastoral care is today
• the history of CPE
• a look at the philosophy underlying pastoral care
• basic communication skills
• the concept of action/reflection
• the importance of feelings and emotions in developing empathy
• the relationship of thought, feeling and action
• Group work with a practical component

St David’s Day Parade

Ngakma Nor’dzin—Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales—was invited to take part in the St David’s Parade on March 1st.  She was joined by several other representatives of the Buddhist community in Wales, with five traditions being represented in all.

The religious representatives were placed near the beginning of the parade, behind the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress.  There were also members of the Salvation Army, and Rev. Aled Edwards OBE of Cytûn.

If we take part again next year, we hope to have a Buddhist Council of Wales banner to add to the colour and pageantry of the event.  The weather was glorious and it was a most enjoyable day.

March meeting

The next meeting of the Buddhist Council of Wales is at Cardiff Buddhist Centre on Sunday March 11th at 2pm.  Representatives of non-member groups are welcome to attend one or two meetings as guests.  Please contact the Chair, Nor’dzin Pamo, by leaving a comment on this blog or via the website if you wish to attend the meeting.

The draft agenda is below.

Agenda

11th March 2012 at 2pm
Cardiff Buddhist Centre

1.   Opening meditation

2.   Apologies

3.   Minutes of last meeting

4.   Matters arising

5.   Chair's report

6.   Membership and constitution

7.   Membership application

8.   Spiritual Care Group – Cardiff and Vales NHS

9.   Any other business

10. Date of next meeting.

11. Closing meditation

Calling all Buddhists!!

The 10th National St. David’s Day Parade 2012 will be taking place on Thursday 1st March.  Ngakma Nor’dzin Pamo, Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales, will be joining the parade.


Nor’dzin says:
“I’m happy to have been invited to join the parade and hope that other Buddhists who are able to be in Cardiff on that day will join me.”


If you can join the parade with Nor’dzin please get in touch with us via the website or leave a comment on this blog - or just show up on the day.  Participants will be assembling by City Hall from 11:30 and the parade begins at 12:30.

The Holocaust Memorial Day, Wales, 2012

Ngakma Nor’dzin Pamo attended the Wales Holocaust Memorial Day Service as Buddhist representative. This was held at City Hall in Cardiff.  The theme for the 2012 service was: Speak Up, Speak Out.  The service was led by The Reverend Stewart Lisk, Hon Chaplain of Cardiff Council, and remembered not only the Holocaust of Nazi persecution but other genocides since that time, such as Cambodia 1975-79, Rwanda 1994 and Bosnia 1995.

Literature accompanying the Order of Service identified eight stages of a gradual process that could enable a basic lack of respect and tolerance to escalate to a Holocaust:

1. Classification – ‘us’ and ‘them’
2. Symbolisation – indicating those who are ‘different’
3. Dehumanisation
4. Organisation
5. Polarisation
6. Preparation
7. Extermination
8. Denial

The Service—conducted in English and Welsh—included several musical interludes by Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Choir, and Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan String Quartet.  Wreaths were laid by The Rt Hon. Carwyn Jones, AM, First Minister of Wales; by Councillor Rodney Berman, Leader of Cardiff Council; Saleem Kidwai, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales; and Norma Golten, South Wales Jewish Representative Council .

The Pledge was originally written by Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales 2005/6, for the 2006 Holocaust Memorial Day service which had the theme: One Person Can Make a Difference:

The fight for justice starts and ends with me
Truth is the sound of what I may say.
I can only be well when others are free
And right has a price I’m prepared to pay.

I refuse to be afraid
Of force or hatred
I will pull their lie like weeds,
Plant gardens of more generous seeds.

If I turn my back and walk away
Who’ll ask for others what I want for me?
I can only be well when others are free
And right has a price I’m prepared to pay.