Welcome

Welcome to the Buddhist Council of Wales site. Here you will find details of events, information and news relating to the organisations which are members of the Council and also to other Buddhist organisations – a resource for all Buddhists in Wales.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

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


Monday 20 February 2012

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.

Monday 6 February 2012

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.