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.

Friday 1 November 2013

Open access for Inter Faith Week


Aro Ling Cardiff is offering open access to people of all faiths to view their Tibetan gompa during Inter Faith Week.  Ngakma Nor’dzin Pamo will be available to answer questions about Buddhism and Buddhist practice.  This is part of the Inter Faith Week Faith Trail.

For more information please go to Aro Ling Cardiff’s meetup page.


Friday 18 October 2013

New Buddhist Centre in Cardiff

Following the success of the Aro gTér Tradition’s centre in Bristol, Aro Ling Cardiff has opened in Whitchurch Village, north Cardiff.  The opening day on the 28th September was well attended and the centre has been enthusiastically received.

The centre is small, consisting of a single practice room.  It is decorated in the traditional colours of a Nyingma Gompa – the colours indicated by the artist of HH Düdjom Rinpoche.

Aro Ling Cardiff is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and offers:
early morning meditation 7:30 - 8:20
lunchtime meditation 12:30 - 1:30
relaxation sessions 10:30 - 11:30
Plus therapy: reflexology and Tibetan Energy Balancing by appointment.
Evening classes run on a Tuesday and Thursday 7 - 8:30

The October evening classes have been successful and well attended.  Two more short 4-week courses for this term begin in November:
Liberating Energy Through the Power of Song
Fundamental Realities

Liberating Energy Through the Power of Song will explore how our voices are a powerful expression of who we are and our primary means of communication. Yet we can also often be blocked at this energetic level – lacking in confidence and unwilling to sing out. Through voice exercises, and the use of ancient syllables and melodies from the yogic traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, this course will help us learn to free the power of our voice. No previous singing experience necessary. 

Fundamental Realities will look at what it means to be human, impermanence and death, karma, and the experience of dissatisfaction.

For further information go to <aro-ling.org> or <meetup.com/aro-ling-cardiff> or contact the centre on 07092 010756 or at aro.ling.cardiff@gmail.com

Monday 14 October 2013

Message from the Chair


The Buddhist Council of Wales apologises for the absence of its website for an extended period of time.  This was due to a problem with the service provider.  I am happy to say that the domain of buddhistcouncilofwales.org.uk is now secure.

We look forward to receiving your enquiries and to the normal functioning of our virtual presence.

Best wishes from Nor’dzin Pamo,
Chair of the Buddhist Council of Wales
.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Teachings at Palpung Wales in June 2013


HE Khandro Rinpoche will be teaching at Palpung Wales on June 15 and 16, commencing with a talk on the teacher-student relationship and guru yoga. She will also be commencing a cycle of teachings on the creation and completion stages of deity yoga which will continue over the next several years. 

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, the popular Kagyu lama, will be teaching at Palpung Wales on the weekend of June 28-30.

Fri 28th PUBLIC TALK at 6.30pm: How to keep practice alive in daily life?
Sat 29th – Sun 30th (10am-12 & 2pm-4pm) COURSE: Confusion Arises as Wisdom – Gampopa´s Heart Advice on the Path of Mahamudra (the title of Rinpoche's latest book).

Please see the Palpung Wales web site for booking and details or email palpungukoffice@gmail.com or call 01495 313395.



Wednesday 3 April 2013

NHS Chaplains

The National Secular Society (NSS) are opposing the need for Hospital Chaplains in the NHS.  The following extracts are from an article on Hospital Chaplains which can be read in full here and you can also sign an e-petition in support for NHS Chaplaincy services here.

"[hospital chaplains] spend only a minority of their time with people of explicit religious affiliation. Much more time is spent on people of no explicit religious belief, but whose illness has brought them to a place of uncertainty, anxiety, and questioning, and who ask the chaplain to accompany them through that experience. [Chaplains] don’t proselytise (it’s against their code of conduct), and are bound by their professional standards to be open, accepting and non-judgemental to those who ask for their help. [Chaplains] are likely to have well developed skills in secular ethics, philosophy, sociology and many other disciplines, and also often have a profound body of experience to draw on. Almost uniquely in the contemporary NHS, chaplains organise their time so as to give their patients the attention they need, rather than working strictly to timed appointments. 

[Secularists] tend to argue simply that chaplaincy should be taken out of NHS hands altogether and, in effect, privatised by handing it over to religious organisations. [This] would make chaplaincy more narrowly religious, less helpful to patients, and virtually useless to NHS professionals and the institutions in which they work. A chaplain employed by a Church would see only patients who were members of that Church; a chaplain employed by the NHS is available for anyone. A chaplain employed by a Church would have no commitment or loyalty to the hospital they worked in. An NHS chaplain not only has that commitment and loyalty, but has an often explicit remit to help guide and challenge the institution when needed. The chaplain is also one of a usually small group of professionals whose role is to resist the tendency of modern technological biomedicine to see sick people merely as broken-down machines, and  who try to affirm and promote the human values of good healthcare."

Wednesday 20 March 2013

101 Top Sites on Religion and Sacred Texts

Masters In Divinity.org, a web guide for people who are interested in the religious studies and pursuing work in related fields, have published an article that features 101 Top Sites on Religion and Sacred Texts: http://www.mastersindivinity.org/sacred-texts.html  The sites on this list offer insight into the sacred texts, cultures and beliefs of the world's largest religions.

While much of the site focuses on Christianity and the Bible, there is information on the other holy books and writings of religious leaders from around the world

Sunday 10 March 2013

The Sun Beaten Path

The film The Sun Beaten Path is touring Wales in the Wales One World Film Festival 15th March - 3rd April 2013 and will be shown in Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Swansea and Cardiff.

Film synopsis:


The Sun Beaten Path (PG)

Director: Sonthar Gyal
Starring: Yeshe Lhadruk, Lo Kyu
Tibet, 2011, 1 hour 29 minutes, subtitles
With vast, desolate landscapes and often dream-like sequences, this cinematic gem is a really authentic portrait of contemporary Tibet. Walking home to a remote part of Tibet through barren mountains and dusty wind-swept plains, the troubled Nyma is joined by an old man whose gently persistent good sense allows Nyma to gradually unburden himself. A simple tale, elliptically told that really shows how Tibet is now with smart Chinese buses speeding past Tibetan couples prostrating themselves on the hard shoulder all the way to Lhasa.

Saturday 9 February 2013

Sutra

On the 29 and 30 of March a production called Sutra is coming to the Wales Millennium Centre in the Donald Gordon Theatre, which features 20 practicing Buddhist Monks from the Shaolin Temple in China.  

The production is a collaboration between  the choreographer Sidi Larbi, the sculptor Antony Gormley (Angel of the North) and the Warrior monks themselves. Aged between 10 and 26 the monks performing follow a strict Buddhist doctrine, with kung-fu and tai chi martial arts forming a part of their daily ritual.