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.

Many Paths up the Mountain

Many Paths up the Mountain:
Wisdom Tales from the Buddhist Tradition
by Steve Killick and Mark Rivett

A Special Performance
On Sunday 4th December 2011
2.30 - 4.30 pm

At the Cardiff Buddhist Centre

Few Western followers of Buddhism know that stories were at the heart of Buddhism from its founding. When the first Buddhist Council met just after the Buddha’s Parinirvana, three collections of sutras were recognized as genuine teachings. Of these one consists of stories about the Buddha’s past lives: the Jataka Tales. There are 547 of these and they are said to have been spoken by the Buddha himself.

In this performance, Steve and Mark will tell a variety of stories that will span the Buddhist traditions including a number of Jataka tales and some of the paradoxical Zen stories. The performance will be an opportunity for Buddhists to learn about a less well-known aspect of their tradition and for non-Buddhists to learn about the wealth of teaching tales that have been at the heart of the religion since its founding 2500 years ago.

There is no charge for the performance but donations (Dana) towards the Buddhist Centre are welcome.

Steve Killick and Mark Rivett are storytellers and writers. They have worked together on several shows including 'The King and Corpse' and ‘Oedipus’. As well as performing they run workshops on using myths and stories in health and therapeutic contexts.

Steve is a clinical psychologist and Mark a family psychotherapist. Both stories and Buddhism have a central role in their lives and work.

The Cardiff Buddhist Centre is located at
12 St Peter's Street Roath Cardiff CF24 3BA,
for a map see  http://www.cardiffbuddhistcentre.com/contact.html

 ‘Steve and Mark effortlessly spun the tales with no apparent ego but clear and concise telling.'
– Storylines, 2010.

Peacebuilders Exhibition

Enlightenment Stupa Consecration, Criccieth

The Holocaust Memorial Day

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust are holding free Holocaust Memorial Day 2012 Workshops in Wales.  There will be a Cardiff workshop on Monday 26 September and a Wrexham Workshop on Wednesday 02 November.  If you would like to book a place on the Workshop you can email the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust at enquiries@hmd.org.uk or call our office on 0845 838 1883.

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place every year in the UK on 27 January and commemorates the millions who have been murdered in the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.  Many inter-faith groups have in the past used Holocaust Memorial Day to raise contemporary issues regarding human rights and equality and the importance of learning the lessons of the past to create a safer, better future. 

As well as highlighting the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, faith and inter-faith groups have also drawn on the persecution and murder of Gypsies, Gay men, disabled groups and many others by the Nazis, as well as subsequent genocides.

On the 26 September or on 02 November you’ll have a chance to hear more about the 2012 theme Speak Up Speak Out, receive training in activity organising, and meet others who are also planning to mark HMD within your area.  The Cardiff workshop is being held at Race Equality First, Friary Centre, Grey Friars Road, Cardiff, CF10 3FA between 1.30pm to 4.30pm, and the Wrexham workshop will take place at Wrexham Arts Centre, Rhosddu Road, Wrexham, LL11 1AU with the same running times.  We will be providing refreshments. 

If you are unable to attend the workshop, we will still be delighted to help you mark HMD 2012 and we have a wide selection of free resources to help you mark 27 January.

Speak Up, Speak Out - HMD 2012

‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’ Martin Luther King Jr.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

PO Box 61074

London SE1P 5BX

t. 0207 735 7028

m. 07950 672878

e. charlie.lewis@hmd.org.uk 

www.hmd.org.uk

Charity no. 1109348