Latest Blogs
Lockdown exit- ascend carefully.
Posted on Saturday 30th May 2020 - 1.06pm
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? George Elliot.
Nicola was nervous. I was anxious. We are beginning the slow ascent from lockdown. This week I was mid flight pointing a finger at a friends imperfect practice of lockdown regulations when I suddenly came alive to my own. And oh the exquisite tenderness that arose in that moment for me, for my friend and for all of us.
Walking through the botanics I can feel judgement of others arising in me ( can you really be that clueless as to walk in a group of 4?) and breathing in and out, I... Read More
An unceasing prayer of the heart: dig deep
Posted on Friday 24th Apr 2020 - 11.32am
“ When our daily activities teach us about our relationship to all things, our life becomes an unceasing prayer of the heart. It solves the problem how to practice and fully participate in our lives at the same time. It says that service is not a burden; rather it defines service as that which feeds our aliveness.” Rodney Smith in Voices of Insight.
It’s taken more than a month of lockdown but there it was this morning; the thought, ‘welcome to groundhog day’. The novelties, the stressors, and occasional tense communications involved in making the transition have passed.... Read More
Negative Capability - the view from 5 floors up
Posted on Friday 27th Mar 2020 - 8.43am
Thursday 26th March 7.59pm in the Wyndford estate, Glasgow. The clapping begins… I join in and there it is …the feeling. ‘We’re alive, how beautiful, we are all still alive.’ And there’s the gratitude. ‘Thank you to everyone who is helping make that happen..’ How quickly things have changed. Two weeks ago we were planning our next round of classes and I was worried about how little publicity I had done.
This past week has seen us consider how quickly we miss the touch of our friends and family, how precious being part of a crowd is and how online really isn’t the same as being in... Read More
Happy New Year to all beings everywhere!
Posted on Tuesday 31st Dec 2019 - 9.44am
“Thus the real problem, the central problem even, of the spiritual life is how to conserve and unify our energies” The Bodhisattva Ideal, by Sangharakshita
Dancing in the dark on the balcony 5 floors up in Maryhill to a sound track of classic oldies (beamed wirelessly to my ears) my energy starts moving. Joy, delight, happiness in the present. It's 2020 and this year we are exploring the 4th perfection of the Bodhisattva; the perfection of Virya or energy. Not just any old energy though, but energy focused in pursuit of the good.
Our Bodhisattvas are beings who sit on... Read More
What does it mean to share?
Posted on Monday 23rd Sep 2019 - 3.56pm
A quiet but determined change is taking place in Glasgow Buddhist Centre; we are expanding our sense of what it is to be a sharing community.
We are growing our practice of generosity (Dana). We are growing the dana of giving our time and energy. New circles of members (kulas) have sprung up, each playing their part in running the whole centre. Self managing groups (kulas) are running our festivals, our bookshop, and a new kula has just been given the responsibility of looking after the building itself and how it looks.
Dana is also practiced in giving confidence and... Read More
The greatest gift . . . . .
Posted on Wednesday 24th Jul 2019 - 12.09pm
In 2023, just 4 years time, Triratna Glasgow Buddhist Centre will be celebrating 50 years of continuous practice and sharing of the Buddha’s dharma in Scotland. Buddhist ideas and practices are having a greater impact on life and people in Scotland than ever before.
Our adoption of the dana (gift) economy is bringing us into a closer relationship with the young, with those who are dissatisfied with the materialism of western cultures, with those who are experiencing, very personally and directly, the suffering brought by a world driven by greed, hatred and ignorance. ... Read More
Kshanti required: Dharma, Meditation and other pathways in the GBC under construction
Posted on Monday 22nd Apr 2019 - 3.29pm
In our recent sangha survey we asked ‘what is the purpose of the Glasgow Buddhist Centre?’As a community, we responded with one voice. “We exist to deepen our spiritual practice and share the dharma with others”. At our sangha gathering in March, our aspirations became clearer. We want to realise the dharma more fully in ourselves as well as make it more literally and educationally accessible to the people of Glasgow and Scotland. Right now new structures are being imagined that will help us do that.
One of these new structures is, of course, a dharma and meditation teaching kula.... Read More
Searching for a pole star . . . . join the conversation
Posted on Monday 11th Mar 2019 - 2.53pm
The conversation has begun. In small circles order members and mitras are talking about the future of the GBC. One asks, what would a financial strategy look like for the GBC? Another circle of spirited dialogue is exploring, what kind of gift do we want to make the people of Glasgow in any outreach programme? And the dharma teachers meeting, a long standing decision making group in the centre, is asking, what is our work and who are we? The council of trustees is exploring how to build the spiritual practice of dana and create a deeper culture of appreciation.
There is one... Read More
Kuladharini
Posted on Tuesday 1st Jan 2019 - 2.01pm
‘Flame is lit from flame, and ultimately life’s inspiration springs not from theories about life but from life itself’ Urgyen Sangharakshita The Survey of Buddhism.
‘The nature of your chairmanship of Glasgow Buddhist Centre changed radically the moment Bhante died’ These were Dassini’s words to me at our first meeting after Urgyen Sangharakshita’s death. I had been in the centre learning the role of chair for only two weeks; the formal handover had not yet taken place. And the truth of what she said landed like a thunderclap. The flame of the Buddha Dharma that our teacher had... Read More
