The next date for your diary -
inviting you to a sangha meeting in Perth
on the evening of
Tuesday 7 March 2017
Time: 7 - 9 pm
Venue: 'Taigh an t-Solais'
19 Fairmount Terrace
Barnhill
Perth
PH2 7AS
Details of where to find us are :: here
Note: Meetings are open to all.
No experience necessary.
Come along and join us - and bring your friends!
All meetings include Pureland Buddhist practice, tea and biscuits, time to check in with each other. We'll plan meetings in the future to include guided meditation, art and music. From time to time other members of the Amida Order will visit us.
There's no cost for these meetings - we welcome donations for Amida Shu projects in Delhi and the UK. Suggested amount between £2 and £5.
This is :: our website
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If you can't get to our meetings in Perth or would like to set up additional meetings at other times of the month, and you would like advice, mentoring and resources in order to do so:
Introducing Amida Shu Home Groups
We have a new offering for people who would like to practice and study Amida Shu Buddhism in their local area - Amida Shu Home Groups.
These are local groups which can be run by anyone who is interested in our form of Buddhism. Group leaders will be offered ongoing support from an Amida Shu mentor and a pack of resources, including a suggested script to make setting a group up nice and easy.
If you are interested in starting one of these groups you can have a look at the resources here. *****
Amida Shu Pureland Buddhism:
Faith and World Peace 1
That realm cannot be attained while living an easy and indifferent life - Ippen
River of Fire, River of Water
Between the river of fire and the river of water a narrow path leads to the West
Commentary:
This image derives from Shan Tao (613 - 681), one of the great teachers of Pure Land Buddhism. The river of fire represents hatred and the river of water greed. The West, for a Chinese Buddhist, represented the source of Buddhism (India) and, through the teachings of the Pure Land Sutras, the Pure Land created by Amida Buddha. For our purpose here the Pure Land may represent world peace. We can envisage ourselves as on a journey toward it. Behind us is Shakyamuni Buddha whose voice urges us onward. Ahead we see the Light of Amida in the distance. We are travelling toward that Light. Even though the two rivers sometimes come perilously close or even wash over the path, wetting or burning us, we still must go onward toward that Light.
This image gives a fine picture of the spiritual path. It is not so much that we proceed in the knowledge that “We shall overcome some day” as that even if we are doomed to failure there would be no other course open to us. Even if world peace were impossible, we would still have to conceive it and nourish it and work toward it. World peace is, therefore, an object of faith and a fitting description of the goal of the Dharma.
~ Dharmavidya David Brazier, Head of the Order of Amida Buddha
NAMO AMIDA BU