Peacemaker Circles UK

On Joy's suggestion, the Manchester University Interfaith Society invited Zang to give a presentation to their weekly meeting. About 6 people were present, representing a range of faiths including Christianity, Buddhism and Bahai. Zang briefly introduced the Peacemakers, then we read together the chapter "Holy Week" from Bernie's book "Bearing Witness", describing a week of interfaith celebrations during a street retreat. Then there was a Council Circle to reflect on our responses to the reading. The evening ended with a question and answer session. The Interfaith Society are planning to attend a Greek Orthodox Christian service in a couple of weeks' time to celebrate Easter, to which any of us are invited.

3 members of our Manchester Zen Peacemaker Circle - Kaite, Stacie and Zang - went tonight to the Manchester Buddhist Centre (belonging to the 'Friends of the Western Buddhist Order'... the main community of Howard in our circle, and the first community that Zang studied in depth with) for a very rare visit by Sangharakshita, founder of that movement 40 years ago. He is now an old man in his 80s, and no longer teaches often in public. He gave a 30 minute talk, standing up the whole time, in their beautiful shrine room to an audience of over 100 people. His talk focussed on those aspects of the FWBO which make it distinctive from traditional Buddhist lineages- and I think it's worth writing them down here, because they seem to connect with what we're doing with the Zen Peacemaker Community too! There were 6 points: 1 The FWBO and Western Buddhist Order is a community of Buddhists where commitment is primary and lifestyle secondary. Going for Refuge to the Buddha, D...

7 people attended this month's Peacemaker Circle, which was largely organised by John and Stacie. Zang facilitated on the day. After a check-in circle, Kaite told us about possible business ideas she'd been having, and we discussed the next circle to be held in her house. Then we practiced simple Qi Gong movements for 15-20 mins. We had a Lotus Sutra theme to the day- we read a chapter from "The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment", a commentary on the sutra by Sangharakshita, founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, which is Howard's main community. The chapter we read contained a parable from the Lotus Sutra on the Dharma as like rain that falls equally on all beings, and discusses the spiritual life in terms of growth and vegetation. We then held a full Council Circle on this topic. At the start of lunch, Stacie shared with us a Jewish prayer for breaking the bread, and told us a little about the customs connected with the Passover, which is next Sa...

We're happy to announce that a second UK Zen Peacemaker Circle will be starting in the near future in Leeds! If you'd like to be involved, send us an email and we'll put you in touch with the steward. email us at: willowtreeblues@gmail.com It will be great to have a second circle near the Manchester group- we can interlink and develop joint activites... it will give a clearer sense that the Circles are intended to be an embodiment of the image of Indra's Net from the Buddhist tradition- each facet of existence reflecting, containing and interpenetrating every other... "Interbeing" as the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh calls it beautifully! May all beings be well and happy, and may all suffering be transformed into joyous celebration and delight!