Peacemaker Circles UK

Last night we held our annual celebration of the Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi, to coincide with the day he died in 1273, known as his 'Wedding Night', his reunion with the Beloved. We had an intimate evening of poetry, movement, Arabic chanting and singing and ended once again with a rich table of food brought by everyone who came. It was an evening influenced less by our usual Zen Buddhist roots, and much more by the sounds and spirit of Islam, as expressed in the spirit of Rumi and Sufism. As the Prophet Muhammad, blessings upon him, conveyed: "God is Beauty and loves what is Beautiful". Hopefully our evening together brought some of our beautiful human qualities to life for each other....

Following the Leeds ZP Circle on Tuesday, here is a summary of events by Steve Shinchi Daishin... Sadly I was ill and missed some of the meeting but here is an account of what I recorded. Maybe someone else could report in on the theatre ideas I missed ? We each drew up a mandala of the five Buddhas and decided to allocate our vision for the Circle to the relevant buddha family. We felt initially that meditation ideas should be designated to the Buddha Amitabha Padma family. However, Zang wondered about this and said that he wondered why we were allocating it to Amitabha when usually it is aligned with Vairocana Cosmic Buddha. Meditation does have a Padma quality in so far as it reveals aspects of our spiritual practise and how they relate to each person in the Circle; also the brahma viharas or 4 immeasurables are representative of this connectivity because of the interface between the meditator and the world. (Padma is equated with connectivity and community) but Vairo...

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 17th December 2008 we'll be holding our annual celebration of the spirit and teachings of Jelaluddin Rumi, the great Islamic mystic and poet who died on this day in 1273. Rumi is known for the universality of his love and the depth of his appreciation for the mystery of being Human and Conscious... We are grateful to all those who have kept Rumi's love alive throughout seven centuries of this world, for all the Whirling Dervishes who turn within the turning world within the still heart of Truth. The photo here is of Suleyman Hayati Dede, the beautiful dervish who kept Rumi's lineage alive during the years of persecution in Turkey in the 20th Century, and who kindly journeyed to the West to share his heart with everyone... Everyone is welcome at Howard's house in Withington for our feast of love! Ya Hazrati Mevlana, Haqq Dost!

On Sunday 7th December in Howard's house in Manchester, Barbara Salaam Wegmueller and her husband Roland Yakushi Wegmueller performed the first European Jukai Ceremony, transmitting the Zen Peacemaker Refuges and Precepts to Steve Suleyman Hart and Christopher Zangtsal Starbuck. The Refuges and Precepts of the Zen Peacemakers come from the Soto Zen lineage, brought to the West by Taizan Maezumi Roshi from Japan and adapted by Bernie Glassman for our Dharma family. This is the 84th generation in our line of Buddhist practitioners since the time of Shakymuni Buddha in India who started it all! Our ceremony was witnessed by Dene Donalds who served in the role of Elder. Dene is a member of the Order of Interbeing created by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh - it's wonderful to have been blessed with this link between our two socially engaged Buddhist traditions. Steve was given the new Dharma name "Shinchi Daishin" in Japanese, meaning "Deep Wisdom Great Heart...

On 3rd and 4th Dec in Leeds, Barbara Salaam Wegmueller from Switzerland taught a Circle Steward Training for the Zen Peacemakers. Steve, Phillippa, Anna, Kim, Laura and Zang took part, and were trained in Council Circle, Sociocratic voting, the Three Peacemaker Tenets and community building. The first day was held in Steve's house in Rothwell, and the second day in Anna's atmospheric front room in Leeds! On 5th and 6th in Manchester Barbara went on to lead a Zen Precepts training for Zang, Howard, Steve and Simon. We explored the 16 Zen Peacemaker Precepts, selecting ones of special interest and reflecting on our own experience of them through Council Circle. We also did zazen together and had a lot of fun! On the evening of Friday 5th Barbara taught at the final Great Heart Circle of the year, watching a short film on an artist who is a survivor of the Auschwitz prison camps. She told the group about plans to extend the annual Zen Peacemakers' Auschwitz healing retreat to ...

Barbara Wegmueller has asked Phillippa from the Leeds Zen Peacemaker Circle to act as our national "Story Collector"! What that means is that, any interesting, important or funny news from the UK communities can be sent to her, and she'll write them up to be passed on to the wider Zen Peacemakers in Europe. In turn, Clemens in Switzerland is going to collect all the stories from countries in Europe and send them to Ken in New York! Ken in New York will compile them all a few times each year and send out an international e-newsletter with human-interest stories from the whole Zen Peacemaker world... So, send anything you want shared to Phillippa at: parris258@yahoo.co.uk !! I think it very likely that we'll also put together a UK stories newsletter too for more in depth UK gossip... (oops, I mean 'serious spiritual information'!)