Thursday 11th Dec.
Amita "showed and shared" his Xmas card that he and his wife Judith had made as a collaborative piece. The structure of the mandala is around a traditional Tibetan form, with four of the cardinal directions coloured to represent Amitaba, Ratnasambhava, Akshobya and Amoghasiddhi.  The four great themes of Advent are represented as well. Love, Hope, Peace and Joy. In a Buddhist context these are just as centrally important. Symbols of the time of year form the central part of the mandala, with the rising sun of winter solstice at the centre. A hug, a star, a dove of peace, a candle, a present, a baby, the toast, figgy pudding.  Love and peace to you all xxxx
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We welcomed Kachen Stanba, accompanied by Lal Davies, to our July sangha gathering. 
Kachen Stanba has been visiting the UK over the summer to raise awareness and funds to build the Shambala Meditation Centre in Ladakh, India. On arriving, he paid homage to our shrine and made an offering of a khata - traditional blessing scarf. This khata was blessed by Kachen Stanba and his students in Tashi Lhunpo monastery. Moksanita opened the gathering and we all saluted the shrine in call and response. She then accepted a framed portrait of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on behalf of us all. It had been blessed during the Dalai Lama’s six-week long stay at Kachen Stanba’s monastery Tashi Lhunpo in South India. 
This was ceremoniously added to the shrine. We all heard how Kachen Stanba had been called to the Dharma by the sight of peaceful monks when he was 10 years old and had asked his family for permission to join a monastery. We were treated to a lively and moving account of his journey aged 10 from Ladakh to south India, a distance of some 2000 miles, by various modes of transport: car, bus and train. We heard of the Geshe Lharampa training he received over a period of 24 years, and the rigorous day to day schedule of pujas, intensive study, memorising text, meditation and debate. For those of us practising within Triratna it was a precious opportunity to learn about Dharma practice in the Gelug tradition and the importance of rigorous study and mind training and the place of debate amongst monks as a means of maintaining mindfulness and clarifying conceptual understanding. After a tea break, Vidyamani led a Metta Bhavana meditation and before ending, we expressed our gratitude to our visitors for their generous gifts, material and spiritual. We wish them health and success in sharing the Dharma through their journeying and teachings.

On Saturday 28th June at Sychdyn there was celebration in the air. The gathering had a twofold purpose.
We held a Mitra ceremony for two new Mitras and also marked the launch of the new Welsh Puja book. 
Anantamani who translated and has now revised the Welsh Puja book with the help of two other Order Members, shared with us the journey the project has taken and communicated the challenges and excitement of translation. It was a moment to appreciate the skill and commitment of those who have made it possible for Welsh speakers to celebrate pujas in their first language. Being able to do this, as Anantamani said, was like coming home.
Themes of interconnection, friendship, and the growing sangha continued with the Mitra ceremony.
Moksanita and Amita, welcomed Zoe and Phil respectively, as new Mitras. It is always an inspiring and uplifting occasion and there was much rejoicing in their qualities and heartfelt well-wishing.
Triratna is a truly international movement with the precepts translated into 42 languages. During our concluding Threefold Puja, led by Vidyamani, the precepts were recited in Spanish, Turkish, Welsh as well as English and Pali.
Wherever communal practice, meditation and ritual takes place: an ever widening circle, the sangha grows.
 

The 14th of June marked the first gathering of women Mitras at Sychdyn. Moksanita, Sraddhadipa and Prashrabdhi led and held space and were joined by Shubhavandana. Our theme was ‘ritual’, with Sraddhadipa opening with an inspiring and spacious talk reflecting on her own experience of ritual and the place of ritual and devotion within Buddhism, and Triratna in particular. 
There was a lovely opportunity for people to be in groups of 3 or 4 and meet other Mitras for the first time, or deepen existing connections. Lively small group discussion focussed among other things, on experiences of and feelings towards ritual. There was reflection on what opens our hearts to the sacred in the seemingly ordinary. 
The gathering ended with a sevenfold puja with Sakyamuni mantra, during which offerings were made to the shrine.  By the close of the puja the shrine was adorned with items of personal significance added by each woman, creating a wonderful sense of community and shared devotion. 

On this day we held our Buddha Day celebration with a joyful recollection of some stories from the life of the Buddha. We meditated to begin, and there followed some stories from the Buddha’s life. As well as expressing gratitude for the life of the historical Buddha we reflected on the mythical and imaginative qualities of some of the stories as well as the ways in which they embodied his teachings. There was an opportunity to move into small group discussion where we shared our connection with the Buddha.  After the tea break we meditated again and brought the morning to a close with a Threefold Puja and Sakyamuni mantra. Offerings of fresh rose petals were made as the puja concluded. 

What a lovely day! Twenty five of us met in Sychdyn .
​Talks by Vidyamani and Deniz on the four devine abodes. Loving Kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Meditations led by Amita and Moksanita. Lunch was a  delight, as it always is in these events, with dishes shared and lovely conversation. After lunch we had a "conversation cafe" - quick discussions around personal experiences , related to the four devine abodes. 

Rejoicing in Anantamani - here celebrating Parinirvana Day!

We’re delighted that Sion, a long-standing friend of the Llangollen Buddhist group, has been invited for Ordination. We had a lovely evening celebrating him and wishing him well on his Ordination retreat which starts in September.
We have continued to meet every Thursday and welcome regulars, and newcomers, and old friends who can’t come very often because of distance and other commitments. We meet, meditate, discuss, reflect, learn more about the Dharma and what that means in our lives. All are welcome.
We now sponsor three outreach meditation groups, in Oswestry, Denbigh and Ruthin, and one of our Order Members is a Chaplain at Glyndwr University.
We organised a Meditation for Well-being Day in June in Llangollen which was well-attended and appreciated, and we plan to run another day like this in early spring next year.

On Thursdays we have been following a series on the Bodhisattva Path and the qualities to be cultivated in our own lives - generosity, ethics, energy, patience, mindfulness and wisdom. We had a special ceremony in November to welcome Deniz as a new Mitra, and in December we celebrated sangha and spiritual friendship and particularly thanked Padmasara for all she has done to keep the Llangollen group going and to help so many of us on our spiritual path through teaching and friendship. She is planning to move away from the area soon and will be much missed.
We have also had good news that Sion who has been part of our Llangollen sangha for many years has been invited for ordination next year (2019). Sadhu Sion!
Here are some of us at the celebration of sangha and friendship!

We are continuing to meet every Thursday 7pm and are planning some special events in 2019. There will be a weekend retreat at Taraloka in May, and a Mental Health Day in Llangollen in June. And of course we will be welcoming Sion back as an Order Member!

In May, we completed our theme of The Three fold Way - ethics, meditation and wisdom, looking at the Three Lakshanas, or characteristics of our lives - impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and lacking a separate and fixed self. We looked at how these ‘negative’ experiences can be doorways to freedom, liberating. June was Buddhist Action Month, and we shared stories of how we put compassion into action in our lives.
We’ll be following that up with a multi-cultural story telling evening in October, sharing stories of kindness.
In July we welcomed Prakashadhi (ex Ros) back to Llangollen.
August is holiday time and many people are away but we are continuing to meet for simple meditation evenings.
Our new programme starts in September - we’ll be looking at the Bodhisattva path - the qualities of one who lives to benefit all living beings.
Shrewsbury sangha are holding a Street meditation on September 1st on Pride Hill Shrewsbury 12-2pm. Just go along if you’d like to witness to the power of mindfulness and metta!