This Autumn and Winter see the return of a popular group, facilitated by Rory Singer. It will take the form of two six-week courses, for which advance booking is required. See the Weekly Programme section for details of dates.
The group will focus on deepening our understanding of the Buddha’s core teachings, and will be centred round a structured contemplation of specific Suttas, in which participants will be invited to explore the meaning of the teaching, how it resonates for them personally, and how it can be applied to their own lives.
It is with some sadness that we wish to announce that the Bodhi Garden will cease to operate at 7a Ship Street Gardens as and from May 2011.
Please note: While the centre will cease to operate from this location, it is the charitable trust’s hope that, as and from autumn 2011, the Bodhi Garden will continue to offer a programme of weekend meditation retreats and workshops, led by invited teachers with an established relationship with the current centre, at hired locations in the Brighton and Hove area.
The decision not to renew the lease on Ship Street Gardens after April 2011 is based on a careful review of the centre’s current circumstances. The Bodhi Garden is and has always been sustained through the principle of dana. This takes many forms, notably the offering of continued work and support by facilitators, managers and Dharma teachers and the offering of financial contributions by individuals to support the upkeep and lease of the premises. While this arrangement of mutual and voluntary support has allowed for a wonderful expression of the means by which the Dharma has flourished since the time of the Buddha, it has presented many practical difficulties since the centre’s inception in 2001. Typically, the day-to-day running of the centre has remained heavily dependent on the efforts of a small number of people.
It has now become clear that the energy, support and skills required to create the conditions upon which the centre can thrive are no longer materialising. Particularly in terms of ‘people power’, the difficulties in securing the effective and enduring commitment of individuals to fulfil key roles at the centre have become insurmountable and the burden of responsibility on a few shoulders is now too great. The centre has also experienced a significant drop-off in both the number of people offering regular financial support.
As a charitable trust whose object is to support the establishment and development of Buddha-Dharma in England, it remains our intention to continue, within its capabilities, to support a non-residential Dharma programme (principally through invited teachers in a similar format to the current weekend programme) in the Brighton and Hove area via the continued online presence of the Bodhi Garden. We hope that sitting groups currently resident at Ship Street Gardens will be able to continue either by finding other premises in the city from which to operate or by re-establishing themselves as sitting groups based in members’ houses. The latter model is, as you may know, the most established western form of the provincial or ‘satellite’ Dharma group and, despite the existence of the space in Ship Street Gardens, remains the form favoured by many Buddhist groups in this city.
We would like to thank you for any support you have offered the Bodhi Garden to date. It is through our combined efforts that the rather unique idea of an inter-denominational Buddha-Dharma space, which has brought different traditions together under one roof in a mutually respectful and authentic manner, has been able to manifest in ways few once imagined possible.
We hope current circumstances may not just be an ending but also a beginning for further contributions to the flowering of Dharma teachings in this area.
In Dharma,
The Bodhi Garden managers and trustees