JTaylor

I'm keen to attend classes in Buddhist philosophy and practice and wondered who else has experience.

Buddhism appeals on a number of levels: the absence of a deity; its practical application; the prospect of finding inner peace and its historical position as a tolerant, considerate and inclusive religion.

All comments welcome.

James

KiwiGTI

Probably the best place to go in the UK is the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.

http://www.fwbo.org/

Trout

iTrader: (1)

For some online experience look at Integral Institute and look up Big Mind Process.

The latter is led by one of the foremost Buddhist teachers in North America, Genkpo Roshi, and is simple as well as mind shifting. Ken Wilber spent several years seeking out a teacher and he chose Roshi.

In the UK there are a lot of Buddhist centres dotted around the country. For a retreat based on Buddhist principles there is a temple in Lockerbie and a commune in Findhorn that is world famous. They do a one week 'introduction' to peaceful living.

Other enlightenment from Thich Nhat Hahn on his Plum Tree Farm in France - you can find it on Google. Again lots of retreats each season and a lot of online material.

Just some thoughts.

Rannoch

JTaylor

Thank you. Do you have any personal experiences Kiwi?

JTaylor

Thanks Rannoch,

I subscirbed to http://in.integralinstitute.org/ for 12 months; It's an awesome site and collective. Again, do you have any personal experiences with Buddhism?

KiwiGTI

I went to the FWBO in NZ and it was really good. Especially their meditation classes.

If you go to an evening session which they had once a week they would spend the 1st hour doing meditation, which was the most relaxing thing I've ever done, and then the 2nd hour they would just break up into groups and discuss things in a philosophical manner under the guidance of one of the more experienced people.

Turbohot

My personal experience with Buddhism is that I come from the part of the world where it was originated.I have studied it and it seen it in practice around me.Buddhist philosophy talks balance in life with common sense.These two ingredients have made it very popular.Buddhism embraces all without any discrimination and,accepts a human being as they are.All the best,James.Hope you find it enjoyable and worthwhile

JTaylor

Nice one. Any reason for not keeping it up or was that just circumstantial? Would you consider going back? Sorry for the questions.

We have an Ashoka centre down here in Plymouth where they offer 2hour courses with a similar structure.

http://www.meditationinplymouth.org/...on-classes.htm

I'm on holiday next week but will almost certainly be attending when I return. I feel strangely apprehensive.

JTaylor

KiwiGTI

This is worth a read too.

http://www.buddhanet.net/budasa2.htm

Trout

iTrader: (1)

J,

my experience is through studying the references above - my path is in a slightly different guise and is fed from Buddhism as well as Hinduism from which Buddhism stemmed of course.

My experience of the teaching is wonderful. I hope you get the same from it.

Not Buddhist but a stunning 'bible' for enlightenment is The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. Also from him The Book of Secrets.

And speaking of secrets watch www.thesecret.tv

KiwiGTI

I left the country and just never got around to attending over here but it was very enjoyable.

It wasn't what I expected too, the people that attended were surprising, physics lecturers, estate agents, IT people etc. So the discussions were very entertaining. They would have a topic and then everyone would just talk about it for an hour expressing their opinions so it was like an exercise for the mind.

JTaylor

It's interesting you know. I first heard about Integral Thinking from an inspiring management coach/consultant called Mark who worked with these people http://www.calcomgroup.com/1024/. You're only the second person ever to have mentioned them (The Integral Institute) and aren't you in the same line of work?

JTaylor

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

cmon J, admit it, you just like the sandals !!!!

(feel free to birch me... )

JTaylor

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I am indeed in a similar line of work. I found them through studying development of conciousness and so hooked up to Wilbers thinking on A Theory of Everything.

I am also very interested in Spiral Dynamics which Wilber discusses a lot. A great area of thinking with very practical application.

Just apply the memes to the various posters on Snet and you will see what I mean!

R

Turbohot

QUOTE=Rannoch>Just apply the memes to the various posters on Snet and you will see what I mean! R

JTaylor

I was fascinated by our discussions around this; it opened up a whole new world. My only frustration was being unable to find a forum to express what I'd learnt after the course had finished. I was a trainer/coach with Royal Mail Sales and Customer Service for 18 months and would like to get back into this field, but with a more inspiring subject matter.

P.S. I think the coach was called Mark Reynolds; dark haired chap who used to play for Millwall.