Nov 12th, 2009
Inspiring more young people in the Dharma……
Do you remember a blog post back in January this year about Lindsay talking to FWBO Chairmen and women about how our centres could inspire more young people in the Dharma? In September, Taraloka hosted the European Buddhist Union annual meeting with thirty-two teachers and representatives of various European-based Buddhist movements. They too are exploring how to inspire young people in the Dharma and they invited Lindsay to give a talk about what we are doing in the FWBO. You can listen to her talk here. There is now a growing momentum amongst our young committed people in the FWBO to communicate their own love of the Dharma to other young people. Lindsay has continued to be involved in encouraging this momentum.
Lydia and Kate
Last month she helped lead a highly successful weekend in Sheffield for 35 young FWBO Buddhists from around the UK, all in their late teens, 20’s and 30’s …. discussing what inspires them and how they can inspire more young people. Until recently Lindsay has been the only Taraloka community member in this age bracket!! But no longer… her two new Taraloka community members, Jo and Ginny, went with her to Sheffield. During the weekend Lindsay, Kate Arrowsmith (from Sheffield) and Vidyaruci (from Birmingham) gave talks which are available here on Free Buddhist Audio. And there is another Facebook group where young Buddhists can continue to get to know each other : Young FWBO Buddhists Kula (you’ll be asked to sign into Facebook to access this link)
At the end of the weekend, there were lots of ideas and a great deal of enthusiasm to go back home and help start more such activities locally. Lindsay is confident that this momentum will continue to grow in 2010. So hopefully you will see events running at your local FWBO centre. As part of this momentum Lindsay and Vajratara (with Ginny and Jo) are running a young women’s weekend at Taraloka on 29-31st January 2010.
Lindsay says: If you’re in your late teens, 20s and 30s come and join us at the end of January! The weekend will be a precious opportunity for young women to meet and practise together, to discuss what is alive for us as young women on the path, and to have fun! In 1976 Sangharakshita gave a talk called “Blueprint for a New World”. We’ll be exploring his ideas from that talk : whether - and how - they relate to us today. Are we, as young women, really transforming ourselves and the world into a spiritual community? We look forward to seeing you there!
You can listen to that talk by Sangharakshita here.
