Amoghavajra first attended the Glasgow Buddhist Centre in 1978. He was 20 years old, with an interest in learning to meditate, looking to discover more about Buddhism and find meaning in life. He was inspired by the people he met and impressed by talks from Sangharakshita, with his deep experience of the Dharma and Vision for this new Buddhist Movement to change the world. He soon asked for ordination, with a desire to carry the mantle of this Vision. He was ordained by Sangharakshita, along with Harshaprabha, in 1982. He returned to support the community in Glasgow for some time, acting as mitra convenor for both men and women at the centre. But in 1997 he was asked by Harshaprabha to move to Colchester to help develop a small growing Sangha. With the close connection between Colchester and Ipswich, he took on the Men’s Mitra Convenor role for both Sanghas. An opportunity then arose in 2007 to become Chair of the Ipswich Buddhist Centre. Amoghavajra helped set a clearer vision for Ipswich and was pivotal in moving the Centre from The Cornhill to Friars Bridge Road. After about 9 years as Chair, bringing about a thriving Sangha in Ipswich, he passed on the role to Bodhivamsa. He now supports the Saturday morning Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation Sessions at the Centre which we wanted to discover more about:
How did the Saturday Morning Sessions all start at the centre?
When I was Chair, I could see there was a need to introduce something on a Saturday morning. It was clear that it was a good time of week, people hadn’t spent the day at work, and it was something we hadn’t tried before. I was speaking to lots of people at the centre about it, but couldn’t start it myself, as at the time I was away many weekends and took an extended break from the Centre after stepping down as Chair. But in that time, Ariyanivata took up this idea and got Saturday Morning Sessions going. He was doing a very good job with it. When I started getting reinvolved with the Centre, it was something I wanted to help out with. I thought I could work well with Ariyanivata as we complement each other quite well and have known each other for some time.
What was the original Vision for Saturday mornings?
The Vision for Saturday mornings is that it is people’s first taste of the Dharma and Buddhism. The Vision was to give something for them to enjoy and want to come back again; and to go away with something quite practical to benefit their life. Whether that’s something to do with meditation, ethics, a teaching or even an idea that could really change their life. Something that is going to make their life a bit better, a bit more fulfilled, and happier. It’s quite a simple Vision in that way.
Who is now part of the team?
It’s currently Ariyanivata, myself, Linz, Darren, Sue Double, Sue Martin and you have just joined the team Adam. Ivan is currently on a short break and we’ve had many other members of the team like Kamalasiha who have contributed a lot but had to move on.
We want the team to be able to contribute and exemplify Going for Refuge. Early on it was just myself and Ariyanivata, and we are both male and not so young! We thought it would be good if there were other people presenting as well. And we could train them to also hold the Vision of the Saturday Mornings, pass on the Dharma, and learn how a good session will run.
Have you had a particular favourite series of talks on Saturday morning over the years?
In the last year, we used what’s called the Brighton series of talks, which Sangharakshita gave in 1976. They are a very complete set of talks. There are only four of them and they link to Bhante’s poem ‘The Four Gifts’. In them, Bhante really communicates the Dharma. We had to update them a little to the 21st century, though. He gave them in the 1970s when the movement was a certain form and shape, and today, the audience is a little different. But I thought that was a very successful and very alive theme.
We have also explored Buddhism and the Arts. We have played music and shown paintings. When we did that on Saturday morning they were very enjoyable sessions, people loved them. But at the same it’s a bit of a risk. Because you could say ‘Where is the Dharma in this?’ But there is Dharma, and you can make it Dharmic. It is not explicit. But you can make the implicit explicit. And we did that.
The first bit of music we played was The Sex Pistols. And it is such a rousing intro to one of their songs, it has so much energy and driving beat. You could see people getting roused by it. But it’s quite crude. We played anything from The Sex Pistols to Wagner’s Parsifal Overture. The thing is you need to start from where you are at. Bhante would tell us classical music, that is culture. But our tastes and where we are at, is a bit cruder than that, so we need to start from where we are at. We have had Bob Dylan, Jonny Cash, Philip Glass. It was getting people to just listen. After you have meditated you are quite open, then listening to music you can see how it affects you. Music can do that. It can change your mood.
Have you learnt any life lessons from being a part of the Saturday morning team?
What I have to keep reminding myself is to come from my inspiration. Come from my Going for Refuge. We are communicating a Vision, it’s not just ideas. That’s what really interests people. Something you really believe in. They can see it in you. Especially if you exemplify it. Sometimes you think you have to tone everything down so it is acceptable, and to a certain degree you have to accommodate everybody’s temperaments, but I think there is also something about coming from your Inspiration, which can feel a bit risky. And coming from a place where you are not always sure where you are going to go. And if it is done appropriately, it is quite electrifying, you can tell in the atmosphere. So, I think when I talk about the things that really matter to me, I feel more deeply, and I can feel more exposed as if I am being seen, and that can be quite scary. But if I can have the courage to do that then the communication is more alive, as I am in touch with something that means a lot to me, and I think people can pick up on that. The energy of the session is then vibrant, with this electrified quality of the Dharma, and the transformative quality of the Dharma, you can see possibility.
What advice would you give somebody new to the centre wanting to learn to meditate?
I think the first thing I would do is, try and understand or get a sense of the person themselves. Try and ask them questions to get a sense of who they are, what their experience in meditation is, do they have any aptitude for it. Encourage them to meditate, maybe only for ten or twenty minutes, but to meditate daily. You can lose a lot of momentum if you forget to meditate for one or two days. Some people struggle with meditation, but ethics or study might be their thing. So, I think I would try and get a sense of who they are and listen to them to understand why they have come and encourage them to take the next step. Encourage them in whatever practice they are thinking of taking up. And with practice, I could mean something like ethical behaviour, changing their job, being vegan maybe, anything that they might want to start to make a positive difference in their life, just encourage them in that.
This is one of the things with Saturday Mornings, when somebody comes through the door, it’s like a metta practice. You see that this person has lots and lots of potential, and you are responding to how this person is. Some people are a long way along the Path when they first come along, some people are at the beginning but just encouraging people to become more and more fulfilled within themselves. And I do believe, and see that, the Dharma has a lot to offer in that regard. But really encouraging them to make something of their life, if they are thinking about doing something that would be of benefit to themselves and others. Just really encouraging them as much as I can. With meditation, if someone was struggling a bit, I would say ‘remember why you first came along, what was your motivation’? There is energy in that Vision. Just keep recalling that, is that still alive? That’s the fuel to keep you practicing! Remember the times when it has really worked.
I was there on Thursday and a couple of women came up to talk to me, and I just listened to them. They were asking a particular question but of course you can’t just give a stock answer, there’s no stock answer at ‘the back of the book’. It’s all about getting to see where people are and what’s going on for them, where they would like to be going in their life. And see what is there in the Dharma that will help them in that journey.
Are there any books you would recommend?
My memoir! What books would I recommend? On the Order Weekend that’s just passed I was in a group studying the Survey of Buddhism by Sangharakshita, which gives a perspective on all the Schools of Buddhism and that’s quite amazing actually. I would recommend the Survey of Buddhism or The Three Jewels for real Depth. I would recommend anybody interested in Triratna to read Sangharakshita, there is a vast collection and there are different styles he has written in. Some that may seem introductory and basic have a lot of profundity and depth. And his poems, read his poems, sometimes folk think he’s a bit of a head-banging, scholar, but you read his poems and you realise he has got a heart the size of an ocean. So definitely work your way through Sangharakshita. If you are looking for something a bit easier, perhaps look at his translation of the Dhammapada. He’s also got some slim volumes like Living with Kindness and Living with Awareness which are really profound and accessible texts. Bhante put Living with Kindness together because he thought we hadn’t really understood how deep the metta bhavana can go. When you read some of the things he writes in there, it’s amazing, and his writing is quite accessible.
So how did you get into writing your memoir and poetry?
It really started when I was the Chair, I was on the Exec of the European Chairs Assembly. And one afternoon, we were meeting in Birmingham at Madhyamaloka and we had afternoon tea with Bhante. We were sitting round talking, there was myself, Vajragupta, Nandhavajra, Saddhandhi and Bhante. At that time, a number of Order Members were writing books and Saddhanhandi just dropped a question to Bhante. She said ‘Who do you think should be writing books?’ and Bhante sat there and said “You”, looking and directing his gaze at me! I clocked that with mild terror because before then, I was not somebody who wrote or even thought of themself as artistic. But then I thought, ‘Ok, Bhante is my teacher, I have such reverence for him, I should do something about this.’ That’s where I thought ‘Oh, I could write a memoir.’ As I was writing the memoir, I started to think I need to learn how to write, if I’m going to write something like this. So, I went along to creative writing groups. Some evenings would be about writing prose, other evenings poetry, or sometimes short stories. I just got into writing in that way.
And I knew that Bhante had been a great writer, and writing had been very important for him. I don’t think I really got why, until I started to write this memoir. The effect of writing the memoir was that I suddenly started to know myself better, realise this is what I have done, this is who I am. It really clarified what my life is about.
And I just found that I carried on writing because it can help me to know what is going on for me. Sometimes there is something on the edge of my experience and if I start to write it becomes clearer, and within my conscious awareness. And my writing, about my experience, might help clarify things for other people as well. I think that’s why I’m doing it.
What’s alive in your practice at the moment?
Over the last 6 months my life has been quite outward, with quite a few responsibilities, trying to be of benefit to the world. I have done a lot of meditation the last few winters and gone quite deep into my experience. And out of that came a desire to try and be of benefit, in some way, to the world. And I feel now I just need to just settle down a bit and not be quite so busy.
So, one of the things I’m really interested in at the moment is the Trisvabhava Teaching. It comes from the Yogacara School of Buddhism. I was talking to Shubha about it recently, got a real sense it was an important teaching. You could summarise it by saying there is Wrong View, Right View and, if you are a Buddha, you don’t have any Views, you just directly perceive. The Goal is beyond words and concepts, but you need helpful concepts (Right View) to go beyond concepts. So that’s something I want to explore a bit more.
I think it maybe came out of being down the Buddhist Centre and coming across Views. We’ve got this idea that there are Wrong Views – seeing the world in a certain way, seeing people through our own Views, and I think that’s not very helpful when they have attachment, aversion and delusion at the heart of them. But if we become a bit more like one of the Buddha figures, we would see with Wisdom and through Dharmic eyes. We would act through Dharmic eyes. It would be a lot more mettaful, we wouldn’t be blaming people so much for things that go wrong. It may sound very heady, but for me it’s not, it’s really helpful and concrete.
