SundayChairs Homily – October 2025
All Change!
In these little pieces of writing I often talk about Change, sometimes directly but often obliquely. Accepting and understanding change is an important part of Buddhism and life. It is a part that we often find difficult or even sometimes impossible to accept.
We do understand change at many levels, we plan all the time for change, each day is different and often doesn’t go to plan. We know this yet we are still caught out when things change. You could say that all change is unexpected, even if we have planned for it. Plans are just a prediction of the future, they are not the future, that will only unfold to us in the present moment. It is worth exploring, maybe in meditation, our strong desire for stasis, for things to never change. This stasis is one of the ways in which we. construct our sense of SELF. We seem to have an inbuilt wrong view that we could be immortal, that this constructed self would persist, if things didn’t change. Yet we know, and Buddhism certainly makes it clear, that all things do and must change. Sometimes we want things to go back to how they were. I notice this as I grow older, I think back over my memories and think it would be good to be young again. However, I also remember being young and thinking that life will be much better when I am older and all this painful teenage angst is gone. So whether one is old or young, there is still Dukkha to contend with, there is still a moving, changing world around me.
It is not the world that can become still, it is actually me that must become still. That stillness is an openness to change, a deep understanding of Pratitya-Samutpada. The mind that is not still (maybe our familiar state) is normally just one of resisting and railing against change. Buddhist Practice, in its many forms, is getting us to that state of openness to change. Meditation quietens the mind so that we can SEE and understand the change that we are fully immersed in. This is Perfect View (Samyag-Drsti – the first of the Noble Eightfold path), where we see the world as it really is, rather than how we would like it to be.
Recently I visited a Castle in Lewes Sussex, one of the many such mighty buildings that exist in our Country. It was built just after the Battle of Hastings, nearly a thousand years ago. The castle has seen much change and has taken part in both forcibly enacting that change, but also again, militarily, defending the status quo. Kings, Queens and those that would be rulers trying to seize power have battled here, often with much loss of life and harm. Luckily for us those times have passed and we live quieter these days, but even that will of course change.
A little while ago you will have received an email with some news about the Chairship of the Ipswich Buddhist Centre. It may be hard to accept but even the Chair must change. I have been in the role for about 10 years and now it is time for change. A change for both you and me. I will go off and find something else to do, and you will, I hope welcome the new Chair. I have seen many Chairs of other Centres come and go over the years. A new person in the role brings new ideas and many benefits.
There are about 50 Triratna Centres in Europe and so quite a few of them are in this state of changing Chairs, as we are in Ipswich. Sometimes this process goes well, but it also can go badly and the choosing of a new chair process can end in a split or disagreement in the Sangha, especially amongst the Order Sangha. I would just like to sing the praises of the Order in Ipswich. As I’m intimating, choosing a Chair can be difficult, sometimes no one wants to do the job, sometimes many people think they should be the new Chair. However, the local Order engaged wholeheartedly with the process of amicably arriving at a new Chair. I detailed the process more fully in my letter, so I will just say that it was a process of rejoicing in the merits of those Order Members who where interested in becoming Chair. Holding this positive view of change, enabled all local Order Members to be lifted and gain from the process.
For those that didn’t receive or read the letter, then I am pleased to tell you that Dharmacharini Shubha will be our new Chair. Shubha has been in Ipswich for ten years. Slowly and carefully working for the Dharma amongst our Sangha in Ipswich. Whilst residing in Ipswich she has become an Anagarika and a Private Preceptor. Most of you will have met her, but if not then do take the time to get to know Shubha.
It takes a while to pass on all the little things that a Chair does, and Shubha and I have started that process. The final, ritual and formal handover to Shubha is a few months away in the new year, on Sunday 4th January 2026. We are hoping that, depending on his health our president, Arthapriya will attend. But importantly we are hoping that you, our wonderful Sangha will all attend and enjoy a positive afternoon celebrating change.
All the Best
Bodhivamsa
