Amida News

20th March: Hussam al Nawab admitted to Amida-shu

... at a ceremony at The Buddhist House conducted by Dhrmavidya

13th March: Caroline Screen admitted to Amida-shu

...at a ceremony conducted by Dharmavidya,

Rachel becomes an Amida-shu member

On the evening of 1st July 2008 Rachel Abel became a member of the Amida School, Amida-shu at a ceremony held at Amida Sanctuary, the home of Amida Newcastle. She also took the Five Precepts in the Amida-shu form of the Five Prayers of Upasikas.

The celebrant was Rev Sujatin, Bellmaster Sophie Williams and the congregation included Rachel's mother, on a visit from Colorado, Rachel's husband Enrique and a friend, regular sangha member Jackie and long-term friend of Amida, David.

Refuge Ceremony

At a refuge ceremony conducted by Rev. Prasada at The Buddhist House this morning

• Tony Stellmacher confirmed his membership of Amida-shu and
• Alena Budkovska took refuge in the Three Jewels, Amida Buddha and the Pure Land thus becoming a lay Buddhist of the Pureland tradition.

33 People at Sheffield Book Launch

Hosted by Amida Sheffield,  Dharmavidya, Prasada, accompanied by Modgala, gave readings of their new books, Who Loves Dies Well, and The Other Buddhism last night, 33 people attended, and the event was a great success.

Amida-shu Admission

At a ceremony at The Buddhist House conducted by Dharmavidya, Anne Jones from London was admitted to Amida-shu on 16th October.

News from Amida Hawaii

Paul and Judy are moving to Malu Aina, an organic farm. Several of the Amida Waimea group joined Malu Aina to march in the Honokaa Hongwanji's peace day parade. We had a very good "entry" and our photo actually made the front page of the paper. Paul gave testimony as part of a hearing to determine if a particular weapons system should be stationed in Hawaii speaking about concerns about the effects of the militirization in Hawaii on the Buddhist communites and in particular on our Buddhist Children. Buddhism does, after all, have a very strong ethic against killing and warfare. The media caught these comments and paraphrased them in an article on the hearings. The Waimea Group has plans for actions to support monks in Burma. Martha Hennessy, granddaughter of Dorothy Day, will be spending some time at Malu Aina starting in November. Marha attended the Waimea Group a week ago, and gave a nice talk about the Catholic Worker movement and Dorothy Day. This led to a good discussion.

Dramatic send off for Saille

Today Saille left to return to Canada. She has gone back to be with her sister who is sick. Her departure was somewhat dramatic.

Burma Protests in Sheffield

The Amida Sheffield Congregation are planning involvement in the campaign to support imprisoned monks in Burma.

Walk for Burma in Newcastle

80 people gathered at Grey's Monument and walked to the Millennium Bridge - students from Newcastle University and Buddhists from the umbrella group, 'Buddhists For Peace', which included members of several of the Newcastle Buddhist groups, the Burmese community in County Durham and academics from Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland Universities. We received several comments about the quietness of our walk attracting more attention than had been more vociferous. When we reached the Tyne we gathered in a circle while Ashin Nandapala, a Burmese monk, chanted the Metta Suta (teaching on Loving-kindness) in Pali, which was then chanted in English by a small group. We then filed onto the bridge, facing upstream and all dropped petals into the river and tied red threads to the bridge.