Amida Events

2008 November 1-2: Spiritual Relationships, Complex Relationships, Healing Relationships

This two day workshop will explore the different types of relationships involved in chaplaincy and other face to face spiritual work. Chaplaincy and other spiritual support work provides opportunities to meet people in many different circumstances. The context is often one in which the person is facing particular changes or life traumas, and may be open to reviewing life and seeking the spiritual dimension in new ways. Meetings may have been requested and planned, or may be casual and informal. They may be in depth or brief, and it is not always clear at the outset what is required. We will look at styles of interaction which are appropriate in different circumstances, at the opportunities to support personal spiritual transformation which emerge in this kind of work. We will discuss the sort of boundary issues which need to be taken into account in the mixed relationships which can exist in the spiritual context and how to avoid some of the pitfalls. This course also carries credit for enrolled psychotherapy students.

2008 November 3-4: Blessings, Weddings and Funerals: Creative Approaches to Personal Ceremony.

Spiritual groups offer ceremonies to the important mark life transitions of their members. In the last couple of decades, interest in the creative use of ritual has grown, and people increasingly seek more personalised events. Some Buddhist groups already have traditional ceremonies to mark rites of passage, but many Western groups are daunted by requests from their members and others. Learning to facilitate personal ceremony is an art which takes practice, resourcefulness and a dramatic presence. Ritual is a language, mastered through experience and repetition. This two day workshop will look at the art of ceremony and creating a special occasion relevant both for those committed to a religious path and to those who have a less aligned sense of the spiritual. It will be practical, suitable for anyone who might take a role in such events, but particularly for those who may be called on to lead them. We will look at resources: readings, music, and chants; and at commonly used elements of a service, including making offerings, creation of the ceremonial space, invocations, symbolic acts, blessings and dedications. We will draw on both Buddhist sources and other spiritual traditions. We will discuss the structuring of anevent, the poetic and metaphoric frame, and the sequencing of elements. We will look at those small details which become so precious to participants. There will be opportunities to practice ceremony and pool resources. This course is an important opportunity for all Vow 22 students but will be useful to Buddhists of any background.

2009: July 14 - 18 : Sesshin

Please note that the sesshin will start on the 14th and finish on the 18th July.

COME AND EXPERIENCE THE HOLY POWER OF LOVE at THE AMIDA BUDDHIST CENTRE with Dharmavidya

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