Keep Opening the Door

Photo: annemini.com

When you sit down to meditate, you never know what’s going to come up. Some days  you’re hammered by relentless trivia; other days you’re caught in storms of anger or grief or  fear. What’s important is just to keep coming back to the cushion, to keep opening the door  to the possibility of peace and insight.

- Anne Cushman, "Fifteen Weeks of Dharma Dating"

Day of Mindfulness in Birmingham! =D

Photo: Barbara Chai

There will be a day of Mindfulness on Saturday, November 9th from 10.30- 4.30.

Bring vegetarian food to share, cushions, blanket and outdoor clothes for a walk. 

Here's the address:

Friends Meeting House

17 Colmore Road

Kings Heath

BIRMINGHAM

B14 7PE

Hope to see you there!

(Disclaimer: Sadly, Thay isn't scheduled to be there. =P)

Get Yourself Out of the Way

Photo: wisdompubs.org The more we can get the self out of the way, the more clearly we can see the effect of our  thoughts, words, and action upon ourselves and others.

- Andrew Olendzki, “Moral Health”

Community of Interbeing Sangha Announcement

Dear Sangha

Supporting spreading Thay’s teachings

Please pass this message to your Sangha

“Recently, you may have received an email or two from the USA inviting you to donate to a USA based charity – The Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation. The Foundation spends 70% of its income spreading the practice in the USA and the remainder is sent to Plum Village and Vietnam.   None comes to the UK.

It was never the intention that UK residents would be asked to support the USA charity, as this has a number of financial disbenefits which substantially reduce the value of your gift..  This is because Gift Aid (worth 25% of your donation) is not recoverable, and because banking and foreign exchange fees are high.  For this reason, and after discussion with Sister Chan Khong and the US fundraisers, we set up funds in the UK 18 months ago.  These funds allow you to support spreading the practice in the UK and to donate to Plum Village in a way that allows Gift Aid to be recovered and with much lower transaction costs. The funds were called the “Thich Nhat Hanh Continuation Funds” and we have a number of generous people in the UK who donate to them.

We have previously requested the TNH Foundation in the USA not to send fundraising literature to the UK sangha as this risks creating confusion.  They did agree to this and, following these latest emails, we are contacting them again to repeat our request.

If you wish to donate to either the UK Sangha or Plum Village, please email mindfulcoi@gmail.com and we will send you all the particulars.   You can donate either as a one-off payment or by monthly donations and we are now able to accept contributions by Paypal and by direct debit.   In the run up to Christmas you will receive many requests for donations to charities.   Please do consider donating to us.  All gifts are welcome and your generosity can help us make a real difference to making the world a more mindful place.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing!

With a bow and a smile,

Allison, Andrew, Anna, Edith, Maureen, Paul, Vari

The Trustees

The Community of Interbeing UK

Charity Number:  1096680”