Life at The Buddhist House

A week back, and life is gradually settling back into its uncertain roller coaster here at The Buddhist House. The early part of the week was taken up with sewing - an invitation to dine with the Lord Mayor of London on Tuesday evening, along with all the Bishops and Archbishops crystalised the already pressing need for new "uniforms" - our mid range garments (the old ones being somewhat battered from a year of travelling and speaking engagements). I was very glad to have spent the three days at the sewing machine when we arrived, as the event was a very fine occasion. We had good conversation with a number of people - mostly Aldermen of the City but some with Bishops and their wives too, of whom there were a great many. We were delighted to met the Bishop of Leicester , Tim Stevens, and his wife, who are good friends, as we were going in. The Mansion House where the dinner was held is a very fine 17th Century building - I particularly enjoyed the (older) Dutch masters on the stairs. We dined in the grand Egyptian Room which, as the site describes, is not at all Egyptian in style. To my fascination, you can read the Lord Mayor's speech on the web.

Yesterday, having slept in to recover from our drive back (arrived in at 2.00am!) we had a day of seminars in The Buddhist House. In the morning I presented a seminar on "Creating a Group" in the pastoral care series. In the Afternoon, Dharmavidya presented a seminar continuing his teachings on the precepts. In between, we had a house gathering. Today Dharmavidya and Susthama have gone to Oxford to meet with the police and plan a protest against the animal laboritories planned by the university.