Ashoka
by Charles Allen
Wednesday 15th February 2012 at 6.30 pm

South Asian historian Charles Allen has spent the last three years researching the subject of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka and the mystery of why he disappeared from India history for two thousand years.

In this illustrated talk he describes the process by which Ashoka was restored to history as well as his own journey of discovery on the ground.

Charles Allen is the author of ‘Ashoka: India's Lost Emperor’ due to be published in October 2011 by Little, Brown, ISBN 9781408701966. His many other works include ‘The Buddha and Dr Fuhrer’, 'The Buddha and the Sahibs', ‘Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling 1865-1900’, ‘Plain Tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the Twentieth Century’.

Charles has given many popular talks in the past at the Society and we are delighted to welcome him back.

Entering the Stream
by Karel Werner
Wednesday 14th March 2012 at 6.30 p.m.

According to the Pali Buddhist tradition the first true achievement on the path to liberation is stream-winning (sotapatti). It has two stages: the path to stream-winning (sotapatti-magga) and the fruition of stream-winning (sotapatti-phala) which guarantees the attainment of the goal in seven lives if not earlier. Late Theravada tradition maintains that entering the path to stream-winning is immediately followed by its fruition. That presupposes elimination of three fetters (self-belief, doubt and ethical formalism), a very advanced stage of progress. But the Buddha also says that a righteous person with faith unable to commit deeds leading to low birth would realise the fruit of stream-winning at the point of death (S III, 225ff), which implies that treading the path to stream-winning prior to death may take even years. But that, too, is rather advanced for most Buddhists trying to follow the path. However, the Buddha also speaks of occasions or instances of stream-winning (sotapattiya ga), such as associating with righteous people (sappurisa), listening to dhamma talks, deep reflexion (yonisomanasikara) and conforming to dhamma principles (S V, 347, §3). This suggests that entering the stream - which equals treading the noble eightfold path (ibid. §4) - can be a long and even piecemeal process stretching perhaps over many lives. That no doubt covers also the modest practice of large numbers of Buddhist followers. If one's practice becomes more continuous and at least occasionally intense, an inkling of being in the stream, or on the path, may be experienced. While the starting point of the talk is based on the scriptural sources, its bulk will draw on the speaker's own modest experiences.

Professor Karel Werner, PhD, FRAS, taught Sanskrit and Indian civilisation in the University of Olomouc, Czechoslovakia (1947-51), but as a non-conformist was dismissed by the communist regime, sent for re-education to the coal mines and subsequently allocated to various manual jobs. He came to England as a refugee in the wake of the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) and was appointed as a supervisor in Sanskrit at Churchill College, Cambridge followed by Spalding Lectureship in Indian Religion and Philosophy at the University of Durham (1969). When he retired (1990), he was given the status of Professorial Research Associate in SOAS, University of London. After the collapse of communism, he was for seven years visiting professor in the Masaryk University in Brno. He has also lectured in Germany, India, Sri Lanka and South Korea. His personal involvement in Buddhist practice started at the age of fourteen.

Images from the Buddha’s Life Story - Inspiration for Practice, an illustrated talk.
by Venerable Myokun
Wednesday 30th May 2012at 6.30pm

The life Story of the Buddha symbolizes the spiritual journey that we all undertake and has inspired followers of the Buddha’s Way over the centuries. Aspects of the story have been depicted by artists from many different cultures, including in recent times are own. Venerable Myokun will present a selection of these beautiful images, which in various ways reflect eternal spiritual truths. These images speak directly to us and so may inspire us to deepen our practice following in the Buddha’s footsteps. This talk is programmed to follow on from The Buddhist Society’s Buddha Day Celebration on Saturday May 26th.

Venerable Myokun is the resident nun at Shobo-an, a Rinzai training Temple in the Myoshinji line. She was a long-term student of Venerable Myokyo-ni.

The Eightfold Life of Marco Pallis (1895 – 1989)
by Alexander Maitland
Wednesday 6th June 2012 at 6.30 pm

Marco Pallis © World Wisdom, Inc. www.worldwisdom.com who publish two books by Marco Pallis “A Buddhist Spectrum” and “The Way and the Mountain” And 1949 cover of Peaks and Lamas photo courtesy of www.Chesslerbooks.com a good source for books on Asia

Marco Pallis’s first book, Peaks and Lamas, published in 1939, describes how mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas and Tibet introduced him to Buddhism and a lifelong spiritual quest. Buddhism and music became vital preoccupations. Together they inspired an opera based on the 11th century saint, Tibet’s national poet, Milarepa. This work remained, sadly, unfinished at the time of Pallis’s death.

I will attempt to portray Marco Pallis as vividly as possible – from personal recollections and the recollections of others who knew him. He was a fine mountaineer, soldier, Buddhist, teacher of the viol, concert artist, composer, philosopher and writer. His books and his music are among the surest keys to an appreciation of Marco Pallis’s way of life, his philosophy and wisdom.

Alexander Maitland’s interests include music, painting and architecture. He first met Marco Pallis in 1966, while researching a life of the explorer John Hanning Speke. Later he wrote biographies of Freya Stark and Sir Wilfred Thesiger with whom he collaborated on other books including Freya Stark’s Rivers of Time and Wilfred Thesiger’s Among the Mountains. Alexander Mailtland is married and lives in London.