Sangha Day Festival Weekend
Sat 1 Nov – Sun 2 Nov | In person, with online elements
Led by Abhayanandi and Sthiramanas
Fifty years ago, a young team of Buddhists were handed the keys to a dilapidated Victorian fire station in Bethnal Green.
Living together among the rubble, they set about transforming it into the London Buddhist Centre. The place was named ‘Sukhavati’, after the blissful realm of the Buddha Amitabha – a land where progress toward Enlightenment flows with ease.
This Sangha Day we celebrate fifty years of Buddhist practice in Bethnal Green – and the unfolding of a new vision of Sangha (spiritual community), forged through living and working together in the heart of the modern world.
Event Schedule
Saturday
5pm | Talk: Building the Buddha Land
LBC President, Subhuti, who led the original team that built the centre, reflects on the myth of Sukhavati and what it really takes to create a Buddhist world
6pm | Dinner
Please bring vegan food to share
7.15pm | Live music: Flow of Adhisthana
Prajnaghosa plays the atmospheric and uplifting album he wrote while living in Sukhavati community and preparing for his ordination
Sunday
8.30am | Amitabha Sadhana (Order Members only)
9.45am | Breakfast (all welcome)
10.30am | Dwelling in the Land of Bliss
A morning of meditation, mantra chanting and readings from the Amitayur-Dhyana Sutra, evoking the resplendent world of Sukhavati
1pm | Lunch in the Mandala Café (by donation)
2.30pm | Festival Day Puja with Mitra ceremonies
A celebratory ritual in which a number of people will publicly join the LBC sangha and undertake to live as Buddhists.
Bring cards and gifts for new Mitras if you wish.
End by 5pm
