We can change
Buddhist practices like meditation are ways to change yourself and develop awareness, kindness, and wisdom
The fundamental message of Buddhism is straightforward: we can’t rely on anything to be fixed or permanent; our actions have consequences; we can change. In this way Buddhism speaks to all people regardless of their gender, race, sexuality or nationality.
Meditation is one tool, taught throughout Buddhism, which helps us see there is a choice and take full responsibility for our lives. If we follow that path, it leads all the way to developing wisdom and compassion.
Course content
- Teachings on impermanence
- Awareness
- Ethical principles
- Meditation on the breath
- Meditation to develop positivity
- How Buddhism and meditation can help in daily life
Teachers
Our courses are taught by ordained members of the Western Buddhist Order and by those training for ordination. They are well-trained and experienced practitioners, who teach in a friendly, informal way and communicate from their own experience.
Course dates
For the next Buddhism and meditation course dates please see our list of introductory events.
Where we are in the Buddhist tradition
Since the time of the Buddha, a great number of Buddhist schools have come into being. Sangharakshita, the founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, saw that these schools have important aspects in common. The Buddha, a historical man who achieved enlightenment is where our tradition springs from.
Even though different Buddhist schools may look different, we all have the main principles in common: we can change and be liberated, following in the footsteps of the Buddha. There are three aspects that Buddhists hold most dear: the Buddha; his teachings and insights, or Dharma; and the spiritual community of followers — the Sangha.
It is important in our tradition that we uphold the main principles of Buddhism, teaching practices that support this. Our teacher Sangharakshita says “commitment is primary, lifestyle secondary”, as we are neither monk nor lay. Practising the teachings, involving your whole being is what’s important, not whether you wear robes or are single. You can also be involved as much or as little as you like, there is nothing to join. The spiritual community is based on human connections and our shared practice.
Who was the Buddha?
The system of belief and practice westerners call Buddhism arose from the Buddha’s
enlightenment. The title Buddha means “One who is awake”. At his enlightenment, the Buddha became awake to the truth of how things really are.
Buddhists believe the Buddha was not a god, a prophet or a messiah, but a human being developed to an extraordinary degree.
The Buddha’s teachings were preserved through a strong oral tradition for five hundred years before being written down in Sanskrit and Pali. The Pali Canon is the only surviving complete collection of this oral tradition. It doesn’t contain a complete, sequential account of the life of the Buddha, but the Buddhacarita, or Acts of the Buddha, a Sanskrit work composed about a hundred years later, also provides a basis for accounts of his life.
The Buddha’s life
The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama, a member of a wealthy aristocratic family of the Shakyan clan, in what is now Nepal, around the year 560 BCE (Before Common Era). For twenty nine years, Siddhartha had lived a well-to-do existence, but increasingly found a life devoted to material pleasures empty and unfulfilling. He experienced a deep sense of dissatisfaction and also a desire to find meaning in life.
The legend of the Four Sights represents, in dramatic form, a spiritual crisis or turning point. His response to this spiritual experience was to “Go forth”; to leave behind security and comfort in order to seek an answer to his questions about life. The Going Forth and the Enlightenment are key incidents in the life of the Buddha.
In the Indian subcontinent there was, and still is, a tradition of wandering holy men and teachers. It was then commonly believed that the way to find spiritual truth was through self-mortification and extreme asceticism. After six years, Siddhartha realised that extreme self-denial was not a useful spiritual practice. Instead, he advocated a middle way between the two extremes of denial and self-indulgence.
For Buddhists, the life of the Buddha is an inspiration.
(Source material from The Clear Vision Trust)
Ask a Buddhist
Clear Vision runs the schools service for Manchester Buddhist Centre. Their website has a section called Ask a Buddhist! where some of the questions we get asked are answered by Buddhists from a range of UK traditions. Each person gives their own personal opinions, and other Buddhists might give quite different answers, even if they are from the same tradition.
