Mitra
A mitra is an Indian word for friend. Here, it refers to those who have made a formal commitment to practising within the context of the Manchester Buddhist Centre
More information - What is a mitra? by Padmavajra
Study
Many mitras are involved in study groups at the Centre
Material for the mitra and foundation study courses can be found on the Free Buddhist Audio website
Mitra Blog
The posts below are from the Manchester Mitra Blog
Anything appropriate to the mitra sangha can be posted here: reports, ads, announcements, requests, humour. The blog is meant to be more of a forum than webpage, so feel free to contribute. Even if you are not a mitra you are welcome to add comments to any of the posts or add posts yourself. (send them to the Mitra Blog please, not the Centre team!)
Men's Drop-In Class in March
There has been quite a gap in the blog communication for the Men's Drop-In Class. There is a small reason, if 10lb 5oz can be called small, and this is the birth of Saccacitta's son Joe on 27th January. For the forseeable future Saccacitta will be busy but fortunately I will be able to join Arthaketu soon in providing study for men mitras and men looking to take Dharma study further.
In March there will be drop-in study tomorrow, 4th, and on Thursday 18th. Both Arthaketu and I will be away for 11th March so no drop-in study that week and on 25th March there will be an evening of Mitra Ceremonies. You are all welcome to come and rejoice in the people who are taking this big step in their involvement with Buddhism. More details are available in this month's MBC Newsletter
The study for tomorrow, Thursday 4th March 2010, will be the Foundation Year Part 5 Week 3: The Distinctive Emphases of the FWBO. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07960026143 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last time we welcomed Derrick to our group and we continued Foundation Course Part 5: Buddhism and the FWBO, Devotional Practice. Week 1: An Overview of the Buddhist Tradition.
Our first study session of the new year is Thursday 7th January 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 5: Buddhism and the FWBO, Devotional Practice. Week 1: An Overview of the Buddhist Tradition. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me.
Update 14/01/10: Sorry haven't written a new post. Meeting tonight as usual carrying on with the study material above. See you there! 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we welcomed Arthaketu to our group and we started Foundation Course Part 5: Buddhism and the FWBO, Devotional Practice. Week 1: An Overview of the Buddhist Tradition. We looked at the formation of the two major divisions in ancient Buddhism, Hinayana and Mahayana. We have one more session this year on 17th. After that we will start up again on January 7th when Arthaketu or someone else will be leading the group since I will need to be on baby call...
Our next study session is Thursday 17th December 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 5: Buddhism and the FWBO, Devotional Practice. Week 1: An Overview of the Buddhist Tradition. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we welcomed Saccaka from Norwich who was visiting. We looked at the Bodhisattva's struggle to contain the conflict from a trend to withdraw and a trend to help people. We have now finished "The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned" and thereby Part 4 of the Foundation Course. Arthaketu will be joining us for several weeks from next week. We will meet on the 10th and 17th but not 24th December.
Our next study session is Thursday 10th December 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 5: Buddhism and the FWBO, Devotional Practice. Week 1: An Overview of the Buddhist Tradition. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Shakyajata in India
Shakyata from Manchester is in India teaching young people (see FWBO News article for details). Her latest update:
Hello everybody,
another 'update' from me....
We are currently in Hyderabad, having survived a rather trying train journey from Bhubaneshwar in Orissa....(our ticket was not confirmed, and by the strange vagaries of the Indian railway system, 2 of us ended up squashed on a single bench with Priyadaka on the floor (and there were MICE!) which was bad enough, but they woke us at 00.40 to tell us our reservation was confirmed and we could stay on the bench where we were...we arrived a bit frazzled)
The situation in Hyderabad could not be more different from Orissa, where there are a bunch of young mitras full of enthusiasm and inspiration; here TBMSG is much more established, and maybe in some danger of losing energy...but we have met some great people and hope to inject some new life through networking with the rest of the sangha in India.
We visited a very famous site, Nagarjunakonda, an amazing place. Up to about the 5th century CE, this remote, peaceful valley of the ancient river Krishna, was a huge Buddhist monastic settlement, with many monasteries, stupas, viharas etc; then as every where in India, Buddhism became overlaid by Brahminism and eventually disappeared. Then in the 1950s it was decided to build a huge dam, for much-needed irrigation for the peasant farmers of a huge area of Andhra Pradesh. The whole valley was set to be drowned; but a remarkable Indian archaeologist completed an excavation of the whole huge area, in just 6 years. (So much must have been lost, or botched.) Now the site is a vast lake (the dam is staggeringly huge) with an island where all the artefacts are displayed in a museum, among beautiful gardens and a setting like a Japanese ink-painting.
The Buddhist artefacts are amazing, not quite like anything I have seen before; including large standing and sitting Buddhas with strong faces of a different ethnic appearance from northern Buddhas, and unusual mudras (hand gestures). The site finds go back to the Old Stone Age, so much to take in...and we only had an hour! The boat which took us, crammed with schoolkids who soon gathered round Padmavir and Priyadaka, sailed across clear green water where fishermen were working from tiny round coracles of the kind once used in the British islands...swallows and sooty terns (sea-swallows) dipped in the water, the sun sparkled flakes of gold....one
of the most beautiful places I have ever been, with a traditional association with the sage Nagarjuna (though this has not been proved.) People in Hyderabad (not just Buddhists) are very proud of this. I know that Vimalanath in Cambridge has plans for a retreat centre here....good wishes to you Vimalanath, for your efforts for a presence in such a mythic setting.
The heroine of this stage of our journey is Jnanajyoti, who is making great efforts to connect and reconnect with women she knows in the Sangha here. I do hope they will continue to be supported in future, by TBMSG abd the FWBO as a whole. Also great thanks are due to Padmavir who is trying to organise good things for us and, it seems, lots of other visitors at the same time! It's great to witness a revival of the ancient Buddhist traditions in Hyderabad, in a new form which will transform the lives of people here.
So much more to say, must stop somewhere! We hope to meet more people over the next two days, and pull together a vision of what can be done here. See you in idyllic Kerala, away from the Indian-city noise, crowds, and terrifying traffic, hopefully...and maybe in a local situation with loads of potential for development.
We are both very well, getting more and more 'Indian filters' in place so we an put up with almost anything, and have a great time too. Any support you can give will be most welcome, on www.justgiving.com/youngindianfutures....and thanks to you all.
much love, Shakyajata 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we welcomed Matthew for his first study night and took a break from study to do an evening of meditation. Following on from requests we did the Six Element Practice, which fitted in with the study material looking at the nature of Bodhicitta and consciousness. This week we will continue with the "The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned" and we also have a mystery guest from Norwich!
Our next study session is Thursday 3rd December 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Week 6: The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Help Decorate the MBC Office
Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th Nov 10am-5pm come and help Doug and Suryaka decorate the centre team office.
As far as i know this is the first time the office has been redecorated since the MBC opened in 1996!
The centre team are committed to the smooth running of the MBC, we have responsibilities for reception/bookshop, finances, publicity, marketing, IT, health and safety, upkeep of the building, event coordination etc etc etc...
If you're handy with a paint brush please come and help spruce up the office and support the centre team by helping improve the office enviroment .
Contact Suryaka if you can help. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we continued looking at The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned. Furthering the explanation of the Bodhicitta, the study material considered analogies to the "Descent of the Holy Spirit". This got us talking about the nature of consciousness. As counter balance to this very esoteric doctrinal stuff we will have a meditation evening on the Six Element Practice, which I find very informative about how to understand and experience consciousness as an element in the universe.
Our next study session is Thursday 26th November 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course System of Meditation week 2 a bit as preparation for the Six Element Practice meditation. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week due to lack of space we studied down in the tea-area, watched by the leaving yogi's. We started looking at The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned which came down to exploring what a Bodhisattva is. Is it a symbol, is it an archetype, is it a living person, is it a myth? To add to the brain-teasers we also tried to understand what the Bodhicitta was and the five skandhas, ouch!!!
Our next study session is Thursday 19th November 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Week 6: The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we had a look at a Zen text about a koan that Alex brought along. This was related to the theme of impermanence we had looked at the week before. Well done for the homework Alex!
Our next study session is Thursday 12th November 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Week 6: The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we marveled at Peter's bound compilation of the whole Foundation Course. We completed "Week 5: The Conditioned and the Unconditioned", exploring how the Buddha sees this universe we live in. Most of us have encountered this teaching of the three (or four) laksanas before, but since they point right at the heart of my ignorance, I tend to forget them quickly! So repetition is good for us. So repetition is good for us.
Our next study session is Thursday 5th November 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Week 6: The Unconditioned Acting on the Conditioned. The full course material is available here at Free Buddhist Audio. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last time we continued a discussion that started the week before on Bhante's letter. Some people had gone to the meeting led by Sona on this topic. One concern was that our Movement might be becoming more restrictive, discouraging views from other Buddhist teachers. A second concern was that there might be too much of a requirement for uniformity, with no one prepared to speak out if they thought different from the "part line". I found these issues useful to reflect upon and the discussions kept us going so we did not do any study.
Since this coming week (22nd October) there is a Mitra Convenor handing on ceremony our next study session is Thursday 29th October 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course The Conditioned and the Unconditioned. Do come along anyway this week to the ceremony where Arthaketu takes over from Mahasraddha. Study is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-in Study Class
Last night's study class looked at the Foundation part 4 week 5 - The Conditioned and the Unconditioned. Well the material has a huge scope and I think we only scratched the surface. We got as far as the descriptions of the three Laksanas or marks of all conditioned, compounded things and Insight (imagine a paragraph only for insight). If anyone wants to join Saccacitta next week to get below the surface then I recommend reading the whole of the text beforehand - it's well worth it.
Next session is Thursday 15th October 2009 7pm. It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone Saccacitta on 07890073264 or email him. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last week we met up after the summer break and had a look at the Spiral Path. Great to be studying again. I will be moving house this week so Nishpara will be filling in for me.
Next session is Thursday 8th October 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course The Conditioned and the Unconditioned. It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Yay we are starting study again! Hope everyone enjoyed the summer break and is keen to take up study again.
We start again Thursday 1st October 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 4 week 4 "Spiritual Growth and Creative Conditionality" (which we haven't finished yet). It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me.
PS Just realised that I wasn't at our last meeting so perhaps the Spiral Path was completed and so I will come prepared for The Conditioned and the Unconditioned as well! 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last time we started exploring the spiral path, a description of the positive conditions that arise when we stop being very reactive in our behaviour. We considered how duhka, unsatisfactoriness, can be seen as the mental factor that arises instead of craving or aversion. So this duhka, the starting point of the spiral path, has an element of understanding to it.
Our next and last study night for two months!!! is Thursday 30th July 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 4 week 4 "Spiritual Growth and Creative Conditionality". It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last time we explored the Twelve Nidānas further. The Buddha advises that the slavery of habitual responses can be broken between feeling and craving. So this is the point to focus on in our practice that leads to greater energy and freedom. Energy that can flow in a different direction of the spiral path, the subject we will cover in the next lecture. Our habitual responses might keep us literally in horrible slavery but the familiarity of habit might seem less scary than unknown freedom and energy.
Our next study night is Thursday 23rd July 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course Part 4 week 4 "Spiritual Growth and Creative Conditionality". It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Movie Trailer - Burma VJ
Review in the Telegragh. - The smudged, smuggled footage of recent turbulence in Iran and China that has been circulating on the web gives a topical edge to Burma VJ, Anders Ostergard’s eye-opening and inspiring look at an underground cadre of guerilla film makers who have risked their lives to document the freedom struggles of people in ‘Myanmar’.
In summer 2007 a group of monks there led a rebellion, triggered by price hikes for fuel, against the dictatorship that has ruled the nation for four decades. Immediately, foreign news reporters were banished and the internet was censored. A brave group, calling itself The Democratic Voice of Burma, armed itself with digicams to record demonstrations, give voice to protestors, and to capture evidence of military brutality.
That footage, smuggled to Norway via Thailand, is raw and compelling. The story of how it was sneaked out is worthy of the best thrillers. Burma VJ is crucial testament to the will of a suffering people to ensure the world does not forget them.
Trailer
Burma VJ is showing at the Odeon. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
Last time we got as far as the Twelve Nidānas but I felt that we needed to take a bit more time before finishing with the "Point of Freedom". This really is key stuff for our practice. Here the Buddha Dharma is telling us at exactly which point in the flow of mental events we are able to take effective action. We discussed whether there were other points at which the wheel of cyclic reactivity could be stopped. But it seems that the point between feeling and craving is the key. We need more time to digest this and the next lecture builds on this understanding. We may be able to move onto the next lecture so bring both along.
Our next study night is Thursday 16th July 2009 7pm when we will study the Foundation Course part 4 week 3 "The Wheel of Life" and Part 4 week 4 "Spiritual Growth and Creative Conditionality". It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone me on 07890073264 or email me. 
Men's Drop-In Study Class - Update
At the last class on July 2nd we got to grips with the Tibetan Wheel of Life, a playing out of the law of conditionality in our mental states, daily life and even the course of our whole life. I couldn't remember who it is that holds up the wheel to us, so here is my web look-up:
"The creature who turns the wheel of life and holds it in his clutches is Yama, a wrathful deity and the Lord of Death. Yama symbolizes the inevitability of death, samsara and the impermanence of all things. This does not lead to hopelessness, though, because outside of the wheel stands the Buddha, who points the way to liberation (symbolized by the moon)."
So we got as far as the hell realm with the animal and human realms to come. I think we found examples in life of the extremes that these realms represent but couldn't completely identify with them. Perhaps it's because were human. Find out more by joining us next week when we will look at how the Buddha figures help the beings escape from the prison of their mental states. Our next study night is Thursday 9th July 2009 7pm when we will continue study the Foundation Course part 4 week 3 "The Wheel of Life". It is open to men who have done Buddhism 2. We meet up in the Lotus Hall at 7pm with other groups to start. It is free, but as a bridging course for mitras we encourage you to financially support the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Contact the MBC Centre Team on how to do this. For other questions phone Saccacitta on 07890073264 or email him.
Dh Nishpara 
