Members of the Engagement group were delighted to visit The Buddhist House in Narborough, Leicester, recently, which is the home of The Amida Trust, a small but growing Order.
We were made very welcome by the community, and were privileged to meet Dharmavidya David Brazier, the Head of the Order, who took time out of his busy life
to give us a most stimulating and interesting talk about Buddhism.
Dharmavidya is a compelling speaker and his background includes a training in psychotherapy.
Along with his wife Prasada Caroline Brazier and other members of the Order,
he teaches Buddhist psychology & psychotherapy to professionals.
Both he and Prasada are prolific, highly regarded authors,
and our Book Group is, in fact, going to be reading Prasada’s latest book ‘Guilt’
(part novel, part documentary) for our next meeting.

During the visit, we were also able to ask questions about Buddhism and the Pureland tradition,
of which the Amida Trust is a is part.
Pureland is the most widely practised form of Buddhism in the world generally,
although it is not as widely known in the West as other schools.
Practitioners believe that we can attain the Pureland by calling out to Amida Buddha,
but that it is also here and now in our hearts, if we could but see it.

To summarise just one thing that Dharmavidya said (which is still resonating with me) -
Buddha is not a God, but your God must be a Buddha.
In other words, we all worship something by our very nature,
so what we worship must be the essence of goodness, compassion and so on.
(Indeed, Ralph Waldo Emerson also said that we all worship something, so therefore, be careful what it is.)

The Amida Order are also ‘Engaged Buddhists’
in that they not only meditate and live a religious life in a community together,
but they also make a difference in the world by working for example, in an Aids clinic in Africa,
a school in India, and running Creative Arts projects for all sections of the community,
while also finding time to take part in campaigns such as the replacement of animal testing.

We were pleased to attend the regular Sunday ‘service’ with its chanting and meditation,
which we very much appreciated. And after this, we were kindly given a delicious dinner!

Do check out Amida Trust’s website for more information – at present they are holding a Retreat on the Web – a new venture so that all can join in and be part of it.