Meeting Of The Lay Buddhist Association Committee 27 July 2008 Minutes

Meeting of the Lay Buddhist Association Committee 27 July 2008

The Temple was represented at the meeting by: Phrakru Lom

Members present:- Andy Brown, Lynn Parry, Sue Hoxley & Trevor Flaxman, Peter Edwards, Geoffrey Hunt and Philip Mobedji

Apologies for Absence: Nathalie Deacon, Alan Townsend

1) Matters arising from the Minutes:
Phrakru Lom’s birthday and promotion celebration held on Sunday 6th July was well attended and enjoyed by all.

Colin Brown has resigned both from the Committee and as Assistant Meditation Teacher due to health reasons. We all wish him well

2) Asalhapuja Day 13 July 08: Ajahn Sundara a senior member of Amaravati Monastery Nuns’ Community gave the talk during the afternoon session which was enjoyed and appreciated by all. Pat sent a donation of £100 to Amaravati (English Sangha Trust).

3) Summer Retreat 14 – 20 Sept: Andy has prepared application forms and notices. Only a small number of applications have been received to date.

4) Membership: Sue has sent out renewal notices and they have started to come back in.

5) Meditation Teaching at the Buddhapadipa Temple:

With Colin’s resignation the LBA is now, for the first time in its history, not providing any Assistant Meditation Teachers.

It was agreed by the Committee that a meeting should be requested between the Abbott and some representatives of the committee to ask for the Venerable Monks to teach the beginners classes and to see what can be done in the future to provide an agreed and uniform instruction for beginners. Also to look into the possibilities of training new Lay Assistant Teachers and setting up a system of regular meetings to check and to monitor the quality and content of the Meditation Teaching at the Temple.

6) Letter from Chulan: Copies of the letter addressed to the Committee Members have been circulated to all concerned and a reply letter drafted firmly refuting the allegations made by Chulan was agreed upon. Geoffrey suggestion that we should add a final paragraph offering to enter into dialogue with Chulan should he feel that this would assist was accepted and the letter amended accordingly.

9) Any Other Business: The Abbott had mentioned organizing an event to commemorate the services rendered to the Temple by Mrs Edna Lake & Mr Roy Brabant-Smith. Andy will speak to the Abbott regarding this.


10) Date of the next Meeting: Sunday 24 August at 2 pm