News and upcoming meetings
Please register below for the BTE meeting 2023!
24 - 27 September 2023 in Brussels, Belgium
Meeting 2023: Your life as a Buddhist Teacher in Europe
- What are your current challenges, both personal and circumstantial, of living and teaching in Europe?
- Are there skillful ways to address and work with them?
- How do we deal with old age and death - on a personal level and within your sangha?
- What support can/do you provide for young practitioners and those who aspire to become teachers?
- Plus many more questions linked to Right Livelihood in European Buddhism.
As worked well in Paris, we will use the ‘open space’ format. Under each overall topic everyone may offer their own concerns or themes, and groups then form around interest in these subjects. The aim is for discussions to focus on matters that are relevant to participants present at the meeting.
If you would like to give a short talk then please send an email to [email protected].
We are looking forward to your participation and the amicable exchange in the spirit of the Dharma.
Organizational Information
Dates
24 - 27 September 2023
Venue
Maison Notre-Dame du Chants d'Oiseau
Av. des Franciscains 3A,
1150 Bruxelles, Belgium
Please go to https://www.chant-oiseau.be for more information about the place.
There is no need to book directly with them as we will do a group booking.
Costs for accomodation including meals
Single room: about 200 Euros for 3 nights
Shared room (same sex): about 160 Euros for 3 nights
No one should stay away from the meeting for financial reasons.
Therefore, it is possible to get a small bursary.
Arrival
3pm on Sunday 24 September
Leave
3pm on Wednesday 27 September
Registration
Please [here] register before 12 May 2023
Participation
We would also like to remind you:
In every second or third year the Network holds a large meeting in which existing members may bring up to two junior teachers, who have been teaching for more than five years. The supervising teacher must be present in the meeting. If there is someone that you would like to introduce then please send your recommendations to us so that we can check and make sure that they meet the requirements.
Points to remember
Members must have been teaching for at least ten years.
Members are authorised to teach by a recognised teacher.
Teaching/studying is a significant part of their life.
Members must be fluent in English, the common language of the Network.
Admission to Membership needs to be approved by the existing members of the Network.
We invite teachers who are unambiguously from a Buddhist tradition to be considered for inclusion
* *** *
Online Meetings 2022
All times are Central European Time (CET)
Tue 18 January at 8pm
Wed 16 February at 8pm
Tue 15 March at 8pm
Wed 20 April at 8pm
Tue 10 Mai at 8pm
Wed 15 June at 8pm
Tue 25 October at 7PM
Fri 25 November at 6PM
Tue 13 December at 6PM
Meetings 2021
26th October
24th November
30 December
August 2021
Meeting in Italy or Zoom Meeting in September?
We hope you are well and having a wonderful summer. Before we know it, the summer will be over and the EBU/BTE meetings will be taking place in beautiful Pomaia, Italy. We are scheduled to meet from the 27-29 September, however, we are still experiencing high infection rates in some European countries and though the vaccination programme seems to be effective at preventing one from getting seriously ill, it is not creating herd immunity as the scientists were hoping it would.
We can still get the virus and pass it on to others still.
This leaves us in a difficult (but not problematic) space of not knowing whether you would like to meet in person or meet online.
Therefore we would like to know:
Do you intend to participate in a BTE-Meeting in Pomaia, Italy this year?
O Almost certainly
O May well be
O Rather not
Do you prefer a zoom-meeting on the days in question. (Sept. 27-28, MO+TU)?
Please email [email protected] with your answers.
Many thanks in advance,
Susthama
June 2021
Next scheduled meeting Jun 16, 2021 08:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin time
Dear Friends,
We started talking about the effect of the pandemic and lockdowns on our
identities as Buddhist teachers, retreat leaders etc. So many changes, both
good and bad have happened in the last year and a bit, and we agreed to
carry on with this theme.
Hogen has kindly agreed to open the next session with a short talk on how
practice has helped him through the pandemic to get us warmed up.
Metta,
Five, Kurt, and Susthama
-
March 2021
Online meeting with talk by Kurt
Topic:
Religious Buddhism
Thank you Kurt for illuminating some of the different ways of looking at
Buddhism. We would like to talk more about some of the different practices
and rituals and whether they can be seen and understood from a religious
perspective or not and so we have planned to continue this dialogue in May.
---
Dear Friends,
We had an excellent meeting on teacher's ethics. Many thanks to Munisha, who raised some interesting points. It certainly opened up some very complex issues for many of us.
The next meeting will be on Thursday 25 March from 8-9.30pm (Rom, Paris time) and we will be looking at what it means to be a religious person or faithful Buddhist. We have looked at the topic of secular Buddhism many times but never what it means for Buddhism to be a religion in Europe so Kurt has agreed to give a talk on 'religious Buddhism'.
-
April 2021
Online Meeting with talk by Bhante Bodhidhamma
Topic:
The Politics, the Dhamma Teacher and the Students
Sharing our Understandings and Practices reminder of the Buddha’s own involvement in the political situations of his day, of Sangha involvement in Burma and Sri
Lanka and enumerate the causes of the growing storm that threatens to
engulf the world.
-
May 2021
Thank you for an interesting meeting last month. Plenty of things to say
about the current state of affairs in the world.
We are aware that some days of the week work for some and some not and so
we have decided to change the day of the week for our meetings to give as
many options as possible.
We will continue a discussion that started a couple of months
ago. It was triggered by comparing Buddhist practice with Christian ones,
like prayer and mass. Questions such as, 'What is it that Buddhists do and
what is the experience?' 'How much do Christian language and terms help
Buddhists in the West and how much do they hinder?' and more.
We will be meeting this Wednesday at 8pm for those who would like to join
and share their ideas and experiences on this topic.
Time: May 19, 2021 08:00 PM Paris
Metta,
Five, Kurt, and Susthama
Zoom details you receive via our BTE planning e-mail list. Please contact the webmaster bte(at)buddhistteachers(dot)org
-
February 2021
Online meeting with talk by Munisha
Topic:
Teacher's ethics.
Many thanks to Munisha who raised some interesting points. It certainly opened up some very complex issues for many of us.
-
Jan 2021
Dear Friends,
Our monthly Zoom meetings continue, with the next one on Monday 25th January at 8pm Central European Time.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
With metta,
Five, Kurt, and Susthama
-
Contacts
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