Friday 1 July 2011

The Buddha Comes to Sussex - Classic 1970s BBC Documentary

Buddhism has a fine tradition in the UK going back to the turn of the 20th Century. It first came to the UK from Sri Lankan Theravadan tradition brought over by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott which I have mentioned in a previous blog entry.

The Thai forest tradition has a noble history and an influential exponent of this branch of Buddhism was practised by the Venerable Ajarn Chah and one of his pupils Luang Por (Abbott) Ajahn Sumedho who is due to retire shortly from Amaravati Buddhist Monastery just outside Hemel Hempstead.

In this interesting BBC documentary the film explores the visit of Ajahn Chah and his work to set up his first temple in Chithurst. It also explores the main tenets of Buddhism.

Awareness is your refuge:

Awareness of the changingness of feelings,

of attitudes, of moods, of material change

and emotional change:

Stay with that, because it's a refuge that is

indestructible. Ajahn Sumedho






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