For those who have completed the 12 week introductory course and those familiar with the System of Dharma Life including the Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana. This page gives you information on what’s on every week at the Buddhist Centre as well as special events and retreats.
An evening of talks, discussion, meditation and ritual exploring the current Sangha night theme. Sangha night is open to those who have completed our Introductory Course (not suitable for newcomers).
Doors open from 6pm – food served from 6.30pm.
We invite you to bring vegetarian accompaniments for our yummy baked potatoes – salads/vegetables, curry/chilli, hummus/dips – hot food especially welcome, or desserts and sweets! Coming along early for the shared meal is a great way to meet new friends, catch up with old ones and to help build Sangha.
7.30pm – 8.20pm Dharma Talk
8.20pm – 9.00pm Discussion groups
9.00pm – 9.20pm Tea Break
9.25pm – 10pm Meditation
Watch the most recent Sangha Night talks below:
Vadanya draws out Sangharakshita's Five Aspects of the Dharma Life from A Christmas Carol.
Visit our YouTube Channel and Subscribe.
You can find an archive of audio versions of earlier talks here
We run events of many sorts for people at all levels of commitment – short retreats, study of Buddhist texts, meditative ‘sesshins’ and occasional arts activities like singing workshops. We also celebrate the major festivals of the Buddhist calendar: Wesak and Parinirvana Day, commemorating the Buddha’s Enlightenment and his death; Dharma Day and Sangha Day celebrating the Buddha’s teachings and the spiritual community of his followers, and Padmasambhava Day when we fete the historical and mythological accomplishments of the character who established Buddhism in Tibet.
There is something on at the Centre most weekends. Most events are open to anyone already familiar with the Triratna Buddhist Community and the two main meditations we teach. If that isn’t you, look at the Newcomers page first.
The Sangha Skills share returns! Raising more money to give away
As part of Sangha Day celebrations last year we ran a selection of sangha skill sharing sessions. Sangha members hosted informal Zoom sessions teaching various skills and together we raised over £500.
Now we return with a second instalment of these fun, interactive sessions.
We invite you to donate to do the sessions, raising money to be given away by the Centre to good causes after Sangha Day. This year we missed out on fundraising with the cancellation of the summer fair, so if you can attend a session this would mean we get another chance to be generous as a sangha, as well as a great way to come together and have fun.
You will be able to make a donation online. In March we will vote to decide where to give our collected donations. In the past we have given to projects in Sheffield, Venezuela and in India. If you can’t make any of the skills sharing sessions, you are welcome to take this as an opportunity to give anyway.
The sessions will run at various times on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th February and will be about 40 minutes long. Scroll down this page for more information on all of the sessions, including what you’ll need to prepare for the culinary or artistic creations!
| Saturday 27th | Sunday 28th | |
| 10am |
Baking with Pretti
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Qigong with Siwan
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| 11.30am |
Zen and the art of Sushi Roll making with Anna
|
|
| 1pm |
Sangha Improv with Rachael and Alice |
|
| 2pm |
Finger Painting with Sian
|
|
| 4pm |
Baking biscuits with Bernadette
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Scone baking masterclass with Amoghavamsa |
| 8pm |
Vajramandala presents: SANGHA DISCO
|
Zoom Meeting ID: 817 4384 2626
Passcode: sangha
Zoom link for all of the sessions
Cake Baking with Pretti – Saturday 10am
On Sat 27th at 10am, do tune in for ‘Cake baking with Pretti’ – a fun baking session where we will bake one of my favourite ever cakes – the chocolate banana upside down cake. It is truly delicious and quite large so you can share slices with neighbours and friends!
Here is a link to the recipe so you can get your ingredients ahead of time: key note: you will need a minimum of 5 ripe bananas so you need to get those this weekend really so they are really ripe by the time we come to bake! And ideally something like a 23cm cake tin.
You’re also welcome to join the Zoom with a cuppa just to enjoy the show! (A bit like watching Bake Off – comforting and amusing)
Finger Painting with Sian – Saturday 2pm
Not Just For Children!!!
Can you remember how much great, messy fun splating and schmushing paint around with your fingers (or other body parts) is? Finger-painting also allows you to directly access and express your energy and feelings, without mediation or judgement. Here’s an opportunity to re-experience that sheer joy, fun and freedom of expression again.
Suggestions for the workshop
Clear a space, put some old clothes on and protect the carpet.
Get a large sheet of paper (lining paper is great, even newspaper will do), cardboard or even (dare I suggest?) a wall!
Get plenty of something to paint with (ready-mix, poster paint, acrylics, mud, ketchup, yoghurt or leftover vinyl silk/matt paint tinted with watercolours or food colouring, all work well).
Have a bowl of soapy water and an old towel to hand.
Put on some music if you like and let rip.
Baking Biscuits with Bernadette – Saturday 4pm
Today you have the chance to try your hand at making those legendary biscuits… Once famous at the Sangha Night shared meals and adored by Buddhists across Sheffield, it’s the incredible ‘date and apricot biscuits’ by Bernadette.
Click here for a link to the recipe by Tamal Ray. The ingredients however include a bottle of date syrup which I have found in Beanies or in the Healthy corner in Atkinsons (not sure if it’s open now).
Brown dried apricots are better as they don’t have the added sulphur (that the orange ones have).
Medjool dates again can be found at Beanies as can unsalted butter & ground almonds.
Organic orange is better as the zest is used and we don’t want pesticides for our state of the art biscuits!
Finally, baking powder and Plain flour and we’re all set to go!
SANGHA DISCO with Vajramandala – Saturday 8pm
Come and disco on down with the Vajramandala Community. We will take requests for your favourite dance track so email the Centre with your idea – and why not donate a little bit more for the privilege of having your favourite song played? Dressing up is optional but its a great opportunity to wear those dancing clothes that you haven’t had a chance to wear for a year.
If you are shy about your dancing you can switch your camera off. Look forward to dancing with you!
Qigong with Siwan – Sunday 10am
Lovely Sunday morning qigong. Move your body, calm your mind.
Zen and the art of Sushi Roll Making with Anna – Sunday 11.30am
Have you ever wanted to make your own veggie or vegan sushi style roles but didn’t know where to start? This session, with a Zen flavour and some Korean twists, is the perfect introduction to creating your own rolls with a range of tasty ingredients. It is suitable for supervised children as well.
Here is a list of what you will need for sushi making:
For fillings:
In terms of where to shop, Beanies sells things (but expensive), Ozmens, larger supermarkets like Tesco’s on Infirmary Rd, or Asian supermarkets like the new one on West St or down London Rd.
Sangha Improv with Rachael and Alice – Sunday 1-3pm
These sessions, led by Rachael and Alice (both Mitras), will use games and exercises from dance, music and drama improvisation to explore Buddhist principles. We hope they will offer a playful group context to explore our relationships with ourselves, others and our environment. No experience necessary, curiosity desired!
Scone Baking Masterclass with Amoghavamsa – Sunday 4pm
Amoghavamsa takes you through how to make the perfect scone. Scone Recipe – Makes 8 scones
Ingredients
6 tbsp marj
225g/8oz s r. Flour
15g sugar
Pinch salt
80g/3oz sultanas
100 ml milk-like fluid
Desert spoon nat. yoghurt
Oven temperature 220C
Wire rack/grill pan to cool scones on
Cooking time 8/10mins
Scone cutter or whatever you have to hand that is 5cm.circular ……….
Information on what’s on every week at the Buddhist Centre. Please check the Calendar during holidays, timings may vary.
Monday to Friday 7.30am-8.20am Set up a regular meditation practice by meditating with others first thing. Each session has bells rung for the meditation.
An evening of stillness and meditation. Led by Jayagupta and Dayarakshita.
One hour sessions including led body awareness and mindfulness of breathing or development of loving kindness meditation. Ideal for newcomers or anyone looking for a quieter, stiller way to spend their lunch hour.
Doors open from 12.30am, and the class starts promptly at 1pm, so if you can, come a little early, giving yourself a chance to ‘arrive’. Free, donations welcome.
We invite everyone who uses the Buddhist Centre to be part of the mandala of generosity by giving money and/or practical help. The bedrock of the dana economy is the standing order income which pays the bills and the living expenses of the Centre Team. If you value the Centre, please consider setting up one of these.
You can also make donations online or put cheques (made out to ‘Sheffield Buddhist Centre’) in the Dana Bowls at the Centre.If you’d like to set up a standing order to us please go to our Standing Orders Page
Generosity is of fundamental importance in Buddhism and our aim is to inspire a living culture of generosity throughout the sangha. This is expressed in the way we share Buddhist teachings, the way we finance the centre and our strong volunteer culture.
Most of the people running events are themselves volunteers and our busy Centre relies on people being generous with practical help. Volunteers support the Centre Team with organising events, doing administrative work as well as practical help setting up and cleaning away. A strong team of volunteers help keep our building and garden beautiful, clean and running efficiently. Most of the people who support introductory courses, sangha night and festival days are volunteers.
We invite everyone who uses the Buddhist Centre to be part of the mandala of generosity by giving in the way most appropriate to you. This could be money or skills but we find the most rewarding can be to give your time to practical work with the sangha.
There are several volunteer teams that meet on different days of the week and between them cover nearly all aspects of Sheffield sangha activities! See the diagram of volunteering opportunities available. If you have some spare time, or if you have a particular talent or ability that you’d like to share, do get in touch and join the team.
The Centre needs help with all kinds of practical tasks from gardening and DIY to supporting events and doing jobs behind the scenes. There are many opportunities to support regular events such as sangha night, introductory classes and works days. You don’t need to be experienced in order to get involved, just a friendly and willing attitude.
We welcome offers of help of all sorts and if you want to ‘help out’ but don’t know what needs doing then just ask. Do you have a particular interest or some specialist skills? Maybe you’re trained in IT, bricklaying, decorating, carpentry, artwork, organising, design or marketing. Or perhaps you’ve got an interest that you’d like to share? The sangha is a great place to practice photography, video production, drawing for posters, event planning and designing publicity.
Volunteering is a great opportunity to participate in the sangha in a different way. Discover what you have to offer by giving back to other people who benefit from using the Buddhist Centre. And meet new people as you do it – volunteering is a chance to spend more time together with sangha members.
Talk to Maitrivasin, Edward or one of the Centre team to find out more.
I first became interested in Buddhism as a teenager from a chance encounter with a book found in my school library. I was immediately struck by how Buddhism taught that I could change how I experience the world and that I could grow as a person. However, it wasn’t until many years later at the Sheffield Buddhist centre, that I began to commit myself fully to Buddhist practice as I saw that practicing Buddhist teachings was having a very positive impact on my life and on the lives of others.
I was delighted to join the Still Learning Team in November 2018. My previous work has been as a teacher and as an artist and I feel privileged to be able to bring those skills together with my passion for Buddhism in order to teach children and young people about Buddhism.
I first came into contact with Buddhism in my final year of university when I attended an introductory course at the Sheffield Buddhist Centre. I was instantly captivated by the revolutionary yet practical nature of the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha).
I began to meditate and apply Buddhism into my daily life and found that it actually worked! I had started to view the world differently and in a way that made me happier. I gained great confidence by this and became a committed Buddhist practitioner soon afterwards.
I enjoy sharing with others what I have learnt and how Buddhism has transformed me so I was delighted to join the Still Learning team in October 2013.
We have a range of exercises and activities, depending on ages and ability levels, exploring Buddhist ethics and their implications for how we might live as Buddhists.
How did the Buddha become the Buddha? Who was he before? What is enlightenment?
An understanding of the Buddha’s life story is an indispensable introduction to the religion. We draw out the key aspects using a beautiful painting that depicts the different events from the story.
We often theme our tours and visits around the Three Jewels of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dhamra and the Sangha. Find out why the Three Jewels are common and central to all schools of Buddhism.
