Join us, in-person and online, for a special day of reflection and dialogue as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bodhi College. Our milestone event is themed "Ethical engagement in a changing world".
We invite you to explore with Bodhi College’s faculty, trustees, staff, and friends both the specific and the timeless wisdom of Early Buddhist Practices in addressing some of today's personal, societal and global challenges.
The programme brings together most of Bodhi College’s teachers, features two facilitated plenary sessions in the morning, followed in the afternoon by three parallel interactive breakout groups with a team of two teachers each and finally a plenary townhall session which will be a conversation with you all about the future and direction of Bodhi College.
Besides the above offerings, there will be plenty of breaks and opportunities to connect and engage with friends and fellow practitioners. Lunch and refreshments throughout the day are provided.
Come together with our community to celebrate past efforts and what has been achieved, engage in the shared present, and envision a more mindful and awakened future.
Programme: Ethical engagement in a changing world
9:00 Registration opens - meet and greet with refreshments
9:00-9:30 Guided sit (optional)
10:00 Plenary one: In times of polarisation and conflict – what does Early Buddhism have to offer? (All faculty present – moderated by Madeleine Bunting)
11:15 Break
11:30 Plenary two: The Eightfold Path – as relevant today as 2500 years ago and how? (Bodhi College Founders – moderated by Madeleine Bunting)
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Afternoon Breakout sessions:
1. Christina Feldman and Yuka Nakamura: Inner Care and outer Care 2. Christoph Köck and Martine Batchelor: Brahmaviharas as insights for our time 3. Akincano Weber and John Peacock: Critical Thinking as practice
14:30 Break
15:00 Townhall: Your Bodhi College - envisioning next 10 years
16:00 Farewell
Event Details
Cost:
Your registration payments will cover the costs of the event, but our hope is that the Day of Celebration will also be a fundraiser for Bodhi College as we seek to turn the tide in our recent deficit operations. If you have the means, please consider joining us as a Celebration Day Sponsor and help ensure Bodhi College's future growth and sustainability.
Options:
Standard in-person: £150 (max. 100 tickets)
Supported in-person: £99
Standard online: £45
Sponsor: £500 (includes one in-person or online ticket)
If you would like to offer a donation of another amount, please contact Signe Glahn. Any amount is much appreciated and gratefully received.
Thank you to four of our sponsors: Richard Fernyhough, Brenda Vainker, Gaia House and Tuwhiri.
Teachers:
AKINCANO M. WEBER is a European Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist (MA). A former monk, he has lived and practised for 20 years in European and Thai Forest monasteries. His particular interests are early Buddhist texts, stillness and contemplative psychology. He is the guiding teacher of Atammaya Cologne, Germany, part of the CPP programme and of several Mindfulness teacher training courses, and teaches meditation and Buddhist Psychology in secular and traditional contexts in Europe and overseas.
CHRISTINA FELDMAN is a co-founder of Gaia House and a guiding teacher at Insight MeditationSociety, Barre, Massachussetts. The author of a number of books, she has been teaching insight meditation retreats internationally since 1976. She is one of the teaching faculty of the CPPprogramme, dedicated to the study and application of the early teachings of the Buddha and is engaged in teaching the Buddhist psychological foundations of mindfulness to those training to teach mindfulness-based applications in England, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her most recent book Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology, written with Willem Kuyken, was published in the summer of 2019.
CHRISTOPH KÖCKwas born in Vienna, Austria, and spent 17 years of his life as a Buddhist monk in the Theravadin tradition.He lived mainly in monasteries connected with Ajahn Chah in Thailand and the West. Currently he lives in Vienna, working as a psychotherapist in a private practice.He teaches Buddhism and meditation internationally,and is trained to teach MBSR and MBCT.
JOHN PEACOCK is both an academic and a Buddhist practitioner of nearly fifty years. Trained initially in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition in India, he subsequently spent time in Sri Lanka studying Theravada. After doing a doctorate in philosophy, he taught Buddhist and Western philosophy and then Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol. He went on to be Associate Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, co-direct the Master of Studies programme in MBCT(Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy) at Oxford University, and teach Buddhist psychology on the same course. John is now retired from academia and continues to teach meditation, as he has done for more than thirty-five years.
MARTINE BATCHELOR author of Meditation forLife, The Path ofCompassion, Women in Korean Zen and Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. Her latest works are the The Spirit of the Buddha, What is this? and The Definition, Practice and Psychology of Vedana. She is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council. She teaches meditation retreats worldwide and lives in France. Recently she has been involved with the Silver Sante Study, teaching meditation, mindfulness and compassion to seniors in France to see if this could prevent ageing decline.
STEPHEN BATCHELOR is a translator, teacher, artist and writer known for his secular approach to the Dharma. A co-founder of Bodhi College, his books include Buddhism Without Beliefs, Living with the Devil, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist and After Buddhism. His most recent publication, The Art of Solitude, was published by Yale University Press in 2020. He lives in southwest France with his wife Martine.
YUKA NAKAMURA has practised Buddhist meditation in different traditions since 1993, has a PhD in Developmental Psychology and is a certified MBSR-teacher. Trained as a Buddhist meditation teacher by Fred von Allmen she teaches meditation at Beatenberg (Switzerland), Gaia House (UK), Insight Meditation Society (Barre, MA) and other places. Yuka offers MBSR-courses and MBI-trainings at the CFM Zentrum für Achtsamkeit (CH).
Moderator:
MADELEINE BUNTING is an author, broadcaster and former journalist. She has written six books of non fiction and two of fiction. She was formerly a columnist and Associate Editor at the Guardian. She is a Visiting Professor at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio Three's The Essay. A regular visitor to Gaia House, she did the Committed Dharma Practitioner Programme in 2016-17.
He lived mainly in monasteries connected with Ajahn Chah in Thailand and the West. Currently he lives in Vienna, working as a psychotherapist in a private practice. He teaches Buddhism and meditation internationally, and is trained to teach MBSR and MBCT. 
