Annual Sangha Celebration 2020
6.30pm Friday 5th June to 4.30pm Sunday 7th June
Welcome to the event website for this year’s Annual Sangha Celebration. This year we will gather together online as a Sangha to meditate and renew our shared commitment to the Path to Awakening while witnessing the vows taken by others.
Here you will find everything you need for the event. Please see below for the daily drop down timetables including Zoom links & liturgy. Please check for daily updates as the timetable may change.
Obviously it’s a better experience for you if you can attend all of the sessions. However, if for some reason there are sessions you can’t come to, then you’re still very welcome to attend what you can.
Information about Dana will be emailed separately, with some general information below.
The Liturgy page found in the top menu, has all the liturgy you will need, with links in the timetable too.
As we come together to celebrate our commitment to the Three Jewels - you are invited to reflect on, renew, align with and share your aspirations for the year ahead. See the form HERE for more info and to share your aspiration before midday on Saturday 6th.
On Sunday we close the event with a feast. See Sunday's timetable for links about the feast practice. Entertainment is always part of the feast offering! Those who wish to offer a poem, a reading or a song etc, are invited to submit their entertainment offering before Saturday 6th. Look out for the email from Kunzang.
Quick Links:
Zoom link for morning and Evening Puja Only
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
Event Zoom Meeting ID: 959738452
We have upgraded our Zoom capacity, so we can all join together online for this event!
How do I take part?
You will need a laptop, tablet or smartphone. We will use Zoom to meet together online, which is free, simple and easy. Just click the Zoom link and you will be prompted to download the Zoom software and arrive in the Shrine room. Please mute yourself on arrival (look for the little microphone icon, usually on the bottom left on laptops) and if you're likely to move around at all, please turn off your camera so that your movement doesn't distract others. Please avoid using the chat feature during sessions.
Ideally you’d have a place in your home where you meditate where you could also connect online, and you would be able to set aside the whole weekend as a retreat: it’s an online retreat! But really whatever arrangement you have at home will be fine.
Zoom link for morning and Evening Puja Only
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
Event Zoom Meeting ID: 959738452
Obviously it’s a better experience for you if you can attend all of the sessions. However, if for some reasons there are sessions you can’t come to, then you’re still very welcome to attend what you can.
Timetable
Please arrive a few minutes early for each session
Friday
6:30pm: Welcome & Teaching from Lama Shenpen - Event Zoom Link
Event Zoom Meeting ID: 959738452
Before Evening Puja: Light offering and Samantabhadracharya Pranidhana from Stupa
Light Offering Liturgy - SBCP Liturgy
7:30pm: Evening Puja/meditation - Liturgy - Meditation Zoom Link
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
Saturday
7-8am: Morning meditation - Liturgy - Meditation Zoom Link
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
Event zoom Link for all sessions today (except morning & evening meditation)
Event Zoom Meeting ID: 959738452
9-9:50am; Meditation
10am: Teaching from Lama Shenpen
12-1pm: Meditation
2:30 - 4pm: Meditation & discussion
4:30-5pm: Meditation
5-6pm: Live Q&A with Lama Shenpen
7.15pm/7.30pm Medicine Buddha/Evening Puja - Liturgy - Meditation Zoom Link
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
Sunday
7-8am: Morning meditation - Liturgy - Meditation Zoom Link
Hermitage Meditation Zoom Meeting ID: 699826781
9:30am - 12:15pm: Vows - Liturgy - Event Zoom Link
Event Zoom Meeting ID: 959738452
1pm - 4:30pm: Feast (including long life ceremony for Lama Shenpen) - Liturgy - Event Zoom Link
About the Feast:
You can do the Feast Offering in whatever way suits you; what matters is to link in to a sense of enjoyment and offering. If you can have some food (it could simply be a biscuit) prepared in front of a shrine, ready to eat after we have recited the offering liturgy and Lama has made the toast to the lineage, that would be great. If you've never done a feast offering before, that's no problem, it's fine to sit back and watch online, following along as much as you like. If you'd like to know more about feast offerings, here's something Lama Shenpen wrote about the basic ideas:
Setting up a simple feast at home
Making Offerings in Gratitude
You are invited to make an offering to the Sangha to help us continue our activity at the Hermitage and online. An email will be sent you about making offerings to Lama Shenpen which needs to be made separately, directly to Lama.
http://www.ahs.org.uk/donations-and-payments
As this is the Annual Sangha Celebration during Saga Dawa with a Long Life Offering being made to Lama Shenpen, this is an especially auspicious and opportune time to make an offering to the sangha and our teacher, to strengthen the connection between you and express gratitude and generosity.
The Sangha relies on the donations of members to ensure we are able to support Lama Shenpen’s activity and provide the teachings and courses we run for each other’s benefit. This includes covering the costs of our online presence and the ability to run online courses, resources and conferencing facilities. We upgraded our Zoom capacity for this event so all donations to help us cover costs like these are much appreciated.
Offering is not simply about financial implications, it is also about how we approach the gift of Dharma. It is about how we honour the connections we make through the sangha and recognise the generosity of Lama Shenpen and those who work hard to make sure we are able to link in to the teachings.
We invite you to consider making an offering of whatever you are willing or able to give to help enable us to continue to support and provide Dharma activity.
Please donate to the Sangha via the donations and payments page HERE. Details of how to donate to Lama Shenpen to follow.
Above all, this is a great opportunity to connect to others in the sangha, deepening our meditation practice together and creating the conditions for our True Nature to be seen.
Find out More about Lama Shenpen and the AHS
If you would like to know more about Lama Shenpen, her teachings or the Awakened Heart Sangha (the community of students that support her and benefit from her activity), you can visit the website www.ahs.org.uk.