A warm welcome to Bodhicharya Kent, a Buddhist group based in the Medway town of Rochester, under the inspiration and guidance of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche.

The group is focused around learning and practising meditation together, as well as reflecting on and discussing the Buddhist teachings.  Everyone is welcome, whether you are a Buddhist, a practitioner of another faith, someone with a curiosity about the Buddhist perspective or you are simply looking to learn meditation and begin to integrate its benefits into your daily life. Whatever your motivation, an open and curious mind, with a dash of scepticism, will be most useful.

To find out more about our weekly meditation and reflection evenings please see here.

Bodhicharya Kent is under the umbrella of Bodhicharya UK, a registered charity and part of the Bodhicharya family, a world-wide network of people, centres and organisations taking various forms at 35 locations in 13 countries, all inspired and guided by the Buddhist teachings and Ringu Tulku. Our guiding principles are: Healing – Helping – Harmony.

Day Retreat with Tsering Padron

Sunday 15th October, 10:00- 17:00, St. Benedict’s Centre, 52 Swan Street, West Malling, Kent, ME19 6JX

How to Live and Die Well: Teachings on Life and Death from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition

“One of the most important preparations for death is to learn how to live. Learning how to live in a good way. Everybody has to die, and we don’t know when we are going to die. When we say we don’t know when we are going to die, it doesn’t mean that we have lots of time. It could be any time, it could be tonight, tomorrow, next month, next year or many years. It’s not necessarily that we have lots of time, even if we are not sick or anything like that. So, therefore, we have to be prepared.

So how to prepare? I think the most important thing is that to live and accept and understand that we can die at any time. And sometimes this practice, this understanding, deeply understanding and accepting the impermanence and uncertainty, people sometimes think it’s not a nice thing because many people actually think that death is a punishment, something very bad. From a Buddhist point of view, death is not a punishment, it’s a natural phenomenon. Birth is a natural phenomenon, for as long as there is birth then there has to be death.”

– Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

See here for more information.

Answers for Beginners with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

A YouTube series of short teachings

What is Buddhism? A religion, a philosophy, a tool to train our mind, a spiritual path to understanding ourselves, or a lifestyle that is defined by wholesome and unwholesome actions? Rinpoche answers all these questions and more here.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master of the Kagyu Order. He was trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters including HH the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He took his formal education at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim, and Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India, and has served as Tibetan textbook writer and Professor of Tibetan Studies in Sikkim for 25 years.

Healing : Buddha Dharma is regarded to be the Science of Mind. There are facilities for the study and practise of Dharma and other ancient wisdoms originating from both Eastern and Western traditions, which provide a basis for healing body and mind.

Helping : Life is meaningless if we do not do something useful to benefit society and the world we live in. Bodhicharya has already funded schools, clinics, and hospices, and plans to generate similar projects in the future for the benefit of those in need.

Harmony : Peace and progress in the world is dependent upon the harmony of its people. Inter-religious, inter-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue and study are initiated to help bring better understanding and more harmony amongst communities worldwide.