Namaskarn and Hello,
I joined a few years ago and posted a solitary message whilst undertaking some research on the Fifth Precept.
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 100#p93602
I shall now double my posts with this belated introduction.
I came to the Buddha’s teachings through my mother, the late Fuengsin Trafford, who was originally from Thailand and then settled in the UK, http://fuengsin.org . She would chat about basic concepts such as karma when I was in my teens, from the early 1980s onwards, but I guess her influence started when I was in her womb, because even then she was already a long-time meditator.
I started practising informally in the late ’80s; the first classes I attended were with the FWBO (now Triratna) in Glasgow in around ’91. Afterwards, for about a couple of years I practised with the Samatha Association until an experience on retreat prompted me to explore the Dhammakaya tradition, the one my mother practised. And that’s been my main practice since ’96.
My mother was very active in the Birmingham area and helped out with many Buddhist groups, learning from different Schools and also from other religious traditions. I try to follow her example and hope to listen to and share what's worthwhile here.
Thank you.
Paul.
(I live and work in Oxford, UK)
Hello from Oxford
Re: Hello from Oxford
Welcome back!
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
- BB
- BB
Re: Hello from Oxford
Welcome Paul.
Mike
Mike
Re: Hello from Oxford
Welcome back Paul! I'm sure your mother is smiling somewhere
Do Good, Avoid Evil, Purify the Mind.
- Bhikkhu Pesala
- Posts: 4647
- Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:17 pm
Re: Hello from Oxford
Welcome back to the forum.
I knew your mother when I lived at the Burmese Vihāra in Birmingham.
I knew your mother when I lived at the Burmese Vihāra in Birmingham.
Blog • Pāli Fonts • In This Very Life • Buddhist Chronicles • Software (Upasampadā: 24th June, 1979)
- Khalil Bodhi
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Re: Hello from Oxford
Welcome to DW!
To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183
The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
-Dhp. 183
The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
- The Thinker
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Re: Hello from Oxford
Hello
"Watch your heart, observe. Be the observer, be the knower, not the condition" Ajahn Sumedho volume5 - The Wheel Of Truth
Re: Hello from Oxford
Thank you to everyone for the kind welcome. Sadhu.
Ven. Pesala, it's particularly nice to know that you still remember my mother from her time at the Burmese Vihāra in Birmingham. As it happens I was there on Sunday for the Buddha Day celebrations and was glad to see others from various traditions.
In the Dhamma,
- Paul.
Ven. Pesala, it's particularly nice to know that you still remember my mother from her time at the Burmese Vihāra in Birmingham. As it happens I was there on Sunday for the Buddha Day celebrations and was glad to see others from various traditions.
In the Dhamma,
- Paul.
Re: Hello from Oxford
Hi Paul,
Wishing you a warm welcome.
I was very happy to see Fuengsin's dedication page and would like to express my gratitude to you for posting it here. I used to know your mother a little when I was doing post-graduate research at Birmingham University in the 1980s. Her friend Prani (a square-jawed Thai woman with a very long surname that I can't remember now) sometimes joined us for sesshin at Vajira Bailey's OBC group and often invited me to her home for lunch. It was there that I met your mother when she too was a guest. She is a firm fixture in my memory, perhaps in large part because she was so unlike most other Thai women I've known — so forthright and confident, and not socialized to be ridiculously demure like most of them seem to be.
I am very sorry to hear the news of her passing. If Fuengsin was still alive I would like to have asked you to pass on the message that I still regularly prepare mango and cashew nut spicy salad using the Thai recipe she gave me all those years ago.
Best wishes,
Kasia
Wishing you a warm welcome.
I was very happy to see Fuengsin's dedication page and would like to express my gratitude to you for posting it here. I used to know your mother a little when I was doing post-graduate research at Birmingham University in the 1980s. Her friend Prani (a square-jawed Thai woman with a very long surname that I can't remember now) sometimes joined us for sesshin at Vajira Bailey's OBC group and often invited me to her home for lunch. It was there that I met your mother when she too was a guest. She is a firm fixture in my memory, perhaps in large part because she was so unlike most other Thai women I've known — so forthright and confident, and not socialized to be ridiculously demure like most of them seem to be.
I am very sorry to hear the news of her passing. If Fuengsin was still alive I would like to have asked you to pass on the message that I still regularly prepare mango and cashew nut spicy salad using the Thai recipe she gave me all those years ago.
Best wishes,
Kasia
Re: Hello from Oxford
Hello Kasia,
First of all, I've very sorry for being so slow to reply to your nice message - it has been a long time since I logged in and only then did I see the notification about your post.
It is kind of you to share your recollection of Fuengsin, a very characteristic one given its involvement of food, and I'm sure she'd be pleased that you are eating well. (Khun Pranee [Sunasavenonta] was a close friend of my mother and had the same meditation teacher, Ajahn Gaew Potikanok.)
I recently was in contact with a lady called Anita, who used to live near our home and take Fuengsin to Vajira's group. Perhaps you knew her also? This has reminded me of how dynamic were the interactions between and among Birmingham's various Dhamma and Dharma groups.
I have tried to convey some of this in a biography that I published this year under the title, Thursday's Lotus: The Life and Work of Fuengsin Trafford. I've just made available a free PDF version, which is linked from the main project page:
http://fuengsin.org/lotus/
Thank you,
Paul.
First of all, I've very sorry for being so slow to reply to your nice message - it has been a long time since I logged in and only then did I see the notification about your post.
It is kind of you to share your recollection of Fuengsin, a very characteristic one given its involvement of food, and I'm sure she'd be pleased that you are eating well. (Khun Pranee [Sunasavenonta] was a close friend of my mother and had the same meditation teacher, Ajahn Gaew Potikanok.)
I recently was in contact with a lady called Anita, who used to live near our home and take Fuengsin to Vajira's group. Perhaps you knew her also? This has reminded me of how dynamic were the interactions between and among Birmingham's various Dhamma and Dharma groups.
I have tried to convey some of this in a biography that I published this year under the title, Thursday's Lotus: The Life and Work of Fuengsin Trafford. I've just made available a free PDF version, which is linked from the main project page:
http://fuengsin.org/lotus/
Thank you,
Paul.
Re: Hello from Oxford
Your research paper was great.paultraf wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2016 9:39 pm Namaskarn and Hello,
I joined a few years ago and posted a solitary message whilst undertaking some research on the Fifth Precept.
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 100#p93602
I shall now double my posts with this belated introduction.
I came to the Buddha’s teachings through my mother, the late Fuengsin Trafford, who was originally from Thailand and then settled in the UK, http://fuengsin.org . She would chat about basic concepts such as karma when I was in my teens, from the early 1980s onwards, but I guess her influence started when I was in her womb, because even then she was already a long-time meditator.
I started practising informally in the late ’80s; the first classes I attended were with the FWBO (now Triratna) in Glasgow in around ’91. Afterwards, for about a couple of years I practised with the Samatha Association until an experience on retreat prompted me to explore the Dhammakaya tradition, the one my mother practised. And that’s been my main practice since ’96.
My mother was very active in the Birmingham area and helped out with many Buddhist groups, learning from different Schools and also from other religious traditions. I try to follow her example and hope to listen to and share what's worthwhile here.
Thank you.
Paul.
(I live and work in Oxford, UK)
The best finding for me is that Buddha's last word was not to consume alcohol.
Perhaps I suggest that your next research project should be on discrimination. (sex, caste, creed. color, nationality etc.)
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Re: Hello from Oxford
Thank you for reading the dissertation and for the appreciation, which prompts me to write a few more lines.SarathW wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 6:12 amYour research paper was great.paultraf wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2016 9:39 pm Namaskarn and Hello,
I joined a few years ago and posted a solitary message whilst undertaking some research on the Fifth Precept.
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 100#p93602
The best finding for me is that Buddha's last word was not to consume alcohol.
Perhaps I suggest that your next research project should be on discrimination. (sex, caste, creed. color, nationality etc.)
I do enjoy research and thank you for your suggestion. Although as a mixed-race person I can speak from some experience, the kind of discrimination I'd prefer to focus on is discriminatory awareness ...
One of the research areas I've been exploring more recently concerns cognitive aspects in the design of technology, particularly social networking sites.
https://paultrafford.blogspot.com/2018/ ... tions.html
https://paultrafford.blogspot.com/2018/ ... tions.html
I submitted a proposal to a conference of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES), but whilst the review panel found it interesting, it didn't meet the selection criteria.
- Paul