Ven. Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht OBE

At the Peace Pagoda in support of Buddhist monks in Burma.

8 images
Painting the Shrine Room.

9 images
OBE Investiture.

17 images

On Thursday, October 9th, 2003 I went to Buckingham Palace to be invested by HM The Queen as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). I had been named an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours earlier in the year for services to prisoners.
I was allowed three guests and chose Ven. Manapo to represent the Sangha, Lord Avebury to represent Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy of which he is the Patron, and Maureen Leahy to represent my lay followers and supporters. Matthew Richards, my close assistant, drove the car.
Afterwards, Lord Avebury took us to the House of Lords for tea.
At the 21st World Scout Jamboree & Sunrise Day.

16 images

More than 40,000 scouts from all over the world were at Hylands Park in Essex in July for this 21st World Scout Jamboree and Sunrise Day, August 1st, marked the centenary of this fabulous movement.
I was there as a guest of Professor Yongyudh Vajaradul, Chairman of the World Buddhist Scout Brotherhood, first for a sermon on Asalha Puja Day and then again for another on Sunrise Day.
Springhill Buddha Grove Celebration 07

16 images
At the Thai Twig in Leamington Spa.

10 images
Songkrahn at The Forest Hermitage, Wat Pah Santidhamma.

43 images
Songkrahn at Yod Siam in Nottingham.

17 images

On Saturday, April 14th Yod organised a Songkrahn (Thai New Year) Celebration at his Yod Siam Restaurant in Nottingham.
Painting the Forest Hermitage

23 images
Snow at The Forest Hermitage & Wood Cottage.

29 images
Heaven and briefly Bangkok.

22 images

As all Buddhists know, heaven is impermanent and so our three days on Phuket passed and soon it was time to return to Bangkok for a night before taking the plane for Blighty. These pictures are mostly of Sri Panwa where we stayed on Phuket. At the end there are a few of the last day in Bangkok.
Four days mostly in Lamphun.

47 images

From Tuesday to Saturday stayed with Tahn Ajahn Lai at Wat Pah Khantidhamma, a branch monastery of Wat Pah Pong in Lamphun. From there we visited Chiangmai, a nearby cave called Tum Pahwien, and Doi Intanon, which at about 8,500 feet is the highest point of Thailand.
A few days in North East Thailand.

32 images

Some random shots taken in mid-January, mostly at Wat Pah Nanachat and Wat Keun.
The 15th Anniversary of the Passing of Tahn Ajahn Chah (Phra Bodhinyanathera)

21 images

Ven. Ajahn Chah passed away early on the morning of January 16th 1992 at his monastery, Wat Nong Pah Pong in the North East of Thailand. A year later was his State funeral in the presence of His Majesty the King and since then every year his passing has been commemorated with meditation, sermons and a huge circumambulation of the chedi that houses his relics. These pictures are a random set of photos mostly taken on the 16th of January this year but with one or two from the day before. Unfortunately we didn't take one of the Ajahn Chah Chedi, only inside and of what went on around it.
Badger Bank

15 images

The site of my accident sometime after midnight on the 17th/18th October.
Autumn comes at last to The Forest Hermitage.

12 images
Angulimala Workshop with Anne Owers.

8 images

Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy in the UK holds quarterly workshops for its team of fifty plus team of Buddhist Prison Chaplains. Here, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers CBE, was the guest speaker.
Wood Cottage Shrine Room.

40 images
Concreting the Base.

25 images

This was the arrival of the concrete to make the base on which the new Shrine Room will stand at Wood Cottage.
Meditation in the Pagoda Garden.

19 images

It was so hot this last week (July 24th -28th) that we held our Monday and Friday evening Open Evenings in the Pagoda Garden.