Cheltenham Buddhist Centre

Today I finally made it to Cheltenham Buddhist centre. I'd been there before, but been driven, and it was dark, so I was pleased to be able to get there by bus and on foot. As I turned it, all I had to do was to follow the football crowds, because Cheltenham Town FC plays opposite the centre, at Whaddon Road stadium.

This statue is of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the founder of Kadampa Buddhism. Geshe departed this life last year, around the same time as Queen Elizabeth II. My reason for going today was to attend a short class on 'taming the Wild Elephant mind'. In other words: reasons to meditate, to calm racing, out of control thoughts.
(Maybe you don't have any? Wish I could say the same...)

The course was good, the leader recognized me (she taught the classes last year in Stroud for a while) and I was glad to be back at the centre, having only a hazy memory of my previous visit in 2017.

I caught the bus back (after popping into Waterstone' s to admire their stationery) and enjoyed the late summer sunshine as we soared through the swathe of countryside between Abbeymead (Gloucester) and Painswick. Back home, after supper, we watched the rugby. Ireland beat South Africa! Wow, wow and triple wow!