[BRNUK] Buddhist approaches to addiction and recovery

[Vince Cullen]

Hello Everyone,

I posted the following BLOG entry to the WIRE-IN
community<http://wiredin.org.uk/>yesterday and thought I would share
it here.

Buddhist approaches to addiction and recovery
<http://wiredin.org.uk/member/blog/847/entry/3984/buddhist-approaches-to-addiction-and-recovery/>

I have been deeply interested and at times intimately involved with Buddhist
approaches to addiction and recovery since learning of the unique work of
the Thamkrabok Monastery <http://www.thamkrabok-monastery.org/> in Thailand
back in 1998. The monastery itself has treated over 100,000 addicts after a
single desperate opium smoker came to them for help, fifty years ago in
1959.

This year, having been very aware of the lack of support at home for
recovering addicts, I organised a week long retreat at The Barn Rural
Buddhist Retreat <http://www.sharphamtrust.org/pages.php?id=1> in Devon,
England. This meditation retreat was intended to be exclusively for
‘ex-Thamkrabokers’ i.e. addicts in recovery following treatment in Thailand.

Martine Batchelor <http://www.martinebatchelor.org> author of ‘Let Go: A
Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits’ joined the retreat from Tuesday
until Friday. Although, Martine has a very busy teaching schedule she very
generously travelled from her home in France to help with talks, group
discussions, personal interviews and guided meditation. Disappointingly, not
enough ‘ex-Thamkrabokers’ signed up for the retreat to make it viable so it
was opened up to the general public and was oversubscribed in a very short
time. The initial poor response has not put me off arranging future retreats
for ex-Thamkrabokers, so I’ll see what I can set up for next year.

Increasingly over the last decade or so, it has been very pleasing and in
various ways very supportive to my own recovery, to see a growing interest
in mindfulness based approaches to addiction and recovery; particularly to
the use of Buddhist orientated teachings, traditions and practices to help
people recover from the suffering caused by addictive behaviours. Up until
now this interest has been largely, at least from where I stand, random and
uncoordinated. There have been very few opportunities, facilities or
resources for addicts to benefit from the use of Buddhist approaches to
recovery at home or abroad.

Now, all that may change. I have been delighted and excited to have been
recently introduced to a new international recovery organisation, the Buddhist
Recovery Network <http://www.buddhistrecovery.org/> (BRN).

I am very fortunate to be able to attend the BRN inaugural
Conference<http://www.buddhistrecovery.org/inaugural_conference.htm>next
month – October 2009 – not only as an addict in recovery and as a
practitioner <http://www.tara-detox.org> but also as the representative of
the Thamkrabok Monastery. The BRN conference is to be held at the Against
The Stream <http://www.againstthestream.org/> meditation centre in Los
Angeles, California and aims to provide an unprecedented opportunity to
explore the use of Buddhist teachings and practices in healing the suffering
caused by addictive behaviours.

Why? you may ask is the Thamkrabok Monastery not sending a monk to this
conference. Very simply because the monks at Thamkrabok take a vow not to
use mechanical transport, therefore – with very few exceptions – they walk
everywhere, rarely leaving South East Asia. With the support of the Abbot of
Thamkrabok – Phra Ajahn Boonsong Tanajaro – I will do my best to represent
the monastery at this auspicious event.

I must stress that the BRN is seeking to respond to a natural curiosity from
those in recovery who intuitively see potential for Buddhism to enhance
their recovery. They are certainly not missionaries seeking to promote
Buddhism as a religion.

I do appreciate that this conference will not be of interest to – or within
the resources of – many ‘WIRE IN’ members but I do hope to perhaps meet one
or two of you there?

Inspired by, and exploring affiliation with the International Buddhist
Recovery Network, is a new UK based mailing list intended to promote
discussion and the sharing of ideas with the aim of building a movement for
recovery in the UK supported by Buddhist principles and practices.

The stated intention of the United Kingdom Buddhist Recovery Network (BRNUK)
is “to develop to be able to support the use of Buddhist teachings,
traditions and practices to help people recover from the suffering caused by
addictive behaviours. Open to people of all backgrounds, and respectful of
all recovery paths, the developing organisation will promote mindfulness and
meditation, and be grounded in Buddhist principles of non-harming,
compassion and interdependence. We seek to serve through teaching, training,
treatment, research, publication, advocacy and community-building
initiatives.”

You can join the BRNUK mailing list at
http://buddhistrecovery.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/network
 ---oooOooo---

The original article can be found
here<http://wiredin.org.uk/member/profile/847>.


Be well and kind regards to all.

With Metta,


Vince
__________________________________
306
Lying leads to sorrow.
Concealing wrong actions
leads to sorrow.
These two acts of deceit
take beings
to the same state of woe.
__________________________________
A DHAMMAPADA for CONTEMPLATION
http://aruno.org//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=80
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