Buddhist Faith Advisor
David Greenop
My role as Buddhist Faith Advisor is to provide advice and support to the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy and the The Centre for Reconciliation and Lincolnshire Faith Council. University on matters involving Buddhism. It’s important to me that students and staff have the opportunity to explore what Buddhism has to offer and provide support those who already practice Buddhism. Personally, I believe that Buddhists should take an active role in working with other Faiths in the furtherance of peace through mutual respect and understanding.
I have been a Buddhist practitioner for over 30 years in the Nyingma & Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. I support and encourage an open non-sectarian approach towards all authentic Buddhist traditions. In recent years I have been connected with the Rangjung Yehe Tibetan Buddhist Centre (GOMDE UK) near Doncaster. It is under guidance from the teachers and lamas at this Centre that I undertake my roles at the University.
Before retiring I had spent my professional life in IT & telecommunications, having worked on many of the technologies that now shape our modern world. For most of my life I have been passionate about ecological and environmental issues and have for many years campaigned locally for greater action on climate change and other environmentally destructive activities.
Gomde UK
Gomde UK, a Buddhist Centre located at Lindholme Hall near Doncaster, has a formal agreement with the University of Lincoln to offer advice and support for anyone at the University who is interested in or is practicing authentic Buddha Dharma.
Gomde UK is a UK registered charity ´Rangjung Yeshe UK´ ( www.gomde.uk ) and is under the spiritual direction of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche; a meditation master and renowned teacher who has been teaching audiences around the world for the past 25 years. Rinpoche is the Abbot of Ka Nying Shedrub Ling and the author of a number of books.
Gomde UK is one of a number of Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan Buddhist centres worldwide with its home at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Nepal (www.shedrub.org ). Also located at the monastery in Nepal is the ´Rangjung Yeshe Institute’ ( www.ryi.org ) affiliated to the University of Kathmandu for studying Buddhism and related languages and Dharma Sun (www.dharmasun.org ) which provides online Buddhists teachings, courses and events.
Throughout the year Gomde UK at Lindholme Hall offers a wide selection of Buddhist activities, including talks, teachings, meditation sessions and practice retreats. University students and staff are very welcome to attend these. If requested Gomde UK may be able to offer some similar activities at the University.
Lama Oser, a senior monk at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery, who spends part of the year at Gomde UK, is the Buddhist Chaplain at the University of Lincoln. He oversees the relationship between the University and Gomde UK. He will visit the University and be available to answer your questions and offer pastoral support. When he is not resident in the UK, he may be available for a Facetime or Skype call.
Gomde UK is providing our first point of contact for students and staff enquiring about Buddhism or requesting pastoral support. Our contact at Gomde is Paulette Benjamin who will arrange for you to speak with Lamar Oser or a suitable member of the Gomde UK Buddhist community.
Sōtō Zen Chaplain
Rev. A M Gandō Seiko Garrod
At the age of 18, after exploring various spiritual paths, I came home to Sōtō Zen. In our lives we have many teachers, mine have come from many different
religions, but have all been sincere, lovely people. In 1983 I received precepts in the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. These precepts are the vows we make about how we live and interact with others. Today I am a member of two worldwide Zen communities: the Treeleaf Sangha and The Zen Peacemakers Order.
Sōtō Zen is known as the school of meditation. We focus on a meditation practice called Zazen. All of life is our temple.
Treeleaf Sangha is a multicultural Zen Buddhist Community in which people of all socio-economic classes, nationalities, races, ages, creeds, genders, sexual orientation and identification, and physical abilities discover shared humanity by direct experience of one anothers’ lives. We are open to all. We commit ourselves to cultivating a practice in diversity and multiculturalism by incorporating into our practice the dissolving of all barriers that perpetuate the suffering of separation, prejudice, and discrimination.
The Zen Peacemakers Order are a community without walls, a space to practice plunging into life just as it is, leaving out nothing, leaving out no one. We endeavour to bear witness, to see ourselves as the other and to see others as ourselves.
Our particular expression arises through the lineage and the teaching of our Zen ancestors who came before us. The ZPO commits to pass this on to those who come after us.
We practice meditation, live an ethical life, and encourage ethical businesses, care of the earth and social action as paths of awakening and service.
In August 2023, I was ordained as a Novice Monk/Priest in Sōtō Zen Buddhism, and now serve the Treeleaf Sangha – a Zen community of around 2836 members plus a varying number of visitors.