ADHISTHANA
17
It is like unto a great cloud rising above the world, covering all things everywhere, a gracious cloud full of moisture; lightning flames flash and dazzle, voice of thunder vibrates afar, bringing joy and ease to all. Its rain everywhere equally descends on all sides, streaming and pouring unstinted, permeating the land... White Lotus Sutra
4 Adhisthana in 2017
7 Order Retreats
8 System of Practice
10 Sadhana 12 Training 13 Traditions 14 Transforming Self + World 18 Gatherings + Order Weekends
20 Young Buddhists
21 50 Years of Triratna
24 Adhisthana Community
26 Calendar
In April 1967 Sangharakshita started a new Buddhist movement. He had a vision that it would be neither monastic nor lay; a western Buddhist movement functioning within the contemporary society in the same way that Buddhism had always been integrated into the different cultures in the East. So, in a basement of a small bookshop in central London, he began to teach meditation and give public lectures in cities across the UK. In 2017 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the start of that vision which has now flourished into Triratna, an international movement that could not have been envisaged in 1967. Adhisthana, in its fourth year, continues to develop that original vision of Sangharakshita’s: building community, work and teaching around a collective and committed dharma life, with Sangharakshita’s presence at the centre. In April we will host a 50th-anniversary celebration and launch a new library exhibition. There will also be a second celebration on the International Retreat in August. Please join us if you can, or get involved with your local celebrations. Saddhanandi, Chair
THE LINEAGE OF ILLUMINATION Satyalila visits Adhisthana often and supports the project in a variety of ways, helping to develop the library and leading creative writing on the women’s DharmaLife courses. In 2017, she will be co-leading a retreat on Blake. Here she reflects on Adhisthana and the ‘lineage of illumination’:
Like our Order and Movement, Adhisthana was born from Bhante’s vision. Both came into being when his inspiration fired the imaginations of men and women whose vision resonated with his own. Adhisthana is like a lens through which the light of that vision can be focused, and in just three years the effect of that has been tangible across the globe. Whether people can physically come here or not, Adhisthana affects them. It is like an earth-touching gesture for our Order and Movement, which recognises that the scale, complexity and audacity of our Order and Movement needs a deep centre, a still point, an anchor in time from which the centrifugal motion of our Bodhisattva aspirations can flow out with confidence. It is crucial that we do not literalise Adhisthana into some kind of ‘corporate HQ where a lot of meetings happen’. Just as we lose the ‘undefinable spirit’ of Bhante’s presentation of the Dharma when we fall into literalism, so too, we lose Adhisthana if we reduce it to familiar paradigms. Retreats happen here, but it is not a retreat centre. Meetings happen here, but it is not a conference centre. People live here, but it is not their home in the conventional sense. If Adhisthana is anything, it is a nexus. It is a place where the light of the transcendental makes landfall. When two Dharmafarers meet on the basis of Dharma practice, an alchemy happens. Between them, in their openness to each other, there is created the space in which the Kalyana can arise: something ‘more than two’ comes into being. When a practitioner connects with their yidam, there is a meeting, and transformation happens. Adhisthana is an open invitation to such encounters.
When the imagination is finally and completely illumined it perceives everywhere the illumined image: everything is known as it truly is, and is loved with unbounded compassion, free from all sentiment. However, in order to realise that ultimate exaltation of imagination, we require a ladder to lift ourselves up, rungs and handholds within our grasp that raise us above our present standpoint. We require specific images that are accessible to us within our own imaginations yet that are illumined from beyond our self-clinging. We require imaginative intermediaries that we can contemplate with the whole force of our uplifted imaginations and that will then connect us with the light of Bodhi. Re-Imagining the Buddha, Subhuti
Bhante has given us four lineages: the lineage of teachings, of practices, of responsibility and of inspiration. All find their expression at Adhisthana. His original vision for the place had the library at its heart. He imagined it growing out from that core of 11,000 books which he gathered and treasured over decades and which fuelled his imagination. It is another kind of earthtouching, that we can trace the roots of his interests and influences. In the retreats at Adhisthana one has the rare and precious opportunity to experience those teachings brought vividly to life under the guidance of some of our most experienced practitioners. The emphasis in this year’s programme are the sadhanas which Bhante received, offering a direct route into the lineage of practices. Bhante has emphasised the centrality of sadhana in our Order lives, and how it guarantees the transcendental unity of the Order. He is keen to free us from an unhelpfully narrow approach, reminding us that new ‘illumined images’ are needed which reflect our own cultural context and heart connections. At the same time there is much to be learned about the processes of the illumined imagination from Bhante’s own ‘lineage of illumination’. To this end that there is the opportunity to learn and practise the Sadhanas of Green Tara, Manjughosa and Avalokitesvara at Adhisthana in the coming year. The lineage of responsibility thrives so palpably at Adhisthana it hardly needs a mention. And yet. To be at Adhisthana and to take part in the practice and process of ‘responsibility holding’ is to realise that it’s a very different kind of relationship with responsibility to a conventional, worldly one. Responsibility as spiritual practice is characterised by the awareness of the ‘greater mandala’ of aesthetic appreciation, the Kalyana, and the recognition that, whatever happens, and whatever responsibility is held, there is crucially a process of cocreation at work. A glimpse at the Refuge Tree or a glance along the shelves of his library will reveal Bhante’s inspiration has been fuelled from diverse sources. The retreats at Adhisthana this year reflect this, too, with Ratnaguna continuing his exploration of ‘the vast illumined image’ of the Pure Land and a week devoted to exploring the influence of William Blake on Bhante in the company of Atula, Ananda and others. There are as many different ways of seeing and experiencing Adhisthana as there are Dharmafarers. Whether you are fortunate enough to be able to physically to spend time here or not, Adhisthana is here to serve as an increasingly potent focus for the lineage of illumination, and connect us with our own experience of illumined imagination.
EVENTS
ORDER RETREATS: SYSTE M OF PRACTICE
8/9
9-16 June
19-28 July
Blazing in the fires of Sunyata
The Six Elements
Dhammarati, Lokeshvara, Parami, Saccanama, Saddhaloka + Saddhanandi
A 9-day meditation retreat partly in silence, utilising the local landscape, a perfect location for the six elements practice - one of the Order’s recommended methods for cultivating insight. We’ll begin exploring the practice as Sangharakshita originally taught: evoked as external sense experiences, the elements are also recognised internally, with the knowledge that at death these will again become part of the elements ‘outside’. This reflection begins to dissolve the natural, but emotionally obscuring, sense of ownership and identification. As the retreat intensifies and communication deepens we’ll explore some supplementary approaches to help bring the practice alive in everyday life.
This series of retreats for Order Members will explore the whole of the System of Practice, with a particular focus on the aspects of spiritual death and spiritual rebirth in three sadhana retreats.
The cultivated emotions of the Brahma Viharas pass through the fires of sunyata, or emptiness - that is, non-self, or nonduality - thus giving rise to the bodhicitta, or wisdom heart. Living with Kindness, Sangharakshita
Sangharakshita has said that our practice at every level and in all activities of our lives must include each of the five aspects: integration, positive emotion, spiritual receptivity, spiritual death, and spiritual rebirth. In this way we work with the progressive or spiral trend of conditionality, allowing it to unfold through us.
Bhante teaches Metta as a path to Insight, and describes the culmination of the Metta Bhavana as entirely free from the illusion of a separate self. Using seminar material from ‘Living with Kindness’ we will investigate the nature of Metta through presentations and discussion, and through the Metta and Bodhicitta practices. We will focus on the relationship between Positive Emotion and Right View, opening up the views that keep us bound by the illusion of self, and rooted in negative emotion.
Kamalashila + Bodhiketu
Combine The Six Elements + Spiritual Receptivity for an 18-day ‘total immersion’ experience.
28 July-6 August
4-13 December
Spiritual Receptivity
Satipatthana: the direct path
Vessantara + team
Dhammarati + Vidyamala
Vessantara continues his exploration of our mandala of spiritual practice with a second, deeper look at Spiritual Receptivity. Just Sitting forms a vital balance to structured practice, and is also the centre of the meditative mandala where everything culminates in an experience which Sangharakshita describes as ‘existential relaxation’. In this 9-day retreat we’ll explore ways into the practice, how to avoid possible pitfalls, and how to set up the conditions for this radical relaxation and simplicity of true Just Sitting.
Humankind cannot bear very much reality, said T.S. Eliot. But we can learn to bear it – indeed, it is the wellspring of freedom and joy – if we train ourselves to see it steadily and see it whole. Living with Awareness, Sangharakshita By attending to our experience with awareness and kindness we can free ourselves from reactivity and open up to freedom of heart and mind. Dhammarati and Vidyamala have immersed themselves in the Anapanasati and Satipatthana Suttas for many years. In this retreat they’ll share their experience of these seminal suttas based on Bhante’s teachings on mindfulness. This intensive meditation retreat will be mostly in silence with teaching periods and meditation reviews.
Combine The Six Elements + Spiritual Receptivity for an 18-day ‘total immersion’ experience.
Sunyata could well be rendered ‘death’ because it is the death of everything conditioned, and it is only when the conditioned individuality dies that the ‘unconditioned individuality’ begins to emerge.
Photo Sahajatara
A System of Meditation, Sangharakshita
24-31 March
3-10 September
Avalokitesvara
Manjughosa Stuti Green Tara Sadhana Khemasiri + Vessantara
Parami, Saddhaloka + Vessantara
ORDER RE TRE ATS: SAD HANA
10/11
6-13 October
Ashokashri, Kamalashila, Mahamati, Sanghadevi + Subhuti In the early 90s simplified versions of our sadhana practices were created because some found the original sadhanas too complex and elaborate. However Bhante has recently placed more emphasis on the sadhana practices he was given by his own teachers. His view is that the original practices were, in most cases, not much more complex than the revised versions, and he encourages Order members to progress to the original versions as quickly as possible. In particular he mentioned the material that he covered in the Manjughosa Stuti Sadhana seminar as being paradigmatic, giving us a framework and a methodology that we can apply to our whole Dharma life as well as our practice of sadhana specifically, to challenge our usual way of perceiving the world. These sadhana retreats will be based on the original practices that Sangharakshita received from his own teachers and led by members of the Order that have been devoted to these particular practices for many years. Drawing on the material in the Manjughosa Stuti Sadhana seminar the retreats will explore Bhante’s teaching on sadhana as a direct way to cut through spiritual ignorance.
You see things in accordance with the middle way which is the Maya way. You don’t deny things as appearances, as Rupa, but you don’t interpret the appearances in terms of actually existent things... They are not ultimately real, but they are perceived as though they were ultimately real. So one has got to have both. One mustn’t exclude the appearance and one mustn’t lose sight of the void. Manjughosa Stuti Sadhana Seminar, Sangharakshita
Avalokitesvara, The British Museum
17-24 February
8-15 December
Kalyana Mitrata
Inspiring Dharma Study
for Dharmacharinis Saddhanandi + Vajrasara
‘By the banks of the river there are flocks of birds... singing melodies which soothe the mind’ Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra
The Four Zoas, William Blake
What our world needs above all is the teaching of the Dharma. Part of the vision of Adhisthana is to provide a context for a sharing of the depth of experience and understanding in our Order and to develop support and training to communicate and teach the Dharma. This can involve learning particular ‘skills’, but it also involves deepening our understanding of the underlying Dharmic principles, firing our imagination, and immersing ourselves in the breadth and depth of the Buddhist tradition - to enter deeply into the Sutra-Treasure, whereby our wisdom may grow as vast as the ocean.
Opposite: Atisha, the originator of the Mind Training tradition
OR DER R ETR EATS : TR A INING
12/13
The greatest benefactor is a spiritual friend in the form of an ordinary human being. Jewel Ornament of Liberation, Gampopa An opportunity to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses in the arena of friendship and in seeing and understanding others more deeply. In friendship we can support each other to follow the Dharma in our lives, but it takes skill and courage to speak truthfully and help point each other in the right direction. This retreat will offer a chance to reflect more deeply on the spiritual vision and value of relationship: ‘Spiritual friendship enables us to be true to our individuality and on that basis bring about an authentic meeting of hearts and minds’, Sangharakshita.
the art of leading study groups Ratnaguna + team Why is it important to study the Dharma? How can participating in, and leading, a study group become a spiritual practice? How can we create a context in which collective reflection becomes possible, transforming knowledge into wisdom? On the retreat you will lead a couple of small study groups and be encouraged to develop your skills and awareness of what a good study leader is trying to do. There will be an emphasis on how a study leader needs to lead rather than just facilitate, to draw out and explicate the Dharma through dialogue and questioning, helping participants in the group to see the truth of their lives more clearly.
21-28 July
13-20 October
Mind Training
‘Energy is Eternal Delight’
Great Faith Great Wisdom
Alternative Traditions: Discovering the vision of William Blake
Ratnaguna + team
Why has Blake been a vital influence on Sangharakshita since his teens? What’s his place in Bhante’s presentation of the Dharma, in our ‘lineage’? In ‘Alternative Traditions’ Bhante shows how the patterning of the five spiritual faculties can be discerned in Blake’s ‘Four Zoas’. What has such a ‘translation’ got to offer us? This retreat, co-created by Ananda, Atula, Dhivan, Ratnaprabha, Saccanama, Satyalila and Vandika, will explore these questions and more through a spectrum of approaches.
It takes a long time to attain the wisdom which has faith as its goal. You should rouse your energy to attain this goal. The Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra
Saddhaloka + Saddhanandi
The Mind Training teachings laid out by Atisha and his disciples in C11 Tibet are in the lineage of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. They challenge us to live an uncompromising life in the Dharma, overcoming self-clinging through the attitude we adopt to every person we meet and every situation that arises in life. The Wisdom that sees through a fixed self and the Compassion that involves living completely unselfishly are seen as inseparable, and both are to be cultivated to the most profound level. Each day there will be presentations and discussion exploring verses of Mind Training. We will also do the Bodhicitta practice, which is traditionally associated with these teachings.
Amitabha’s pure buddha-field, Sukhavati, is a vast ‘illumined image’, an imaginative evocation of higher states of consciousness and awakening. The beings who inhabit this land are irreversible from awakening. They all possess great faith and great wisdom. Ratnaguna and his team will guide us in an imaginative journey into this realm, following the Buddha’s words to ‘look at this buddha-field - like a dream’ using ritual recitation of the sutras, visualisation, talks, and discussion.
O R DER R ETR EATS : TR A DITIONS
19-26 May
19-22 January + 22-25 June
Dharma Groups + Pioneers
The Ashokan column and Dharmachakra on a 20-rupee note
Most of the following events are open to anyone involved in a Triratna centre or group who is familiar with the meditations and puja that we practice. The retreats cover a range of themes but have a common purpose – the transformation of self and world through a depth of spiritual practice and the creation of spiritual community. In our two retreats on building the nucleus of the new society through community living and right livelihood we will be inviting people with years of experience to join us and share their wisdom and inspiration.
Opposite: Manjughosha, the gentle voiced one, presiding over The Sangharakshita Library
T R ANSFOR MING S ELF + WOR LD
14/15
These retreats are led by the Triratna Development Team and Friends, and aimed to support Order members and mitras running Triratna Groups and small Centres or those who are thinking of starting a Triratna Group. They are a chance to be supported by a team with many years of experience in running Dharma Groups, and to gather with peers to share ideas, experiences, challenges and inspiration. How can we create a sangha that is vibrant? How can this deepen our practice? Exploring these questions will contribute to a unified Triratna sangha. We will also look at teaching skills; effectively engaging volunteers; and charity legislation.
9-12 March
Speaking from Silence Dhiraprabha + Srisambhava In the centre, white hot and leaping like a fish from water, is the awesome utterance that is true, helpful and timely: the coming together of wisdom and compassion in speech. An exploration of Just Sitting and Speaking from Silence. When the Sangha is truly gathered it is as if individual identities have been left behind, enabling those present to be receptive to deeper truth in themselves and in each other. The expression of such truth can be experienced as ‘Perfect Speech’. A few insightful beneficial words, dropping into the pool of receptive silence, can have transformative power. Achieving this depth of communication in an Order meeting can unite and inspire us in our Going for Refuge.
28 April-2 May + 13-17 October
Friends of the Library At the heart of Adhisthana is the Sangharakshita Library, books and artefacts collected by Bhante, and an invaluable written record of much of his teaching. One of Adhisthana’s most important roles is to care for this precious legacy. It will be a way for future generations to have a tangible connection with Sangharakshita. Since it’s opening in 2015 the space has been ritually dedicated and enlivened as a place of study and practice. We have held two exhibitions, hosted classical concerts, run a series of Order study seminars, and our first weekend retreats for the Friends of the Sangharakshita Library. Join us this year for weekends of work and practice together in the heart of Adhisthana.
28 April -1 May
Money Awakening Amalavajra + team Do you yearn for a more vivid life and a better world, not frustrated by money, its seeming scarcity, complexity, even shadiness? Money Awakening applies our five-stage system of Dharma practice to reveal and integrate your early conditioning, help shed old and limiting beliefs, and free you and your money to become a force for good. If you are involved in Triratna finance, dana economies, or fundraising, or want to be more confident and successful with money, then this retreat is for you. Amalavajra is a former investment banker now fundraising for Triratna through FutureDharma Fund.
19-21 May
16-18 June
6-11 + 13-17 August
Successful Singing the Community Living Sangha
Guard, Abandon, Arouse, Maintain
Akasajoti, Amalavajra + team
Arthasiddhi, Padmavajra + Manidhara
Work Retreats
A renewed Buddhism needs to confront the modern world as it is, and develop a complete way of life based on the Dharma that is a genuine and radical alternative. That way of life requires the support of communities and contexts that constitute a New Society in the midst of the wider society. During this weekend retreat we will explore how, through community living, we can intensify our spiritual practice and transform our individualistic tendencies thereby transforming the world. This weekend is intended for both those who are interested in starting a community, and those already in a community.
In Sangharakshita’s discourse on the relevance of the arts to a vital Dharma practice he has said, “a choir is a Sangha, at least whilst it’s singing”. During this weekend for Order Members and Mitras who have asked for Ordination we will be deepening our appreciation of the value for our Dharma practice of singing together in a choir by drawing on material from Subhuti’s and Padmavajra’s Eros and Beauty retreats. As well as raising the horizons of the value of a choir we will be raising our voices and our standard as a choir and, all going well, perform for Bhante. Buddhist and western canonical repertoire to be confirmed.
The Four Right Efforts are an integral part of the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment. In our minds, we abandon unskilful mental states and guard against their arising. We arouse skilful mental states and maintain their existence. Adhisthana, its grounds and its buildings, are also in constant need of maintenance, improvement, repair and prevention from decay. During this retreat we will work on our minds by doing physical work together on the Adhisthana site. As Sangharakshita said, “Work is the Tantric Guru!”. Come on either or both of these work retreats, and combine with the Right Livelihood retreat preceding or following, for more on ‘work as practice’.
T R ANSFOR MING S ELF + WOR LD
16/17
11-13 August
17-19 November
A Vision of Work: A Dhamma Right Livelihood Revolution! Team-based Right Livelihood is an important part of Sangharakshita’s vision of a New Society and an intensive context for spiritual practice. We need to integrate our work with our lives as Buddhists, and find contexts that support us in transforming self and world. We can build nuclei of a new society by creating teams, businesses and projects, based on values of generosity and co-operation, that exemplify an alternative to a consumer society. We will look at the principles of Right Livelihood as well as the experience of ‘work as practice’ that has evolved over the last 50 years. Combine with a work retreat preceding or following the weekend for an experience of the delight of working together.
‘After my contact with Dr Ambedkar and his followers I became much more aware of the social dimension of Buddhism and, in fact, the social dimension of life itself.’ Dr Ambedkar was, in Sangharakshita’s words, one of the greatest Buddhists of the 20th century and remains a profound influence on his life and thought. Deeply committed to the uplift of the most marginalised communities in India, Dr Ambedkar saw the Dhamma as a means of individual + social transformation. This retreat will explore Dr Ambedkar’s teachings, and how embracing Buddhism transforms the lives of so many people, socially and spiritually. We will also look at the influence of Dr Ambedkar on Triratna and how we can take his vision forward.
No doubt if everyone in the world were to cultivate genuinely expansive positive emotion as a way of life, human society would be entirely transformed... The sangha is the expression, across time and space, of that practical commitment to transforming self and world which is inherent in the life and teaching of the Buddha. Living with Kindness, Sangharakshita
Right: Dr Ambedkar, Photo Padmadhara
Vajratara + team of senior Indian Order Members
Left: Padmasambhava accepting obeisance after he has subjugated the Naga King
Abhayanandi, Keturaja, Sanghadasa + Vimalamati
17-20 August
24-28 August
Combined Area Order Weekend
Triratna International Retreat
After the enjoyable and inspiring Order weekend last year in celebration of Bhante’s 90th birthday, we will again hold the Combined Area Order weekend here in 2017. These Order gatherings build up the mythic dimension of Adhisthana and allow us to experience its blessings in large numbers, and we hope many of you will join us again. The theme will be announced and bookings will open nearer the time. As before, this will predominantly be a camping event to enable as many as possible to attend, so please do consider camping in our beautiful field if you are able to.
This is the 2nd Triratna International Retreat held at Adhisthana, a familyfriendly retreat open to everyone. Come to experience the breadth and depth of the Triratna Buddhist Community, with hundreds of newcomers and experienced practitioners from around the world living, practising, and creating Sangha together over a long weekend in Triratna’s home. The retreat will include meditation, talks and discussion to draw out the significance of the theme to our life and Dharma practice; integrated activites for children and teenagers; story-telling, chanting and ritual, and time for sitting around the campfire and hanging out. NB. This is mainly a camping event.
Adhisthana is a home for Triratna, a place where we can gather on our own land. The Buddha taught his disciples the value and benefit of gathering together in large numbers, and Sangharakshita too has emphasised the power of a collective situation to stimulate the opening of our heart and mind to that which lies beyond our limited individuality. As well as these larger gatherings, Adhisthana can host Sangha events, ordination reunions, and retreats for Chapters, communities and more.
The first event for Bhante’s disciples, 2015 Photos Viramati
Men’s Area Order weekends: 3-5 February 3-5 November Women’s Area Order weekends: 2-5 March 30 November - 3 December
The Order at Bhante’s 90th Birthday weekend Photo Mahasiddhi
GAT HER INGS + OR DER WEEK ENDS
18/19
31 Aug-3 September
24-30 November
Fellowship of Disciples
Anagarika Convention
For all those ordained by Sangharakshita
The third bi-annual Anagarika Convention
A precious opportunity for all those ordained by Bhante to spend a long weekend together with a simple programme in the spirit of co-creation. There was a time when the Order was small enough to all gather together on Conventions and Order weekends. Those times have long passed but have provided the foundation on which the Order and movement has grown over the last 50 years. This weekend is a chance to gather with old friends at Bhante’s home, in the year of the 50th anniversary of the movement.
How light my body! Touched by abundant rapture & bliss, — like a cotton tuft borne on the breeze — it seems to be floating — my body! Theragatha 1.104 A chance for all who have taken the brahmacarya precept to gather together to communicate their practice and inspiration, and share their experience of a life based on the principle of radical simplicity. Brahmacarya is translated as celibacy or chastity, but Bhante describes it further as a path of renunciation and profound egolessness which can lead to complete freedom, and sense of ‘the kalyana’, or ‘the beautiful’. Happy indeed we live, friendly amid the haters. Among those who hate we dwell free from hate. Happy indeed we live, content amid the greedy. Among those who are greedy we dwell free from greed. Happy indeed we live, we for whom there are no possessions. Feeders on rapture shall we be, like the gods of Brilliant Light. Dhammapada, 197-200
30 June-2 July
27-29 October
Sub-25 Weekend
The Big One
The 3rd annual weekend retreat open to anyone under 25
The 9th annual young buddhist retreat open to anyone under 35
NEX T GENER ATION
20/21
There is much experience and wisdom to be shared from the past 50 years of Triratna, and part of Adhisthana’s role is to offer intensive contexts for younger people through running retreats and longer residential courses, to inspire the next generation of revolutionaries.
Weekends of uniting to practice, connect and realise a vision for the future of Buddhism and the world at the home of Triratna: These retreats offer a taste of living as a community, growing friendships, sharing our reflections, and building a living spiritual community that will support us in our quest for freedom, and enable us to channel our energies into vital engagement with the world. There will be meditation, inspiring talks, Buddhist ritual, workshops, and time with others who have similar life experiences and who are interested in living a meaningful life. Everyone is welcome, especially newcomers.
It is sometimes said: ‘There is no revolutionary like an old revolutionary’. The young revolutionary is just hot-blooded, just impulsive, and usually gets over it, settles down and conforms, but the real revolutionary is one who, the older they get, the more revolutionary they get. Aphorism, Sangharakshita
What we imagine today we may execute tomorrow, and the dream of the night may become the reality of the morning. So let us imagine, let us dream, and we may find that we are closer to waking, closer to reality, than we had thought.
Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Blake Quote: Blueprint for a New World, Sangharakshita
50 YEARS OF TRIRATNA
Photos Clear Vision
Triratna Buddhist Community: 1967-2017 8 April On the anniversary of the founding of the Triratna Buddhist Community, we will mark and celebrate this remarkable occasion by bringing together some of the ‘elders’ of the Triratna Buddhist Order with the ‘next generation’, for discussion, interviews, rejoicing and more - sparking an enlivening and inspiring conversation between generations.
We don’t have a detailed blueprint of a new world; we have something that is perhaps even better - the living, growing seed of a new world. Blueprint for a New World, Sangharakshita, 1976
In The History of my Going for Refuge, on the 20th anniversary of the then Western Buddhist Order, Bhante describes giving a lecture on the Bodhisattva Ideal at the first Ordinations to evoke the altruistic dimension of the spiritual life. He encourages everyone present to ‘imbibe the Bodhisattva spirit and echo the Bodhisattva vow in their own hearts’. From the beginning the Bodhisattva Ideal has lived at the heart of Triratna, indeed, the founding of the Order and movement can be seen as the expression of Bhante’s own Bodhisattva vow. In the creation of the Order Bhante has offered us a vital Sangha within which to fare in the Dharma and tread the path of transformation, and since then the movement has thrived, grown the lives of so many around the world. There is something about the movement, the Order and even about me that is not easily definable. Everyone will need to take care of that rather mysterious, indefinable spirit that gives the movement life and energy. What is the Western Buddhist Order?, Sangharakshita, 2009
FutureDharma Fund
The world needs what you’ve been given. Pass it on. I need hardly say how much the world needs the Dharma, needs such an Order, such a movement as ours. I have done what I can. I have started the Order, started the movement - the future is in your hands. Looking Ahead a Little Way, Sangharakshita, 1999 Triratna has much to celebrate in terms of our contribution to the lives of many hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Yet the world is still burning with the fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance, and needs effective spiritual communities that support individuals committed to growing in wisdom and compassion to work as a force for good. FutureDharma funds projects around Triratna that create unity of community, depth of practice and breadth of reach. At Adhisthana it supports experienced Order Members to share their understanding, for example by offering training in Dharma teaching and leadership skills. It will also fund the development of Adhisthana’s land and buildings so that we can hold larger international gatherings; and resource the Preceptors’ College and International Council which are based here. Visit the FutureDharma website for inspiration and to give a regular or single donation, a loan, or a gift in your Will, and support Adhisthana to pass on to others what you have been given.
futuredharma.org
Surely, venerable sir, we are living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes. But, Anuruddha, how do you live thus? Venerable sir, as to that, I think thus: ‘It is a gain for me, it is a great gain for me, that I am living with such companions in the holy life.’
A DHISTHA NA C OM M UNITY
24/25
ORDER OFFICE
ADHISTHANA TEAM
Urgyen Sangharakshita
Saddhanandi, Chair
Yashodeva, Maintenance
Sanghadeva, Gardener
Bodhiketu, Finance Manager
Vimalamati, Order Convenors’ Assistant
Rochani, Kitchen Manager
Sanghadasa, Management Team
Ania, Kitchen
Akasajoti, Admin + Communications
Lokeshvara, International Order Convenor
Danasamudra, Librarian
Sanghadarsini, Management Team
Parami, International Order Convenor
COLLEGE + INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
BHANTE’S HOUSEHOLD
Saddhaloka, Chair, Preceptors’ College
Saccanama, College Assistant
Sthanashraddha, Secretary
Dhammarati, Convenor, International Council
Dhammamegha, Executive Assistant, International Council
Suvajra
FUTURE DHARMA FUND
Paramartha
Amalavajra, Fundraising Director
Liz, Communications + Supporter Care
JANUARY
FEBR UA RY
MA R C H
AP R I L
M AY
JU N E
5-12 European Chairs Assembly
2-3 Men Regional Order Convenors
2-5 Women’s Area Order Weekend
8 50th Anniversary Celebration
4-7 Gender Diverse Sangha
9-16 Blazing in the Fires of Sunyata
19-22 Triratna Groups + Pioneers
3-5 Men’s Area Order Weekend
6-16 Public Preceptors’ College
21-28 Women Private Preceptors
19-21 Successful Community Living
16-18 Singing the Sangha
22-27 Adhisthana Community Days
5-12 Men Private Preceptors
9-12 Speaking from Silence
28-1 May Money Awakening
19-26 Mind Training
17-24 Kalyana Mitrata for Dharmacharinis
24-31 Avalokitesvara Sadhana
24-26 Young Facilitators
31-2 April Men’s Regional Order weekend Midlands
Editor Akasajoti Design Dhammarati + Akasajoti Cover Vidyadipa Portraits Suvajra Photos Dhammarati Mahasiddhi Padmadhara Sahajatara Suvajra Viramati
31-6 April Women Mitra Convenors
This body is like an empty village or house. The Sutra of Golden Light
C AL E NDAR
26/27
28-4 May Presidents 28-2 May Friends of the Sangharakshita Library
18-22 Adhisthana Community Days 22-25 Triratna Groups + Pioneers 30-2 July Sub-25 Weekend
Order Events
Order members and Mitras
Open Events
Meetings
J U LY
AUGU ST
S EPT EMBER
OCTOB E R
N OVE M B E R
D EC E M B E R
19-28 The Six Elements
6-11 Guard, Abandon, Arouse, Maintain: work retreat
1-3 Young Order vs. Subhuti: Study Seminar
6-13 Green Tara Sadhana
1-3 Men Regional Order Convenors
4-13 Satipatthana: the direct path
11-13 A Vision of Work: Right Livelihood
3-10 Manjughosa Stuti Sadhana
3-5 Men’s Area Order Weekend
8-15 Inspiring Dharma Study
13-17 Guard, Abandon, Arouse, Maintain: work retreat
15-24 The Six Guidelines
21-28 ‘Energy is Eternal Delight’: discovering the vision of Blake 28-6 August Spiritual Receptivity
17-20 Combined Area Order Weekend 24-28 International Retreat 31-3 September Fellowship of Disciples: for those ordained by Sangharakshita
29-1 October Men’s Regional Order Weekend Midlands
13-20 Great Faith, Great Wisdom 13-17 Friends of the Sangharakshita Library 20-26 Women Mitra Convenors 27-29 Young Buddhists: The Big One
Booking + Information ADHISTHANA.org 01531 641726
6-16 Preceptors’ College 17-19 A Dhamma Revolution! 17-21 Women Regional Order Convenors 24-30 Anagarika Convention 30-3 December Women’s Area Order Weekend
Adhisthana Coddington Ledbury Herefordshire HR8 1JL
01531 641726 www.adhisthana.org admin@adhisthana.org