I want to begin to experiment with telling the stories of some of the events happening at Adhisthana – I want Adhisthana to be able to reach out all over the Triratna world across oceans and borders, and I want it to be a source of inspiration and positivity in the world and in this community. So over this week I’ll be on a retreat on the theme of Metta and Bodhicitta, and will try to tell you the story of Blazing in the Fires of Sunyata.

Tonight, in true Triratna tradition, 21 order members sat in a circle and checked in with each other, sharing our lives and our motivations for being on this particular retreat. 

There was a web of interwoven relationships in the room, and a range of experience in the Order, from just 1 year, to 41. Some were here for their connections with the team: having shared a room on an Ordination retreat 36 years ago, to reconnect with their first Dharma teacher 21 years later, or having been inspired by last year’s Ethics to Insight retreat. Some were here for the theme: to breathe more easily in this suffering world, to just love more, or to see where wisdom and compassion coincide. 

Saddhanandi introduced the theme, and told us of her meeting with Sangharakshita earlier in the day, where he told her his only concern was for the wider world. “If we can keep alive just a corner of love, Saddhanandi….” he said.

Whatever our motivation, we converged in the shrine room, dedicating the retreat to the three jewels - to the observance of the ten precepts, the practice of meditation, the development of wisdom, the attainment of enlightenment - for the happiness and benefit of all beings.

+follow Adhisthana here and on Facebook to continue to hear, see, and read more of the story of Blazing in the Fires of Sunyata, all this week.