Dear Order Members and friends,
Thanks to Purna for his evocative letter last month from Sudarshanaloka, the ‘land of beautiful vision’, in New Zealand; I’m very much looking forward to being there for the first time in a few months.
A few weeks ago I was at another of our retreat centres: Akashavana, ‘the forest retreat of luminous space’, in Spain. It was an informal visit as I hadn’t been there for many years and wanted to connect with the residential community with a view to taking over from Maitreyi as president of the project later this year. When I say ‘residential community’ I am referring to the two heroines, Bodhipaksini and Padmasakhi, currently living in the community house and who – with help from several stalwart volunteers – do everything that is needed to keep the retreat centre running. Hopefully they will soon be joined by a third person but in the meantime they are an inspiring example of spiritual community, living in harmony and simplicity in a beautiful – sometimes challenging – context. My visit overlapped with Ujjala being there for two months and it was delightful to see her again after staying with her in Mexico City last year, as well as catching up with Mumukshu who has been living nearby after being a member of the Akashavana community for many years. Bodhipaksini showed me the two sites on terraces high above the community house that have been prepared for solitary retreat huts and I signed up at once; they are spectacular locations.
Akashavana is primarily used for long ordination retreats for women while its ‘brother’ retreat centre Guhyaloka, ‘the secret valley’, provides the same for men, both situated in beautiful secluded locations in the Spanish mountains. I was involved in leading the first ordination retreat at Akashavana in 2007 and fell in love with the place then. While I was there this time a three month ordination retreat was just underway, so I was especially aware of the 19 women soon to be ordained – including Caroline from Adhisthana – as well as the 19 men recently ordained at Padmaloka and now on a three month retreat at Guhyaloka. Last month Purna wrote of the ordinations of six men that had just taken place at Sudarshanaloka and since then eight women have also been ordained at Vijayaloka, ‘realm of victory’, Australia (hello Maitridharani). An ordination retreat is especially significant and it’s wonderful to have retreat centres such as these to support the mythic journeys that take place as people commitment themselves more explicitly to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
I continue to be involved with Tiratanaloka Unlimited, the project to create the desperately needed larger retreat centre for women training for ordination. The good news is that our phase one target to raise £1.5 million by Buddha Day this year has been topped – which is wonderful! Many thanks, especially to Subhadramati who spearheaded the campaign; FutureDharma for their support; and everyone else who has contributed in whatever way – and I know there are many of you. Now we just need to find the right property and raise the funds needed to ensure it is viable for future generations. We always knew it could take a while to find a suitable place and so began the search at the same time as fundraising, and now the process has intensified. Our team of searchers create a pool of potential properties which are thoroughly investigated and then the most promising are visited. Just a few days ago Karunadhi, Prajnagita and I visited a stunning location in north Herefordshire, but unfortunately it would not have been possible to create enough bed spaces. If you would like to receive updates you can subscribe to the Tiratanaloka Unlimited newsletter at unlimited@tiratanaloka.org.uk, and see an update from Subhadramati in the Features below.
Back at Adhisthana retreat centre I enjoyed leading a week’s study on pratītya-samutpāda, ‘conditioned arising’, for the current women’s Dharma Life Course discovering the Āryaśālistambanāmamahāyānasūtra, ‘The Rice Seedling Sūtra’, in the process. Translated from the Tibetan this early Mahayana sutra is based on the expression attributed to the Buddha: ‘Whoever sees dependent arising (pratītyasamutpāda) see the Dharma. Whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha.’ The Buddha apparently gave voice to this aphorism after gazing at a rice seedling and then fell silent, and Śāriputra goes to Maitreya for an explanation – which is a thorough exposition of conditionality in relation to both the subjective and objective aspects of our experience. The international Dharma Life Courses at Adhisthana, where up to nine women or men form a community and live, work, meditate and study together for three months, provide an intensive and effective training in Dharma as well as enabling (mainly younger) people to explore the benefits of a ‘semi-monastic’ lifestyle; many DLC alumni go on to hold significant responsibilities elsewhere in Triratna.
Other events I’ve been especially aware of, though not directly involved in, at Adhisthana recently have been an Elders’ gathering; a People of Colour Big Weekend; and a Manchester Sangha long weekend… The Elders (Order members ordained by Bhante) met alongside, and occasionally overlapped with, a sub40 Order weekend which was apparently an enjoyable and fruitful experience for all. There were nearly 80 people on the PoC weekend and I was especially glad to meet guest Jan Willis, Professor of Religion Emerita at Wesleyan University and author of ‘Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist and Buddhist’, who was active in the Civil Rights movement and took part in the legendary marches led by Dr Martin Luther King and practiced with Lama Thubten Yeshe. There were very nearly another 80 people on the Manchester Sangha weekend retreat during which Silabodhi ritually handed over to Lokesvara as Centre Chair; sadhu to both!
As I write this month’s update from the College, I’m aware how much of it relates to our Triratna retreat centres: precious resources that create the supportive conditions within which many people are able to refresh and deepen their practice. Most of our retreat centres are run by Order members and Mitras living in residential communities in simple, environmentally friendly and usually beautiful contexts that are light on resources and especially conducive to spiritual friendship and practice; commitment to a common altruistic project forges bonds and challenges any sense of ownership.
I lived at Tiratanaloka for 15 years and for half that time my bedroom and work space was a 2.4 x 2.4m hut in the garden looking out onto trees and hills, the only sound the stream. It took a while to get used to not carrying keys or money and I found that rather than getting bored doing the same walk every day I became more sensitised to my surroundings. I had thought my job would be to inspire the women coming on retreat but soon found that simply being on retreat together served to intensify all of our practice and I was continually uplifted to witness the effect of that on others.
Looking back, my first steps towards living in a retreat centre were to move into a women’s community near the London Buddhist Centre and then leave my well paid, enjoyable, but probably alienating, job in programming. I was in my mid-20s and hadn’t been meditating long but had a hunch that I really needed more contact with other practitioners and after an extraordinary experience during a Karuna door-knocking appeal I joined Windhorse Typesetters. After only a month of being part of a small and not always harmonious women’s team I remember being so deeply satisfied by being in conditions that clearly supported my practice 24 hours a day that I asked for ordination.
One of the women I worked with in Windhorse Typesetters and later at the Cherry Orchard cafe was Srisambhava and yesterday I attended her funeral ritual at Adhisthana, beautifully led by Maitreyi. Srisambhava’s practice was grounded in body work and after moving on to be part of the Bodywise right livelihood team she integrated this approach with her love of meditation. Both Srisambhava and Prakasha led retreats at Vajrakuta in North Wales and elsewhere for many years and people here yesterday related how they had benefitted from her meditation teaching. After Srisambhava’s diagnosis with cancer she and Prakasha moved to live near Adhisthana where I was glad to be able to reconnect with her. She engaged with her declining health in a typically honest, thoughtful, sometimes lighthearted manner, becoming more and more clear and radiant; a week before her death I had taken her a handful of bluebells and she delighted in their colour. Her last gift of teaching to us was her open coffin at the foot of the Padmasambhava rupa she and Prakasha had gifted to Adhisthana. Of the 90 or so people present I was struck by the palpable connection between many of us built up over decades of sharing our spiritual lives together.
with metta,
Ratnadharini
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