Dear Order Members and Friends,

This is the last update that I’ll be writing as Chair of the College of Public Preceptors so I’ll begin by writing about this current month and then go on say something about the last five years more generally.

Last month I wrote about my three weeks in New Zealand which was the first half of my trip to the other side of the world; my three weeks in Australia began at the Vijayaloka Retreat Centre an hour from Sydney. The last time I was there was in 2006 for Amitashraddha’s ordination and I was sorry not to get to see her during this visit as she was in the US on family business. The retreat centre is set in bush that extends down over an escarpment to the Georges River which at this time of year (Spring) was in full flow and it was warm enough in the daytime to swim. I had vivid memories of the raucous Australian birdlife and was pleased to see sulphur-crested cockatoos, rosellas and rainbow lorikeets but not as many kookaburras as before. Megha took me for a walk and taught me to look down for snakes or bull ants as well as up in the (vain) hope of spotting a koala; she was nonchalant about the huntsman spider in our accommodation and late to a meeting after an encounter with an Echidna (anteater). I reacquainted myself with the aptly named ‘scribbly gums’ and what to me were exotic flowers and shrubs, and one morning was delighted to wake and find a wallaby staring in at me. 

This magical realm was punctuated by distant explosions from the training range on the opposite side of the river that served as a reminded of the state of the world, the positive atmosphere of our retreat encompassed some very tender accounts of the dukkha present in people’s lives, and Avalokitesvara seemed present. The initial gathering of 13 women preceptors explored Subhuti’s reflections on Sangharakshita’s paper ‘What is the Western Buddhist Order?’ (the Triratna Buddhist Order) which he gave to men preceptors at Adhisthana earlier this year and which are broadly on and around the topic of discipleship – especially in relation to precepting. We were then joined by five men preceptors for a couple of days’ study on sections of the Chapter on Ethics from Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi. This text describes the bodhisattva’s practice of ethics as encompassing the whole path with specific reference to the 10 precepts we take at ordination and an emphasis on cultivating the skilful as well as abstaining from the unskilful; it describes the qualities of a preceptor as well as extolling the benefits of hri (remorse) and apatrapya (respect for wise opinion); and it contains what is possibly the earliest account of a ceremony for taking the bodhisattva vow which has interesting parallels with our ordination ceremony.

After the retreat Prakashika dropped me off at Dharmaraja’s apartment, which is a conveniently short walk from the Sydney Buddhist Centre in the lively Newtown area. I’d briefly met Dharmaraja at Adhisthana and knew we shared a similar work background (albeit in my case a rather distant one) and I enjoyed our many chats. One afternoon I joined a meeting with the Mitras who are training for ordination, shared my life story from the perspective of kalyana mitrata (spiritual friendship) and was delighted to meet Cara – who is moving to join the Tiratanaloka team in the UK. The following day Ratnavyuha, Purna and I met with the Sydney Order Members and I again used Bhante’s formulation of three contexts of Going for Refuge (from ‘The History of My Going for Refuge') to emphasise the significance of the collective or sangha context before using the Codanā Sutta (AN 5.167) for a mini workshop on giving and receiving feedback. 

The next day I was unexpectedly free (my cousin and her partner had suddenly decided to get married and were on honeymoon) and so was able to spend the day in the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Botanical Gardens, and to walk around the headland to the Opera House, as well as meeting Dhammakumara (Sydney Chair) in the evening and Aryadharma the following morning. I was struck by Dhammakumara’s sense that the Sydney sangha has the potential to be very much bigger.

I had given myself a little longer in Melbourne as I lived there for six months in 1995/6 and there were many old friends to catch up with, especially Shantidevi and Dhiramani who I became preceptor to. Shantidevi kindly hosted me and treated me to a refreshing day’s walk in the bush; Dhiramani and I hung out in and around the National Gallery of Victoria’s Australian Collection. Other old friends were Buddhadasa (three-quarters of the way through writing his memoirs), Vimuttinandi, Carunetra, Varadhi, Rijumayi, Dhiracarita and Maitridharani; new acquaintances included Sanghapurna, Bodhinaya, Sraddhanaya and Maitrijata and it was inspiring to hear such a range of ways in which Dharma lives have taken shape. Once again I was glad to see a new Buddhist Centre in a great location, where I met with a group of (women) Order members, dropped in on the young people’s group and joined an Order/Mitra gathering.

The final couple of days of my trip were spent an hour outside Melbourne at SkyRock, the beautiful spot where Dantachitta, Apada, Padmasiddhi and Maitripala now live and where I was able to stay in the delightful solitary retreat house for two nights and watch kangaroos and a family of feral goats. The 62 acres includes woodland, a ravine, dams and a billabong (fed by springs) and is strewn with large granite boulders, and I appreciated being able to slow down and catch up with my friend Maitripala before flying home.

Back in the UK I discovered my mother had had a couple more unexplained falls and was a little more frail and my sister and I have been trying to work out how best to support a determinedly independent 95-year-old, so it’s fortunate that I will soon have more time and be able to respond more easily. Apart from that I’ve been catching up on emails, doing some mediation and preparing to hand over as College Chair to Mahamati, as well as scaring myself with whitewater kayaking – an excellent antidote to desk work.

Thinking back over my five years as College Chair I realise this particular responsibility has its roots for me back in 2001/2. When I conducted my first private ordinations in 2001 it was natural to call on Bhante and Green Tara for their blessings in the ordination kuti and when a year later Dhammadinna told me I’d been appointed as a Public Preceptor an image of the 1,000 armed Avalokitesvara was the first thing that came to mind and has been on my personal shrine ever since. Simply hearing that I’d been appointed, rather than being consulted, meant I had to rely on other people’s confidence in me and do my best to live up to that; I think there was a general sense among many of us that if something needed doing and we could do it, then we most likely would.

When Saddhaloka became College Chair in 2015 I became one of his Deputy Chairs, which wasn’t initially a huge job. However the growing awareness in society about the often inadequate understanding of and response to ethical issues in the past meant that Triratna, along with many other organisations of various kinds, needed to consider whether any further redress was advisable or even possible. The work of the Adhisthana Kula from 2017-2019 and of the Ethics Kula moved us into uncharted waters as we tried to negotiate the relatively recent concept of safeguarding while remaining true to our Dharmic understanding and values. It involved considerable time and energy and was often emotionally demanding. 

Shortly before the November 2018 College meeting Bhante died and his funeral took place during the meeting itself. The death of the founder of an organisation is a huge challenge and it was a tribute to Bhante’s succession planning that everything strangely continued as before. As well as the responsibility for ordinations Bhante had also handed on to the College collectively his remaining responsibilities as Head of the Order and although that appellation was subsequently dropped, the College – in consultation with other Order members – now held overall responsibility within Triratna. That same November I was asked by the rest of the College to take over from Saddhaloka as Chair the following year; so in November 2019 I became College Chair and not long afterwards we entered the Covid pandemic and everything changed…

The last couple of years have felt more settled and as well as getting to visit other parts of the Triratna world I was able to invite all the many Order members holding positions of responsibility to a special retreat at Adhisthana mirroring the very first retreat there ten years previously; we memorably took off our ‘hats’, cancelled meetings and celebrated our shared inspiration. I also enjoyed doing a 150 mile fundraising pilgrimage walk from Bhante’s birthplace in London to his final resting place at Adhisthana.

While I was in New Zealand and Australia several people commented that my relationship to Sangharakshita would be different to theirs as I’d known him in person. However although my first contact with the Dharma was at one of Bhante’s public talks on the Vimalakirti Nirdesa and I did meet with Bhante several times, mostly it was indirect contact through his taped lectures and books that built my appreciation of his presentation of the Dharma and changed my life and that I go back to again and again. As the remarkable project to publish Sangharakshita’s Complete Works draws to a successful conclusion I rejoice in all those involved in making this possible, especially Vidyadevi, Kalyanaprabha and Windhorse Publications. There will be a celebration of the project and all the many contributors during the College meeting.

Over the past five years the Triratna Buddhist Order and community has continued to establish its particular approach to Dharma practice and make that available and accessible to more and more people. The Order itself has grown from 2,194 to 2,751 members worldwide, 358 of whom are now preceptors. However as the first generation were relatively young the Order has also aged as it has grown and announcements of the death of an Order member have become more frequent (this month we heard of the deaths of Kamalashila – a Public Preceptor known to many in our community for his meditation teaching, Amodana, Dayasiddhi and Gunarashi).

The pandemic highlighted the fact that one of the responsibilities of Deputy Chairs would be to take over from the Chair if s/he were to be incapacitated, so for some time Amrutdeep (in India), Ratnavyuha (in New Zealand), Jnanavaca, Punyamala and I (in the UK) met weekly online in order to become a more effective team. Although in more recent years our meetings have become every three weeks or so, and despite a couple of us having serious health issues, the level of harmony and cooperation has been outstanding. I don’t think we’ve had a cross word or even innuendo in the whole of our five years together and I’ve valued their input and support highly. 

The idea of writing these monthly updates from the College came from Akasajoti and during my five years as Chair many people have let me know how much they’ve appreciated them. It has been a boon working with Akasajoti and I’m grateful she has continued as College Assistant throughout my tenure. She has many abilities including an instinct for design – whether webpage or meeting – and great skill in communication.

When I was appointed Chair I rather light-heartedly informed Dhammadinna and Subhuti that I would be regarding them as my kalyana mitras while I was in post; I have in fact often turned to each of them, they’ve always made themselves available and I’ve always appreciated their wise counsel. I’ve also greatly appreciated the support of two other dear friends in the College: Dhammarati and Padmasuri.

It’s been a privilege to serve the College and Order, as well as a challenge, and although I will continue with my College and presidential responsibilities while needed I am looking forward to a somewhat simpler life as I hand over to Mahamati. It was striking to witness Mahamati’s energy ignite as he responded to the call  a year ago and he’s been on fire ever since. Mahamati worked closely with Bhante over the years and his many previous responsibilities, which include being an International Order Convenor, and president of the Karuna Trust and several other European Buddhist Centres, mean that he’s well connected across the Triratna world and known for his ability to respond kindly and wisely. He is an excellent man for the job and I wish him well.

with metta,
Ratnadharini