Dear Order Members and Friends,
Back in July, as part of our search for new – larger – premises for Tiratanaloka, our retreat centre for women training for ordination, the team visited a Carmelite monastery about an hour north east of London, and thought it looked very promising. A couple of weeks ago we heard our offer had been accepted, so we’re very excited and hoping for a smooth transition. If you’d like to know more you can follow the process below in the 'Features'.
A neat bit of synchronicity meant that I was part of the team for a Going for Refuge retreat on the theme of ‘What is the Order?’ at the existing Tiratanaloka in July and then a few weeks later found myself on the same retreat and retreat theme on the other side of the planet. It was a pleasure spending time with some of the current generation training for ordination and to experience both GfR retreats as essentially the same. Both retreats – unusually for me – also included time spent lying on my bed and gazing out of the window. Admittedly both views were worth gazing at – the Welsh valley at Tiratanaloka was deeply familiar to me from having lived there for 15 years whereas the bush in the New Zealand valley was lush and completely unfamiliar – but I think it was also a matter of some of my responsibilities beginning to ease.
I had always intended to visit another area of Triratna during each year of my five year term of office as Chair of the College of Public Preceptors, but was thwarted by the Covid pandemic. My current visit to New Zealand and Australia is the last I’ll be making before I hand over as Chair to Mahamati in November and I’m on a tight schedule as I wanted to make the most of my six weeks here. It was also my first time in New Zealand and began with a flight from Christchurch to Nelson in a small propellor plane with a stunning view of the snow-covered Southern Alps. I spent a couple of days in Nelson catching up with Vidyavati and getting over the worst of jet lag before we both went our separate ways: Vidyavati to the UK with a suitcase full of copies of the book she has written about her great grandfather, for her extended clan; and me to Picton for the ferry from South Island to Wellington, North Island. Fortunately the rain had stopped and it was a smooth and picturesque crossing – and I left with a present of pounamu, or greenstone, so hope to return one day.
The Wellington Buddhist Centre was founded by Achala nearly 50 years ago and has recently moved to well-situated and spacious new premises with plans to develop a beautiful space. I spent my first morning there meeting with the local Order members and sharing our experience of practice from the perspective of the three contexts outlined by Sangharakshita in ‘The History of My Going for Refuge’: individual, collective and altruistic. This formulation is reflected elsewhere, sometimes including a fourth category relating to our particular tradition. For example in the duties of an Order member, the four ‘lines of acceptance’ of our ordination ceremony, and the motto of Dhardo Rimpoche, one of Sangharakshita’s teachers and friends ('cherish the doctrine, live united, radiate love'); all of which make the point that our spiritual practice needs to extend into all three arenas.
One evening at the Centre we celebrated the 99th anniversary of Bhante Sangharakshita’s birth with a talk and puja – and cake (thanks to Carmel). Another evening Saradarshini and I had a shared meal and open discussion with some of the team of the young people’s group (one of whom is about to spend six months at Sudarshanaloka retreat centre). There is so much more Dharma teaching available to this generation compared to my own experience forty years ago and it will be interesting to see their process of making a commitment to a particular lineage and system of practice.
I appreciated getting to spend time with Mettadharini, who kindly put me up, and Saradarshini, my generous city guide, as well as meeting up with people I had known in the UK and making some new friends. Saradarshini and I walked into the central quay area where I got a glimpse of Maori culture at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Then in order to see as much as possible of New Zealand land I took the Northern Explorer from Wellington to Auckland, an 11 hour train journey with a viewing platform and excellent (optional) audio information.
Akasasri kindly drove me and Malini from Auckland up to Sudarshanaloka retreat centre on the Coromandel peninsular. We arrived late at night and in the dark and so it wasn’t until the following morning that I started to take in the spectacular environment. The steep hillsides are relatively ‘young’ and unstable land cut through by cascades of clear water. They were mined and farmed in the past but are now covered in regenerating native bush most of which is evergreen and with a generous sprinkling of tree ferns; the few remaining pines are considered invasive weeds and are used to feed the new retreat centre boiler. High up at the end of the track winding up the valley is the dramatic white stupa containing relics from Dhardo Rimpoche and a highlight for me was when the retreat gathered there one crisp morning under a perfectly blue sky for a puja led by Malini, who is one of the earliest members of our Order. Later in the retreat we were also treated to Malini’s reflections on ‘the mysterious beginnings of the Order’.
Not far from the stupa is the tantalising large retreat centre building that was built in the 1990s and never finished, and dotted around in the bush at varying degrees of remoteness are several delightful solitary cabins suitable for any length of retreat. As there was no-one staying in the highest cabins at that point Dhiraprabha treated me to a circular walk through the bush and past each of them, which included jumping from rock to rock across a fast flowing stream – I slipped and fell in.
There were 20/21 of us on the Going for Refuge retreat and I appreciated the opportunity to spend 10 days offline and practising with everyone. In the evenings the retreat shrine room was lit entirely by candlelight and a magical moment for me was when delicate (presumably battery operated) fairy lights appeared on the shrine; I walked out under the night sky of glittering unfamiliar stars and then down along the track in darkness pierced by an array of glowworms.
While there I was also able to drop in on Guhyavajra (and four-legged Jetsun) in his cabin. He and Dhiraprabha (as well as Karunajoti for the past three years) are heroically dedicated to living at Sudarshanaloka and maintaining it as a Triratna facility.
Following the retreat I had another three days in Auckland and was especially glad to be able to stay with Ratnavyuha and his partner Karina; I’ve enjoyed and appreciated working closely with Ratnavyuha for many years now and it was a pleasure to get to hang out together. Auckland too has a sizeable new Buddhist Centre in a prime location and with a lot of potential. I spent one evening there meeting local Order members, springing on them the Codanā Sutta (AN 5.167) about giving and receiving feedback – which they entered into in good spirit; another evening Suvarnadhi and I met with some of the younger sangha members for a wide ranging discussion about Triratna and ordination; and the third evening I made a contribution to the sangha evening series on different aspects of Awareness.
I was glad to be able to take the ferry one day to Waiheke island to visit Malini and Purna in their delightful spot looking out to sea over the garden, as they have been unable to get to the UK for College meetings for a few years and we had lots to catch up on. I was also glad another day to take the ferry across the bay to Devonport to visit Dharmanandi who has retired from the College and who also has spectacular views of the sea – although fortunately not too close to the cliff top that collapsed in a recent storm – and experience the novelty and fragrance of an expanse of freesias growing wild. I very much enjoyed spending time with Akshobini – who thoughtfully explained the waterfront layout of Auckland from the beach – and with Sujiva – who walked me up Maungawhau (Mount Eden) which is one of 53 volcanic cones still peppering the Auckland skyline, for a stunning 360 degree vista of the city.
I also met up with Suvarnadhi, the Centre Chair just back from an International Course at Adhisthana, and stretched my legs one afternoon by walking from the ferry terminal to the Buddhist Centre via the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, to see a couple of exhibitions including the impressive collection donated by Julian and Josie Robertson last year.
My last evening in New Zealand I had work to catch up on and decided it wasn’t worth going to bed only to get up at 4am for my early flight to Australia; Ratnavyuha kindly drove me to the airport before his early morning study group at the Centre. Arriving in Sydney I put my watch back two hours and got the train to Minto where I was picked up by Vikasini (jet lagged from having only just arrived from France) and driven out to Vijayaloka Retreat Centre for a Preceptors’ retreat – which is where I am now surrounded by the completely different Australian bush… but I’ll complete the story next month.
The timing of my trip meant that I missed the combined Area Order Weekend at Adhisthana which celebrated the approaching culmination of the extraordinary project to publish Sangharakshita’s Complete Works with a talk from Vidyadevi, 'Worlds within Worlds', on her creation of the final Concordance volume. I heard of the standing ovation and look forward to hearing it myself.
With Metta,
Ratnadharini