Today the International Council looked to the future, starting with a time machine journey in which we were all transported forward 30 years. Apparently British intelligence services were particularly wanting their prototype time machine tested by a group of Buddhists with a courtyard. And they found us!

Chanting the maitri mantra we circled three times clockwise around the courtyard, then broke into small groups to look back at today’s Triratna from an imagined future, which yielded many imaginative ideas. Coming back to the present involved circling anti-clockwise once around the yard, and many of us actually did this walking backwards!

If this all sounds a bit mad, well, it was a bit, but importantly it helped enliven today's set of meetings, seamlessly run by very gifted facilitators Viveka (from San Francisco) and Maitrisara (Birmingham). Throughout the day we discussed next steps and priorities in a number of different groupings, by geographical Area and in Strands (Movement, Order and Preceptors’ College) as well as plenary sessions. And in the background all week the Council's Steering Group has been quietly guiding the meeting from day to day.

At the evening’s puja the positive precepts were chanted in Hindi, Dutch, German and Spanish. Puja books in these languages and in Danish were ritually placed in Adhisthana’s shrine room as part of their new and growing international puja book collection.

See all posts from the International Council 2016