*UPDATE: Watch live online!*
You can watch a live stream on Periscope of proceedings! To join the live stream, simply visit The Buddhist Centre’s Twitter page. When the event is about to begin, we’ll post the link there. Just click the link and you’ll have a choice to watch live in your browser, in your Twitter app or on Periscope. If you’re a Periscope user you’ll also be able to make comments on the stream as the event progresses!

Please keep in mind that this will be a bit of an experiment, so if there are some technical issues we appreciate your patience - but it’s a great chance to take part in the live event wherever you are in the world. And the video recording will be available for some time after the event as well if you miss it.

Listen to the set-up in progress, with details of the ritual itself

This is an invitation to join us in spirit for a special ritual that will take place at Adhisthana on Tuesday January 12th at 1900 GMT. This ritual is to consecrate and dedicate a two-foot tall Manjusri rupa that will be especially associated with Urgyen Sangharakshita's Complete Works. (Eventually the rupa will sit on a shrine in the Library, there amongst the precious collection of Bhante's rupas, thangkas, and Dharma and other books at the heart of Adhisthana.) During the ritual, which will take place in the Library, various objects will be placed inside the rupa, after which the rupa will be sealed up.
 
On site participating in the ritual will be members of the Adhisthana communities and a small group who are on a Complete Works working retreat. It will be led by Saddhanandi, Chair of Adhisthana.
 
Joining us in spirit, you may want to take time to practise the metta bhavana, especially wishing that Bhante’s teaching of the Dharma will prosper and benefit many, many people. You may like to chant the Manjusri mantra or the Manjusri invocation below.
 
A little about the objects that will be enshrined
The objects will include Dharma texts, three objects given by Bhante, and the greetings and well-wishings sent with donations for his 90th Birthday. They will be attached to a willow staff taken from the grounds of Adhisthana. The staff is to be placed at the heart of the rupa. The garland and flowers given to Bhante for his 90th birthday, which Sthanashraddha has dried, will also be enshrined.
 
- The Dharma texts, chosen by Bhante, will include the Heart Sutra that is central to our puja; the Manjughosha Stuti Sadhana; the verse formulation in Sanskrit of the Pratitya Samutpada; and Bhante’s own Verses to Padmasambhava. These have been carefully written out on A4 pieces of paper and wrapped around the willow staff.
 
- The three objects donated by Bhante are also attached to the central staff: a small golden pin in the shape of an ‘Om’; an Australian Doublet Opal; and a long droplet pendant of Amber. Sthanashraddha, who helped Bhante choose them, writes: "they seem to fit quite nicely as symbols of body, speech, and mind."
 
- Our messages of well-wishing have been printed out, made into small scrolls and stamped with the Manjusri mantra, then attached to the willow staff. Throughout his long life Bhante has communicated the living Dharma in so many ways - his deeply-felt response to the needs of humanity. Our good wishes for his 90th Birthday were an expression of gratitude; and a participation in the work to spread the Dharma: the money collected being for the production of a Complete Works (now in progress) and translation work. 
 
We hope many of you will be with us in spirit,
With metta,
Saddhanandi (Chair of Adhisthana)
Vidyadevi and Kalyanaprabha (co-editors of Sangharakshita Complete Works.)

Find out more about the Complete Works project

Sit with us online

Obeisance to Manjushri
Obeisance to my Guru and Protector Manjushri,
Who holds to his heart a scriptural text,
symbolic of his seeing all things as they are;
Whose intelligence shines forth as the sun,
unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance;
Who teaches in sixty ways with the loving compassion
of a father for his only son
all creatures caught in the prison of samsara,
confused in the darkness of their ignorance,
overwhelmed by their suffering.
You, whose dragon-thunder-like proclamation of Dharma
arouses us from the stupor of our delusions
and frees us from the iron chains of our karma;
Who wields the sword of wisdom, hewing down suffering
wherever its sprouts appear,
clearing away the darkness of our ignorance.
You, whose princely body is adorned with the one hundred
and twelve marks of a Buddha;
Who has completed the stages achieving
the highest perfection of a Bodhisattva;
Who has been pure from the beginning.
I bow down to you, O Manjushri,
With the brilliance of your wisdom, O compassionate one,
Illuminate the darkness enclosing my mind,
Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom
so that I may gain insight
Into Buddha's words and the texts that explain them.