Kamalashila wants to buy it for Triratna and find some men to form a monastic community. He's looking for men interested in “living a simple, collective life of work, meditation and contemplation”, for at least a year, at Vajrakuta.
He's also looking for donations to make this possible. The building is to be sold for an estimated cost of £550,000.
Will Kamalashila live there? “No, not me, I’m in a different phase of my life! But for Triratna, the time is definitely right: we have lots of interest from the younger sangha and there are experienced Order members around who could lead a community. It could be our first monastery, effectively.”
The place is certainly big enough: the main house alone has a library and seven bedrooms. Then there are guest rooms for 10 people and two caravans outside, not to mention a large unused wing with planning permission for conversion into living space. There’s a large shrine room, lots more empty barn space, and beautiful grounds.
Kamalashila imagines this community as a resource for deep practice, somewhere others could visit for a month to join in the atmosphere. “I also wonder if eventually a small care home might evolve here in the unused wing. We could start by looking after one or two of our elders; then, as time goes by, those elders will be us. Work like that would provide for a real need as well as expressing compassion and providing a helpful training.”
“Local support should be abundant. The Vajraloka community down the road, and many of the yogis and yoginis living in the countryside nearby have said they’ll help. That means that the community will have adequate friendship and teaching in its establishment phase, and, in the longer term, it will be giving its own riches to the whole of Triratna.”
Kamalashila hopes the property can be bought with donations. One Order member has already made a provisional offer of a mortgage to secure the property in the short term. Now all they need is some more money - and some men!
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