Out of the rich selection of talks, videos, and photos on offer, the Audioboo posts got the largest audiences, with almost all of them attracting over 1000 listens, and the largest, over 4800. Sadly Audioboo doesn’t offer any detailed stats so we can’t say more about who they all were. An unexpected success were the daily 30-minute post-meditation round-table discussions on Metta from Triratna’s Portsmouth NH Center - even these recorded over 1000 listens!
Of course it’s hard to measure the quantity of metta generated, or the volume of hindrances overcome - but the comments left on the retreat website were overwhelmingly positive. Here’s one that especially struck us -
“Hi all fellow Urban Retreatants. I wanted to be more specific about how I could use an aspirational prayer in my daily life, so I have put one together which is likely to evolve and be refined over time, and would like to share it with you. It is written it as a reminder on my desktop Sticky Notes, and I will write copies to carry with me at all times. I vow to say this every day for the rest of my life:
“I honour and cherish the wisdom and compassion of enlightened beings. I call upon you now to help, guide and inspire me to go beyond myself now, today and in future times, acting as a hand of Avalokitesvara reaching out to a world in need whenever I can. Sabbe satta sukhi hontu … Sabbe satta sukhi hontu … Sabbe satta sukhi hontu …”
Last but not least, the retreat’s Online Dana Bowl aimed to raise £1000 and has - at the time of writing - received a generous £970 including GiftAid. Thank you! And we’ve heard Ivan in Cambridge has created an Urban Retreat T-shirt - you can also download and print out a souvenir Urban Retreat poster based on the Metta Wave.
A full archive of all the teachings from the retreat is available at thebuddhistcentre.com/urbanretreat. And the complete album of shrine photos is available on google+. You can also see the 'remixed' Instagram gallery here.