A warm Triratna hello from Sudarshanaloka Retreat Centre in New Zealand! We had a very special celebration today with the public ordination of Nityadana (which translates into 'he who is constantly giving' ... previously known as Guy Parsons). Nityadana and Sanjiva, who is his private preceptor, had spent the previous two weeks on retreat in one of the solitary huts.

There were about 40-50 of us at the public ordination ceremony which was conducted by Buddhadasa. We used the back section of the new retreat centre building, which in time will become the lounge area of our unfolding retreat facility. Unfortunately, I was not one of the official photographers so I have no pictures from today that I can share with you all. But I did search my archives to find a picture of Nityadana. Afterwards, we all shared lunch down at the house and I thought the homemade panforte was particularly good...