Correction: 

In my March letter from the College, I wrote that 'My Relation to the Order was the second in what Bhante intended to be a series of three reflections, the first being The History of My Going for Refuge… the third … being completed by Subhuti as Extending the Hand of Fellowship.’ Kalyanaprabha has pointed out to me that this is inaccurate, as all three texts were originally written by Bhante as papers and were delivered to the gathered Order on WBO Days in 1988, 1990 and 1996 respectively. 

thanks to Kalyanaprabha for her eagle eye,
Ratnadharini 23.4.2024

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Dear Order Members and friends,

Last month Vajrashura’s ‘letter from the College’ grew out of the men’s Private Preceptors’ retreat at Adhisthana and the five talks given by Subhuti during that event based on Bhante Sangharakshita’s paper ‘What is the Western Buddhist Order?’. (Subhuti has been interviewed by Jyotika on the topic of this paper, and the interview is available here.)

The women’s Private Preceptors’ retreat later that month focussed on Bhante’s ‘My Relation to the Order’, with talks by Vajratara, Subhadramati and Punyamala. This was the second in what Bhante intended to be a series of three reflections, the first being ‘A History of my Going for Refuge’ and the third – considering the relationship of the Order to rest of the Buddhist world – being completed by Subhuti as ‘Extending the Hand of Fellowship’. We were also treated to a recording of Bhante conducting the first ordinations into what was to become the Triratna Buddhist Order, which recently came to light among the archive material of the Urgyen Sangharakshita Trust. 

All Bhante’s material merits visiting and revisiting. He clearly knew that his talks and writings were laying down the principles on which Triratna would take root and grow, and it’s fascinating to see his thinking unfold from the bedrock of Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha). 

Immediately before the women’s Private Preceptors’ retreat I heard that one of the first two women I ordained had died. It was expected, as Padmachitta – from Sweden – had lived with serious health conditions for many years and had gone into kidney failure. She always had a strong meditation practice and went on as many retreats as she could, making the most of online retreats when she could no longer travel, and she faced death with great equanimity. She was a significant friend and kalyana mitra to many women in Scandinavia. Advayasiddhi and Dayadharani very ably led an online funeral, as she’d requested, which was well attended by both friends and family. 

One of my favourite pieces of Triratna liturgy is our Dedication ceremony, composed by Bhante, and earlier in February I took the opportunity to lead a session of study with the Tiratanaloka team on that text, followed by the Offering of the Mandala practice – one of the Mula Yogas (root or foundation practices). Both text and practice conjure up a sacred space which supports our practice and then dedicate the fruit of that practice to the well-being and happiness of all beings. All our Centres are dedicated to creating this kind of space and it seemed especially significant to explore this topic at Tiratanaloka as the search continues for a larger property which will then be ritually dedicated to supporting more women to deepen their Going for Refuge and train for ordination. Karunadhi, Prajnagita and I have visited several potential sites for Tiratanaloka Unlimited, on behalf of the team and trustees, with invaluable input from other Order members with experience of finance, building, architecture, planning and energy resources.

March is the month in which the Public Preceptors living in the UK, EU and Ireland come together for an Area College meeting and this year we were happy to welcome Sucimani, from Croydon, as she joined us. During the week we take the opportunity to meet face-to-face in our College kulas, although some people’s responsibilities extend as far as Spain and Latin America, the USA and Canada, and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand). As well as meeting in our kulas and in joint men’s and women’s kulas we took the opportunity to come together over two afternoons to explore any consequences of the Public Preceptors in our Area generally working within either the men’s or women’s ‘wings’ of the Order; also the effect on our practice of internationality, of our Area being so much larger than other Areas – apart from India.

During the meeting we practiced the Guru, or Kalyana mitra, Yoga, which has naturally become a significant part of preceptor retreats as we come together on the basis of our shared responsibility to the Triratna lineage, as well as puja. One evening some of us went to see the movie ‘Zone of Interest’ which I think had a strong effect on all of us with its subtle portrayal of people’s ability not to see the implications of what is happening around them. We also shared more personal elements of our lives and practice, hearing Jnanavaca’s experience of being on retreat with Vessantara for two months, and with Maitreyabandhu hosting an evening during which Amogharatna, Dhammarati, Sucimani and I talked on the topic of ‘hanging upside down in the void’ – reference to a quote from Bhante’s talk ‘The Depth Psychology of the Yogacara’ which was the starting point of study led for us by Padmavajra.

I’d asked Padmavajra to consider the question of whether our Order being ‘neither monastic nor lay’ means that we are more likely, over time, to slide towards the lay end of the scale and lose depth of practice. His response began at the beginning and breathed fire into the meaning of Going for Refuge and Bhante’s exposition of Dimensions of Going for Refuge, and drew out the profundity of the expression ‘depth’. He used the Yogacara model of consciousness as experience, and the transformation that takes place with the paravriti, or ‘turning about in the deepest seat of consciousness’, to describe the process of transformation of the individual. He asked how free we are from the Eight Worldly Winds of gain/loss, fame/infamy, praise/blame, pleasure/pain, and ended with Shantideva’s transcendence of identification with ‘self’ and ‘other’. But that’s a very sketchy outline of Padmavajra’s full discourse.

Last weekend there were three online sessions during which the International Council met in two time zone groupings to share reflections on the changes we see taking place both within Triratna and in the world generally. I appreciated getting to spend virtual time with Order members from Mexico and the USA, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, with the discussion coalescing around the topics of gender identity and the advantages / disadvantages of online communication. 

My experience of the internationality of our Order and Movement continued here at Adhisthana where another women’s Dharma Life Course has just begun, with participants from Columbia (via Ireland), Norway, Singapore (via London), Germany, Germany (via London), Ipswich and London. And then this evening the number of people here on retreat shot up to 120 for an International Sanghas retreat, with groups in Polish, French, Turkish, Spanish, Swedish/Norwegian, and from Bristol, Oxford, Stroud, Warwick and local sanghas; all of whom are going to be engaging with Bhante’s talk ‘The Taste of Freedom’. 

with metta,
Ratnadharini

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