It being Bhante Sangharakshita's 92nd birthday, at 10.45am all were assembled in the Adhisthana courtyard. As we waited we chanted the mantra sabbe satta sukkhi hontu (May all beings be well and happy!) Paramartha helped Bhante towards a chair, we sang Happy Birthday, he blew out the candles on a very small cake presented by Zoe Lim (the only mitra in Singapore) and Dhiraprabha presented him with a giant roll of birthday greetings from us.

Today, following on from the previous day's slot focusing on Triratna in central and eastern Europe we had Indian presentations: from Bharat Wankhade, a Karuna fundraiser who described his childhood in a Dalit village in India; and Vidyavardini, ordained this year, who talked of combating the difficulties women face in India.

The main talk of the day came from Arthakusalin (Ghent, Belgium). "Everything of worth is defenceless" is a stunning, poetic talk. Listen here. The video will follow in the next few days.

The afternoon saw a recital by Ratnadhya of piano music from Schubert and Chopin, followed by more workshops including a communication workshop with Jayaraja.

Before the puja dedicated to Bhante on his birthday, the children enacted the Jataka tale of the heroic Monkey King, narrated by Ratnaprabha, with musical interludes from the impromptu storytelling band.