Aryapala, until recently housekeeper at Padmaloka Retreat Centre in Norfolk, UK, writes with news of developments at Triratna’s Buddhafield East project. He says:

“We’ve set up some great facilities at an Order friend’s place just 20 mins outside Norwich, 2 hours from London. This could be a great place to organise young people’s events, team breaks/retreats etc. It’s also very inexpensive! So it’s a resource for the Order and Movement that I thought I’d let you know about…

Who or what is Buddhafield ‘East’? Historically, Buddhafield East was Lokabandhu’s (one of our news editors! ed.) idea. it was he in 2002 who originally suggested there be ‘regional’ Buddhafields around the country because Buddhafield is so good and can’t be all places at one time. So now we have Buddhafield North, Buddhafield East, and now even Buddhafield New Zealand!

Most people who are involved with Buddhafield East come from, or are associated with, Colchester, Ipswich, Windhorse:Evolution in Cambridge, Norwich, Padmaloka and the outlying sanghas of East Anglia and London Boroughs. They are Order Members, Mitras, and friends - as well as lots of people who’re just friends of ours and who don’t necessarily consider themselves Buddhists, yet enjoy what we create together. Buddhafield East community’s intention is to create a positive and radical sphere of influence from our events and in this way contribute to transforming ourselves and society.

At present we’re all volunteers and take inspiration from the original Buddhafield spirit of running low-impact Triratna events outdoors in the elements - communicating the words and spirit of the Buddha as primarily expressed through the teaching of Sangharakshita and his disciples. Just as the Buddha says in the Dhammapada,

‘…Moving about in the village as the bee goes, taking honey from the flower without harming colour or fragrance…”

Check out our website for more pictures and details. You can also connect with us on facebook so we can keep you posted on events coming up!

And contact me (aryapala [at] googlemail.com) if you’re interested in us organising any kind of camping event for you or your group.

With love from Aryapala”

The video shows the 2010 Buddhafield East Summer Gathering, held as usual at Halesworth, Suffolk, over the August bank holiday weekend.