A special event from the College of Public Preceptors Meeting held at Adhiṣṭhāna remembering the funeral of Sangharakshita who died in 2018. The evening will have echos of the funeral, led by Parami. There will be elements of ritual and readings of extracts from Nagabodhi’s forthcoming book about Bhante and Maitreyabandhu’s Canto - a long-form poem dedicated to Sangharakshita.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

USA PST 11:30 | Mexico 13:30 | USA EST 14:30 | IE & UK 19.30 | Europe 23:00 CET | India 01:00 (next day) | Australia AEDT 06:30 (next day) | New Zealand NZDT 08:30 (next day)

Join here for the live stream

Last weekend at Adhisthana, Urgyen House was opened to visitors with a moving dedication led by Saddhanandi. Two new Order Members, Āryaniśa and Vilāsamuni, cut the ribbon to open the house officially.

The place is significant, as it was Urgyen Sangharakshita’s home for the last 5 years of his life. His bedroom and living room have been left exactly as they were the day he died. His living room was where he met hundreds (if not thousands) of visitors in his last years, and still retains an atmosphere that is quite indescribable.

On entering the house, one transitions from Adhisthana into Bhante’s home, into is a beautiful a space to sit and read Sangharakshita’s written words. This central space used to contain a bathroom and utility room, but has been opened up to provide a comfortable space to sit and reflect.

There is also a small shrine room where people can come to meditate. The room itself is adorned with two rather beautiful old Tibetan thangkas. The central image on the shrine is of Manjugosha, a rupa that Sangharakshita himself had bought in India in the mid-1960s. This room has already been used for private ordinations this Summer.

The dining room has been transformed into an exhibition space, with the first temporary exhibition open now: Precious Teachers - an exploration of the connection between Sangharakshita and his teachers from his time in India.

This exhibition displays treasures given to Sangharakshita by his teachers, each one shining new light on the spiritual friendship he had with these incredible leading figures of 20th Century Buddhism: Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Dhardo Rinpoche, Kachu Rinpoche, Yogi Chen, Jagdish Kashyap, and Chatral Sangye Dorje.

The exhibition is also online at https://www.urgyenhouse.org/precious-teachers-exhibition. Visit online to come into contact with it.

You can also visit Urgyen House in person. If you’re going to be visiting Adhisthana, talk to your retreat organiser or host. If you’d like to make a special visit, you can make a request.
 

Watch a video about the opening of Urgyen House.

See other posts about Urgyen House

Urgyen House is a project of the Urgyen Sangharakshita Trust.

Thursday 26th August

13.00 US PST  |  15.00 Mexico  | 16.00 US EST  |  21.00 IE & UK  | 22.00 Europe CET  |  06.00 Australia EDT (next day)  | 08.00 New Zealand (next day)

Thursday the August 26th 2021 would have been the 96th birthday of Urygen Sangharakshita (affectionately called Bhante, meaning 'teacher'). Through founding the Triratna order and community, Bhante has set up conditions for the Dharma to be communicated in ways we can understand, which can lead to the radical transformation of ourselves and the creation of a new society. 

Each year, on Bhante’s birthday, Triratna Centres across the world celebrate his life and work with a special Puja - a tradition that started in the late 1990s and is set to last 108 years. It is a timeless ritual marking the passing of time, recording those changes through photographs, film, and the signatures in anniversary log-books: a log-book of a community over 108 years. This year marks the 19th year of the 108 years of pujas.

This year, Adhisthana’s annual celebratory puja will take place on the first night of the young people’s festival retreat. We'd love for people (of any age!) to join us for the puja online. It's a wonderful opportunity to come together to express our gratitude and reflect on the benefits we've received from his teaching and his dedication to Buddhism.

​Join the puja on Zoom |  Watch the puja on YouTube

Visit the Urgyen House website, dedicated to preserving Sangharakshita's legacy

Paramartha considers the importance of Tibet’s great yogi Milarepa in the life and teachings of Sangharakshita whilst introducing two objects from Urgyen House.

Urgyen House is a project dedicated to ensuring the long-term preservation of Sangharakshita’s collection of books, letters, papers, thangkas and artefacts as well as the building in which he spent the last years of his life.

Visit the Urgyen House website

Dharmachari Paramartha considers Urgyen Sangharakshita’s deep spiritual connection with Padmasambhava, the Lotus-born Guru and introduces the images of Guru Rimpoche at Urgyen House.

Urgyen House is a project dedicated to ensuring the long-term preservation of Sangharakshita’s collection of books, letters, papers, thangkas and artefacts as well as the building in which he spent the last years of his life.

Visit the Urgyen House website

In commemoration of the second death anniversary of Urgyen Sangharakshita, Urgyen House is pleased to offer a new video blog. Dharmachari Paramartha recalls Bhante Sangharakshita's final days and, from the video archive, Bhante recounts a remarkable event in Kalimpong, India.

Urgyen House is a project dedicated to ensuring the long-term preservation of Sangharakshita’s collection of books, letters, papers, thangkas and artefacts as well as the building in which he spent the last years of his life.

Visit the Urgyen House website

Visit the Sangharakshita Memorial space

Join Adhisthana community as they mark the second anniversary of Bhante's death

We would like to invite you to attend our online commemoration of the second anniversary of Sangharakshita's death. Throughout the day there will be various opportunities to join in as part of the worldwide sangha, and we'll also be sharing a preview of Adhisthana's direction with our online programme for 2021.

The programme is as follows:

October 30th
7.00am to 8.30am Join the Adhisthana Community for Morning Meditation (with the Tiratana Vandana & readings from Bhante)

10.30am – 12.00pm Circumambulation & Offerings around the Burial Mound (with audio and video from Bhante’s life and death)

2.00pm to 3.30pm Meeting Bhante through his Texts: A series of short talks from Vidyaruci & Saddhanandi, hosted by Saddhaloka

4.00pm to 5.00pm Puja with the Adhisthana Community and the 5 Mantras led by Sanghadeva

The event will be on zoom (link to follow) as well as live streamed on the Adhisthana YouTube channel.

Join the Adhisthana communities in marking this occasion within Bhante's own mandala of Adhisthana. 

***

Subscribe to Adhisthana’s YouTube channel to find the event on the day

Keep an eye on the website for upcoming details and the Zoom link

On the first anniversary of Urgyen Sangharakshita's death Jnanavaca gives a compelling and heartfelt talk about how we might view the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and community: an extraordinary human but also finite and fallible, a visionary genius in the mould of Blake, and translator of the Dharma, who helped bring the Buddhist tradition alive. Jnanavaca also outlines how he himself views Bhante: a Bodhisattva and a Guru - a 'Teacher' with a capital 'T'.

Sharing personal stories of meetings he had with Bhante as well as dreams and his own sense of gratitude and reverence, Jnanavaca concludes that although Bhante is no longer physically with us it is still possible to connect with him, illustrating that how we look at Bhante conditions how we experience him.

This talk was live streamed from Adhisthana on 30th October 2019. 

Re-watch the live stream here

Watch Remembering Sangharakshita Through His Friendships

On the 30th October 2019 there was a community practice day at Adhisthana to mark the first anniversary of the death of Sangharakshita, the founder of the Triratna Buddhist community. Sangharakshita spent the last few years of his life at Adhisthana and is now buried there.

During that day Saddhanandi, the chair of Adhisthana, interviewed Sona about his relationship with Sangharakshita. Sona was ordained by Sangharakshita in 1974 and had a long-standing friendship with him.

Recorded at Adhisthana, 30th October 2019.

Updated: view picture and clips on Instagram

Watch on Vimeo

‘Seeing Bhante - A Personal Perspective’

We will be live streaming Jnanavaca's talk ‘Seeing Bhante - A Personal Perspective’ on Wednesday 30th October 7.30pm GMT. Jnanavaca reflects on the significance of Sangharakshita’s life, exactly one year after his death.

The talk will be live here as well as on the site home page, the Features space and on our facebook page. 

Note: To hear the sound click unmute. If you can’t see the mute button please enter full screen mode first.

Urgyen Sangharakshita - simply "Bhante" to his friends and to many who practice in the Triratna community world-wide - was a complex, even sometimes complicated, man. Much has been written and said about his contribution to the flourishing of Buddhism in India and the West since the 1960s - and about some of his more controversial sides as a teacher and leader. But we know a lot less about him as a friend.

In this film commissioned to mark the first anniversary of his death, Bhante's friends talk personally about their relationship with him and what it means to them now he is gone.

With thanks to Amaradaya, Sanghadhara and the team at Clear Vision.

Watch a new film documenting the complete funeral and burial ceremonies for Sangharakshita

In the weeks following Urgyen Sangharakshita’s death in 2018, Mahamati, one of his secretaries and companions, spoke informally at a number of Order gatherings about the experience of working closely with him during the last fifteen or so years of his life.

To mark the first anniversary of Sangharakshita’s death, we present this talk from early December 2018 to a gathering of continental European Order members. Mahamati reflects on aspects of their time together, and on aspects of Sangharakshita’s personality and character which were not always visible publicly. We are afforded a series of glimpses into the concerns of his final years and those of his last days.

A moving, very personal account of connection, duty, love and faith from a disciple about his teacher, which also opens out into something bigger and potentially more collective, founded on gratitude and a sense of fundamental relationship to the Dharma itself.

Talk given in December 2018 at Vimaladhatu, Germany.

Download this talk directly from Free Buddhist Audio

The beautiful film of one extraordinary day in October 2018 when tens of thousands of people watching online around the world joined the many assembled mourners at Adhisthana to say goodbye to their friend and teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita - "Bhante". 

It's rare enough for one person to found an entire international spiritual Movement and community. Sangharakshita was one such person, and his death was a major staging point for everyone involved with the Triratna Buddhist Community as it begins its second 50 years of bringing the Buddha's teaching to the world in ways that are relevant to the times.

His extraordinary contribution to the flourishing of the Dharma in India and the West – and to the lives of a great many people during his nine decades of life – will not soon be forgotten by those who gathered to witness his passing.

With thanks to Amaradaya, Sanghadhara and the team at Clear Vision.

Watch highlights from the day  |  Watch the live-streamed coverage from the day

See more videos from the funeral and burial ceremonies for Sangharakshita

As well as having an online memorial space to mark the passing of Urgyen Sangharakshita, the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Community and one of the foremost western Buddhists of the 20th Century , we invited people from all around the world to contribute to a Book of Gratitude.

These have now been collated and bound into book form to be kept in the Sangharakshita library at Adhisthana. And now you can read the moving rememberances of Sangharakshita online too.

This is an opportunity to remember Sangharakshita and to pass on to future generations of disciples the importance of his teaching and the difference it has made to our lives as a community of Buddhist practitioners working for the benefit of all.

Read the great stream of digital remembrances

Bhante's wish towards the end of his life was to see his Complete Works in print. Subscribe today on print and digital to benefit from this great collection of essential Dharma for years to come.

Sorry for this very delayed post: an interesting appreciation of Triratna and the vision of its founder from Venerable S. Dhammika, of the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, Singapore, who previously expressed his appreciation of Bhante shortly after Bhante's death.

Imagining an new, ideal, form of Buddhism for today, he suggests it could be governed by an organisation such as Triratna. Later he notes that his ideal is not a pipe dream because it has already been envisaged and brought into being in Triratna (which he refers to as FWBO/WBO/TBMSG).

Read his piece.

This is an extract from the book, The Broken Buddha.

Immediately after Bhante’s death we at Clear Vision began to document the preparations for his vigil and funeral, and working with our colleagues at The Buddhist Centre Online  to do all we could to help ensure that thousands of people in our worldwide community were able to witness the event through a live-stream. We have produced this short film of highlights from the funeral and time surrounding the event for you all, and for future generations, to revisit this most significant event in the history of our community.

Clear Vision works to document the life of the Triratna Buddhist Community, keeping us connected around the world and over the years, by creating and sharing a visual record of events and protecting the video and image archive of our Founder, Order and Movement.If you have appreciated our work over this time, please set up a direct debit to support our continuance and the preservation of the archive. We depend on your support to continue documenting and creating media that informs and inspires us as a community.

Become a Regular Donor
Help us ensure that we are there, so you can be.

Watch the complete film of the funeral and burial services for Sangharakshita

Urgyen Sangharakshita. 26 Aug 1925 - 30 Oct 2018.

Funeral and burial at his home, Adhisthana, on November 10th 2018. 

A short tribute put together by Guilhem Monin.

Urgyen Sangharakshita, 1925-2018, was laid to rest at his home in Adhisthana on November 10th 2018.

Here are the main welcoming speeches and eulogies from Sangharakshita's close friends and colleagues as they say their own goodbyes to our teacher.

Recorded at Adhisthana, November 2018.

Bhante founded Padmaloka in 1976, living here for twelve years until moving to London in 1988, afterwards visiting us as often as he was able to. In many ways Bhante never left Padmaloka, he lit a sacred flame here which we still tend. We've always been crystal clear that he is our teacher and we are his disciples, regardless of the vicissitudes that intermittently sweep through the Order and movement. The last time I saw Bhante, during this summer's European Chair's Assembly at Adhisthana, he said he regretted not being able to visit us anymore, I assured him that he was always with us at Padmaloka. Now more than ever, he always will be.

In the days following Bhantes death, we weren't hosting a retreat here, so the community gathered together every evening for puja. As many of us who were able to, attended the UK and Ireland Area Order Weekend at Adhisthana, sitting with Bhante's body in the Amitabha shrine room, grateful for the opportunity to be with so many of our Dharma brothers at such a time. After the weekend our practice of performing pujas for Bhante every evening continued, all the while during the day trying to sort out how we would square the start of the upcoming retreat with Bhante's funeral the next day. In the end we opted to start the retreat and take everyone to Adhsithana for the funeral, it was quite a logistical feat and the support team went above and beyond the call of duty to make it happen. Needles to say the funeral was a profound and moving occasion.

The following weekend, the Eurpean Men's Mitra Conveners held one of their regular Men's Great Gathering Weekends at Padmaloka, this had booked out well over a month before and had 105 men in attendance. 

During the weekend Padmavajra led a very powerful and moving puja on the Saturday night to mark Bhante's passing. During the introduction to the puja Padmavajra, evoked Bhante's time at Padmaloka. The puja ended with a torch-lit procession along candle lit light paths to a pre-prepared bonfire in the grounds of Padmaloka. The flaming torches were thrust into into the bonfire to set it ablaze, whilst Bhante's poem 'The Six Elements Speak' was read, followed by mantras and the casting of incense into the flames, all the while bearing in mind one of the meanings of Adhisthana: a warrior's last stand. Our teacher has passed away, yet we have not lost our teacher, he is more present and more vivid that ever before. We will continue to tend the flame he lit here, doing everything we can to ensure that it burns more brilliantly than ever before.

You can listen to Padmavajra's introduction to the puja on Free Buddhist Audio here. Or use the widget below.


Padmavajra also references Bhante a great deal in the talk he gave during the weekend on the Heart Sutra. You can listen to this here.


You can view some of the photos of Bhante over the years at Padmaloka here.
 

To honour Bhante, I offer this talk I gave recently at Manchester Buddhist Centre on Sangha Day. In it I reflect on the glow of sangha that I witnessed in various ways after his death. I also reflect on a teaching from Bhante on the meaning of sangha and friendship. With much love and gratitude to my precious teacher.

Vishangka