SANGHADHARA’S ANNALS:
- In 1968 I was… still in the Deva realms of my previous life
- In 1978 I was… fading away from lower devalokas
- In 1988 I was… born in this human body that year on the 25th of March, right in the centre of Mexico City. I must have had some choice of my birth parents. At that time, they were into the I Ching, doing Tai Chi and they must have been doing some sort of meditation I remember leading through a meditation to a classmate when I was about 5 years old (haha). Around year 6 or 7, I had some very existential dreams that hunted me for decades to come and fuelled my spiritual inquisitiveness. A different fun fact, I was a child actor, I did TV adverts, and a music video and was cast into the Latin American version of Sesame Street. But my TV career was interrupted as my mum moved us out of the city. But I continued doing theatre and that’s how I first met Bodhikamala, she was 7, and I was 8, I think.
- In 1998 I was… I was ten years old, around the first time I read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse; this was perhaps the first time I encountered the Buddha and the idea of awakening. Also, with Bodhikamala, we were doing Meditations to align my chakras so I could heal with energy and read auras.
Being in fairly alternative education, I was exposed to classic literature and philosophers from a young age. And after being busy being a rebel and reading Harry Potter, I go interested in awakening and spiritual Truth. Aged 15 I decided to re-read Siddhartha and a year later, Bodhikama and I would encounter the FWBO, I asked my dad to take me to the Centre in Mexico City, and she was taken to a yoga retreat by her grandma. I think that was 2004. On my first retreat, I decided I’d move to the UK for a few years to explore the moment and join the Order. After 2-3 years of coming to the Buddhist centre, I started sharing what I learned in meditation and Buddhism with classmates and eventually a weekly meditation group.
- In 2008 I was… Facilitating a meditation and Buddhism group with Bodhikhamala in Toluca as we’ve been doing for a couple of years while I was saving money to learn English so I could go to Windhorse:Evolution in Cambridge. That year my first visa application was refused so I applied to go to university to study Dramatic Literate and Theatre. I also remember fondly starting a project at the Buddhist Centre called “Lotus Azules”, aimed to explore the place of the Arts in our system of practice. I was passionate about the place of the Arts as a way to communicate the Dharma through the Arts with my friend Pablo Sierra.
2009 I moved to Cambridge, UK to join Windhorse:Evolution, where I spent 6 years. A lot of it was a bit frustrating in the warehouse and much more frustrating in the ordination process, but I enjoyed community life and the creative projects I managed to get involved in. Street meditations, Buddhist pantomimes, sangha picnics, festivals and shrine decorations.
After the closing of Windhorse:Evolution in 2015 I moved up north, Manchester, and joined Clear Vision. After 9 years in the ordination process, I was given my name by Keturaja. I’m so grateful to my friends in this process, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that found it frustrating at times. Without my preceptor and Kalyana Mitras Suvajra and Arthapriya, I just would’ve left the country and distanced myself from the Ordination process. Thanks too to Dharmashalin and Bodhiketu.
2016 I set up a new residential community (Gosinga), reclaiming the flat above the Manchester Buddhist Centre, still very much passionate about the creation and development of spaces conducive to practice, friendship and beauty.
- In 2018… Directing Clear Vision Trust, based in Manchester, living in Gosinga. Involved in the documentation and communication of our Order and Movement, I feel passionate about the diversity of our internationality and shared and emerging culture. It’s richness, depth and breadth, successes and challenges.
Sanghadhara: Becoming a Mitra
Interview recorded in 2018.
SANGHADHARA’S ANNALS:
-
In 1968 I was… still in the Deva realms of my previous life
-
In 1978 I was… fading away from lower devalokas
-
In 1988 I was… born in this human body that year on the 25th of March, right in the centre of Mexico City. I must have had some choice of my birth parents. At that time, they were into the I Ching, doing Tai Chi and they must have been doing some sort of meditation I remember leading through a meditation to a classmate when I was about 5 years old (haha). Around year 6 or 7, I had some very existential dreams that hunted me for decades to come and fuelled my spiritual inquisitiveness. A different fun fact, I was a child actor, I did TV adverts, and a music video and was cast into the Latin American version of Sesame Street. But my TV career was interrupted as my mum moved us out of the city. But I continued doing theatre and that’s how I first met Bodhikamala, she was 7, and I was 8, I think.
-
In 1998 I was… I was ten years old, around the first time I read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse; this was perhaps the first time I encountered the Buddha and the idea of awakening. Also, with Bodhikamala, we were doing Meditations to align my chakras so I could heal with energy and read auras.
Being in fairly alternative education, I was exposed to classic literature and philosophers from a young age. And after being busy being a rebel and reading Harry Potter, I go interested in awakening and spiritual Truth. Aged 15 I decided to re-read Siddhartha and a year later, Bodhikama and I would encounter the FWBO, I asked my dad to take me to the Centre in Mexico City, and she was taken to a yoga retreat by her grandma. I think that was 2004. On my first retreat, I decided I’d move to the UK for a few years to explore the moment and join the Order. After 2-3 years of coming to the Buddhist centre, I started sharing what I learned in meditation and Buddhism with classmates and eventually a weekly meditation group.
-
In 2008 I was… Facilitating a meditation and Buddhism group with Bodhikhamala in Toluca as we’ve been doing for a couple of years while I was saving money to learn English so I could go to Windhorse:Evolution in Cambridge. That year my first visa application was refused so I applied to go to university to study Dramatic Literate and Theatre. I also remember fondly starting a project at the Buddhist Centre called “Lotus Azules”, aimed to explore the place of the Arts in our system of practice. I was passionate about the place of the Arts as a way to communicate the Dharma through the Arts with my friend Pablo Sierra.
2009 I moved to Cambridge, UK to join Windhorse:Evolution, where I spent 6 years. A lot of it was a bit frustrating in the warehouse and much more frustrating in the ordination process, but I enjoyed community life and the creative projects I managed to get involved in. Street meditations, Buddhist pantomimes, sangha picnics, festivals and shrine decorations.
After the closing of Windhorse:Evolution in 2015 I moved up north, Manchester, and joined Clear Vision. After 9 years in the ordination process, I was given my name by Keturaja. I’m so grateful to my friends in this process, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that found it frustrating at times. Without my preceptor and Kalyana Mitras Suvajra and Arthapriya, I just would’ve left the country and distanced myself from the Ordination process. Thanks too to Dharmashalin and Bodhiketu.
2016 I set up a new residential community (Gosinga), reclaiming the flat above the Manchester Buddhist Centre, still very much passionate about the creation and development of spaces conducive to practice, friendship and beauty.
-
In 2018… Directing Clear Vision Trust, based in Manchester, living in Gosinga. Involved in the documentation and communication of our Order and Movement, I feel passionate about the diversity of our internationality and shared and emerging culture. It’s richness, depth and breadth, successes and challenges.