International Order Convention

Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, 24–31 January 2025

In January 2025, the Order will again be able to hold its convention at the very spot at which the Buddha gained Enlightenment. We will practise on our own land at the Three Jewels Centre, and around the Bodhi Tree.

This is the page where we will publish information on the Convention as we have it.

If you need to get in contact with us with questions you can email triratnaorderevents@gmail.com

To communicate with other convention-goers about travelling together, accommodation etc. please use our Padlet board

Important information for attending the convention

This document contains important information for all those attending the convention.

Other information:

List of Order members (outside India) attending the convention.

Convention location

The main convention site is held on our land, where food and refreshments will be served throughout the day, together with drinking water. The late morning and afternoon programme will take place here.

Morning meditation and evening puja will take place within the grounds of the Mahabodhi temple – the location of the Bodhi tree – which is a 30 minute walk from our land. Rickshaws are plentiful and comparatively cheap.

Convention accommodation

The accommodation that is offered with the inclusive package will be in one of these hotels:

Taj Darbar

Bodhgaya Regency

Others may be used if booking numbers exceed 200.

All bedrooms are twin rooms with an attached bathroom. At this point, due to the shortage of accommodation, we are not offering an option for a single room.

All bookings are for arrival on 24th January, and departure on 31st January. As we are block booking the hotels, you cannot book a shorter period. If you wish to extend your stay either at the beginning or end of the period, you will need to do so directly with the hotel after you have been assigned a room, and you will probably pay the full undiscounted cost for the extra nights. The Order Office will not be able to do this for you.

Alternatively, you can pay for just the convention at a later date, and book your own accommodation (see below).

Booking for inclusive package (convention plus accommodation)

A £100 non-refundable deposit is required to confirm the booking of the inclusive package of convention facilities, food and accommodation. The balance will be required before the end of December 2024.

The total cost for the inclusive package is not yet available but will be below £320.

You can book your non-refundable deposit for the inclusive package here from 7.30am (BST) on Friday 14th June.

Please see the above accommodation section for specific details about the hotels included in this booking.

Travel is not included in the price of the convention – you will need to book your own travel.

Booking for convention only

It will be possible to book for the convention only – which includes all meals and facilities for the duration, but not accommodation. We will let you know when we are able to take bookings for this option.

Travel is not included in the price of the convention – you will need to book your own travel.

Travel

The easiest way is to fly to Gaya airport (GAY). There are direct internal flights from New Delhi (DEL), Kolkata (CCU) and Mumbai (BOM). We hope to provide a transfer bus service for a small fee. Otherwise a taxi is not too expensive. If you travel by train, be aware that they can be very heavily delayed (over 10 hours).

Travel is not included in the price of the convention – you will need to book your own travel.

Food

Three meals per day, refreshments and drink are supplied on our land, and included in the convention price. Low spice versions of the meals will be offered. It is plentiful and tasty!

Special requests

If you have never travelled to India before, then be aware that while people are willing to go to great lengths to make non-Indian visitors comfortable, there are inherent differences that mean it is not the same as visiting a more “westernised” country. You will need reasonable mobility and health, and will need to exercise more kshanti and less attachment to preferences! This, for the most part, is all part of the magic and going forth involved with a convention held in India.

We anticipate having a reception on our land, staffed by western volunteers, who will do their best to help with any problems.

Pilgrimages

You may like to combine your visit with a pilgrimage:

Akshayadeep an order member based in Cambridge and founder of ‘Joy Tours Ltd’ , is organising ‘International pilgrimage’ from 12th till 24th Jan just before the convention. Joy tours also offers tailored tours for India, and for many other Asian countries. For further details on tours and bookings please visit the website or email joytours4you@gmail.com or info@joytours.co.uk
Parayana Tours also organises pilgrimages and Himalayan treks, offering English, Spanish and Hindi, and can be flexible on dates. They can be reached on info@parayanatours.com
Vishvapani is leading a pilgrimage shortly after the convention (8–21 February 2025) with a couple of optional days at the end in Kathmandu. The tour is organised by Tricycle and RetreatTours. The tour will visit the major sites from the Buddha’s life and Vishvapani will be the guide, drawing on his book on the Buddha. More information is available here
Boddhi Tours are running several pilgrimages in January and February and can be contacted on boddhitours@gmail.com More information is available on their website
Manidhamma is offering iconic Dhammayatra pilgrimages before and after the convention. Exploring Buddhist holy sites 13-24 January and
Teachers of Enlightenment exploring Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Sikkim 31 January -9 February. For more details on pilgrimages and bookings
please email dhammayatra@gmail.com or whatsApp on +91-8007740666 or visit the webpage

Update regarding booking and accommodation: 10th June ’24

Our original plan was to send you information about accommodation in Bodhgaya that you could book for yourself around the time of the convention. We now have an important update.

Our team in Bodhgaya has discovered that some high-profile visitors (Dalai Lama, Karmapa etc) are visiting Bodhgaya at the same time as us, putting pressure on accommodation. We are extremely fortunate that the team have found several top quality hotels and negotiated very large discounts of approximately 50% with them. But to receive the discount we are required to block book the rooms quickly.

On Fri 14th June we will open online bookings, and this wave of bookings will only be open for 2 weeks until Fri 28th June.
We will ask for binding bookings, and a non-returnable deposit.

The final cost will not be known at that point, but we are confident that the total cost of the convention including all food and accommodation will be under £320. This will save you about £200 over the cost of the hotels if booked directly online. The rooms being offered will all be a twin room with a private bath or shower in a good quality hotel. More information will be given at the point of booking.

It will be possible at a later point to book just for the convention, if you want to book or have already booked your own accommodation, or if you are not able to decide at this point. We will make available any information we have about accommodation but cannot make guarantees about availability. It may be possible to offer another wave of bookings including accommodation, but we may not be able to guarantee either availability or the same cost.

So we want you to be prepared to book quickly when the opportunity arises. And if you will be away during this short booking window, please arrange with a friend to book on your behalf.

We are sorry if this feels somewhat rushed; events in India need a certain degree of flexibility!
When you receive the email with the booking information – which will be sent via the Order Information Service – please be prepared to act swiftly.