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THE PROMISE OF A SACRED WORLD: SHINRAN’S TEACHING OF OTHER POWER
With Nagapriya and friends Watch practice sessions & get resourcesDonate and support Home RetreatsWhat is a Home Retreat? (click to read)
Home Retreats can be tailored to your needs.
We provide:
- Live Home Retreat events daily
- Specially curated Dharma resources
- A chance to catch up each day on the event sessions by video if you missed them – so you can do the retreat in your own time
- Share your own inspiration and reflections on the private retreat Padlet space (shared by email)
- A chance to connect with the retreat leader to ask questions about your practice
Whether you have the time to engage with a full-on, urban-retreat style week at home – or are super occupied already with kids or work and just want some useful structure to book-end your days with a little calm and inspiration: this is for you.
🌅🪷 Explore with Nagapriya & friends the cosmic story of the Buddha Amitabha (Amida) and the creation of his Pure Land. Meditation+Practice = ❤
You can access video recordings of all sessions below under each day’s resources.
📖 Download a practice diary to use during the retreat
The mythic story of the cosmic Buddha Amitabha (Amida) and the creation of his Pure Land is the backdrop to one of the most popular and enduring of the late Buddhist traditions. In this Home Retreat with Nagapriya we will be exploring how meditating and practising the Dharma within this rich world of images and ideas can be personally transformative, bringing Amida to life with a deep wonder, gratitude, and openness.
We’ll be practising around key themes from Nagapriya’s book ‘The Promise of a Sacred World.’ In particular, we will evoke the idea of ‘Other Power’, as understood by the Japanese master Shinran, engaging with how this relates to self-directed effort on the Buddhist path – and how it connects with the Triratna Buddhist Community’s vision of practice.
The Pure Land is life itself understood as a field of perpetual going for refuge, in which awakening is ‘given’ not ‘achieved’. And Amida can be experienced as the sacred world breaking in on our awareness or irrupting within us. Using meditation, ritual, imagery, and reflection, we will immerse ourselves in this profound myth of liberation and the opportunities it opens up to us in any moment.
Home retreat leader
Nagapriya was born in the UK in 1969. While studying for a philosophy degree in Leeds, he began practising with the Triratna Buddhist Community and was ordained in 1992. He later studied for a master’s in the history of religions at the University of Manchester.
In 2013 he moved to Mexico and helped found the Centro Budista de Cuernavaca. He is also co-founder and director of Editorial Dharmamegha, a small publishing venture dedicated to sharing Buddhist teachings in the Spanish-speaking world. In addition, he works as part of a team training men from Latin America for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. Since 2019 he has been a member of Triratna’s College of Public Preceptors.
Nagapriya lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
All our events are offered by donation. If you can, donate to allow others who can’t afford it to access these vital Dharma resources when they need them most. Thank you!
Suggested donation for the whole retreat:
£125 / $175 / €150 or £25 / $35 / €30 per day.
Resources
Instead of postponing enlightenment until an indefinite future, practice becomes an affirmation of its perpetual disclosure. Moreover, instead of a means to make ourselves worthy, practice becomes a gift, an expression of solidarity and affirmation. Our meditation, our devotion, our friendship, our study, become affirmations and revelations of our intimate connection with Amida’s compassionate mind, with the nature of awakening, and so reveal themselves as disclosures of our true nature before others. Our practice becomes sacramental, an exuberant offering to the world around us. It becomes an upwelling of gratitude, the incarnation of Amida’s vow within our daily lives.
Taken from the book “The Promise of a Sacred World: Shinran’s Teaching of Other Power”. Available at Windhorse Publications.
20% discount for attendees of this home retreat, by clicking the link above. Please don’t share this code with anyone else—it’s a benefit only for those taking part in this retreat.
Welcome to the retreat
Day 1
watch the Live PRACTICE sessions
The home retreat begins with an orientation led by Nagapriya. Following this, Parami guides the session, starting with a morning puja, which includes reading selected texts and setting a ritualistic and meditative tone for the retreat. She then leads a mettā practice, takes a break, and concludes the session with a just-sitting meditation.
Nagapriya begins the session by reading verses on Shinjin practice, which will be a theme throughout the home retreat. He then explores various models of the Dharma life, originally introduced by Subhuti, while also proposing new models and discussing how we can relate to them. Participants then join breakout groups for reflection, followed by a Q&A session with Nagapriya to delve deeper into the models.
The third session for the day takes the form of a more devotional session. The session starts with a brief introduction, then a testimony from Priyavadita on his connection to the Other Power. Then Nagapriya leads a meditation, and then a puja to close the session.
Day 2
watch the Live PRACTICE sessions
Dassini begins session one by chanting the refuges and precepts and reciting some devotional verses to Amitabha. We then enter a period of Karuna Bhavana, the cultivation of compassion. After the break, we hear the Karaniyametta Sutta – Chanted in Pali by Vimalanandi, followed by a 20-minute practice of just sitting.
The discussion centers on the concept of “Entering the Myth” within Pure Land Buddhism, led by Ratnaguna. He explores the themes of self-power versus other power, urging participants to move beyond a self-centred approach to spiritual practice by embracing the mythic narrative of Amitabha and the Pure Land. The session includes reflections on the difficulty of committing to such myths, the existential condition of being closed off from Enlightenment (symbolized by a closed lotus), and the importance of faith and surrender in the Dharma.
After an introduction from Nagapriya, Ratnaguna leads a visualization meditation on the Pure Land. Following a 10-minute break, Maitrisiddhi shares a moving personal account of her experience with ‘Other Power.’ The session concludes with a sevenfold puja, including Amitābha mantras.
Day 3
watch the Live PRACTICE sessions
Parami begins the first session of day three by chanting the Amitabha mantra followed by the Shinran verses to Amitabha. We continue our movement through the Brahma Viharas by practising the Mudita Bhavana. After the break, we hear the Karaniyametta Sutta – Chanted in Pali by Vimalanandi, followed by a 20-minute period of Just sitting.
This session starts with Nagapriya reading some verses relating to Other Power. Then he presents who Shinran was and the practice of nembutsu and then he talks about how the Pure Land approach of Shinjin equates or compares to the Going for Refuge approach and how this affects our spiritual practice.
The session starts with Ratnaguna sharing his account of how he connects with the Other Power, and how he related to that in his life and spiritual practice. And then the session continues with a devotional practice with poem reading and mantra chanting.
Day 4
watch the Live PRACTICE sessions
As we continue exploring the Brahma Viharas, we now reach the fourth and final vihara of Upekha or Equanimity, the deep love imbued with wisdom. Dassini guides us through the practice as well as leading our morning ritual of the refuges and precepts followed by a mantra. We then have a break and hear the Karaniyametta Sutta – Chanted in Pali by Vimalanandi. The session ends with a period of just sitting.
The session begins with Nagapriya reading verses on the theme of Other Power. He then introduces the theme of the day: Shinjin, practice, and awakening, discussing the relationship between faith and doubt in this context. The session includes reflective questions and concludes with a plenary for answering questions.
In this session, we hear a personal account of Akashanandi and her connection with the Other Power and how Nembutsu came into her practice. The session continues with a puja led by Dharmakarunya.
Day 5
watch the Live PRACTICE sessions
Parami begins the first session of the final day by reading the Shinran verses to Amitabha. In this session we reflect on our fortune at having received the Dharma, by practising the Katanyutta (Gratitude) Bhavana. After a break, we hear the Karaniyametta Sutta – Chanted in Pali by Vimalanandi, followed by a 10 minute period of Just sitting. We end with the Nembutsu verses and the Amitabha mantra.
Nagapriya and Ratnaguna discuss the relationship between the teachings of Shinran/Pure Land Buddhism and and the Triratna system of practice. Ways of bringing the Dharma to a greater audience, including those who are less inclined to academic study, and those who may have little or no time to meditate. Nagapriya also shares a personal account of how bearing his first contact with the Dharma in mind provides him with a source of strength.
This is the last session of the home retreat. The session starts with Dharmakarunya sharing her moving personal account on how she found Buddhism and connected with Amitāba. Then, Ratnaguna guides us on an Amitābha visualisation practice.
Everything we offer is by donation – give today and help us keep it free for everyone!
We hope you find the Home Retreat helpful. We are committed to providing excellent Dharma resources and spaces to connect with community online and go deeper in your practice. And to keeping this free to access for anyone who needs it!
If you can, donate and help us reach more people like you.
Make a regular gift and you’ll be supporting Home Retreats through the years ahead.
Thank you from our team and from the online community around the world!
May you be well!
Suggested donation for the whole retreat:
£125 / $175 / €150 or £25 / $35 / €30 per day.
Stay connected to community
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With deep thanks to Nagapriya and the Dharmachakra team for their generosity in setting up the conditions for this retreat, as well as leading live events each day.
Event image by Jr Korpa
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