Tag: letter from the chair

Chair's Letter – January 2024

By ratnadharini on Wed, 31 Jan, 2024 - 20:00

Chair's Letter – January 2024

By ratnadharini on Wed, 31 Jan, 2024 - 20:00

Dear Order members and friends,

December and January were relatively quiet months for me. Zoom meetings and emails tend to ease up over the festive season and I was able to spend two weeks in Wales doing house repairs and having some time to myself as well as catching up with family; it was my mother’s 95th birthday in early January.

The women’s Area Order weekend back at the beginning of December – which is traditionally...

College of Public Preceptors

Letter from the College – June

By ratnadharini on Fri, 30 Jun, 2023 - 15:42

Letter from the College – June

By ratnadharini on Fri, 30 Jun, 2023 - 15:42

Dear Order members and friends,

My experience this month has been dominated by preparing for, and enacting, a 150 mile pilgrimage from where Sangharakshita was born in Tooting, London, on 26th August 1925, to Adhisthana, Herefordshire, where he lived the last – and some of the happiest – years of his life, dying on 30th October 2018. Having had the inspiration for the pilgrimage, I realised I could share the experience with others and open it up as a fundraising initiative...

College of Public Preceptors

Chair's Letter – March 2023

By ratnadharini on Fri, 31 Mar, 2023 - 12:02

Chair's Letter – March 2023

By ratnadharini on Fri, 31 Mar, 2023 - 12:02

Dear Order members and friends,

Thanks to Maitreyabandhu for the evocative account of our network of friendships last month.

First I’ll write with an update from the March College meeting – and end with a personal request.

At that point last month, I was involved in our annual Women Preceptors’ retreat at Adhisthana, which gets better each year as the body of experience grows and the connections between us become stronger. We’d decided to make it an ‘in person’ event, while making the study...

College of Public Preceptors

Chairs' Letter – November 2022

By ratnadharini on Thu, 1 Dec, 2022 - 12:28

Chairs' Letter – November 2022

By ratnadharini on Thu, 1 Dec, 2022 - 12:28

Dear Order members and friends,

When I last wrote, a month ago, we had just marked the fourth anniversary of Bhante Sangharakshita’s death at Adhisthana. A meeting of the International Council was underway, and by the end of a very harmonious and enjoyable meeting we had clarified the purpose of the IC and agreed on strategic priorities.

A couple of days later, the annual international ‘in person’ gathering of the College of Public Preceptors began....

College of Public Preceptors

Chairs' Letter – January 2022

By ratnadharini on Mon, 31 Jan, 2022 - 17:31

Chairs' Letter – January 2022

By ratnadharini on Mon, 31 Jan, 2022 - 17:31

Dear Order members and friends,

A week or so ago we received news of the death, at the age of 95, of Thich Nhat Hanh, founder of the Order of Interbeing and the Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism, and well known for his teachings on mindfulness, peace and ecology. I still have my copy of ‘The Miracle of Mindfulness’ from 1988, when there were far fewer Dharma publications generally available in the west, and remember how...