Letter from the Chair of the College – March 2025

Dear Order members and friends,

Formerly one needed courage to attack institutions. Now one needs courage to defend them – and still more courage to create them.

This aphorism of Sangharakshita first appeared in print in 1998 in A Stream of Stars: Reflections and Aphorisms. However, as with many of his published aphorisms, we have no information about the context in which it was first said or written -  it is quite possible that Bhante had jotted this down much earlier. Like...

Chair's Letter – September

Dear Order Members and Friends,

Back in July, as part of our search for new – larger – premises for Tiratanaloka, our retreat centre for women training for ordination, the team visited a Carmelite monastery about an hour north east of London, and thought it looked very promising. A couple of weeks ago we heard our offer had been accepted, so we’re very excited and hoping for a smooth transition. If you’d like to know more you can...

Chair's Letter – March 2024

Correction: 

In my March letter from the College, I wrote that ‘My Relation to the Order was the second in what Bhante intended to be a series of three reflections, the first being The History of My Going for Refuge… the third … being completed by Subhuti as Extending the Hand of Fellowship.’ Kalyanaprabha has pointed out to me that this is inaccurate, as all three texts were originally written by Bhante as papers and were delivered to the gathered Order...

Chair's Letter – February 2024

This month’s letter is written by Vajrashura, who first came across Triratna in Ireland, in 1999, at the age of 22. He was ordained in 2007 in Guhyaloka by Kulananda, and since 2009 has been the men’s Mitra Convenor for Dublin where he lives in a men’s community. He now also works for the Sikkha Project on a part-time basis and joined the College in 2020.

Hear more from Vajrashura in a talk he gave on Sadhana, White Tara...