Worldwide Triratna Buddhist Community sangha mapped by Aryaloka

As part of Aryaloka Retreat Center’s 25th anniversary celebrations in the US (reported on Triratna News yesterday); Pete Ingraham from the Aryaloka Sangha has produced a map showing for the first time just where the Triratna Sangha is located - worldwide.

Using Google mapping and data provided by Lokabandhu from the Triratna Development team over in the UK, he’s produced a remarkable poster available on-line: click here for the medium (7MB) and large (13MB) sizes.

Especially interesting is their mapping of where Aryaloka’s Friends, Mitras, and Order Members live around America’s East Coast - and opposite that, the many Triratna centres and groups scattered across India.

Enjoy...!

Aryaloka celebrates 25 years in America

Aryaloka, the Triratna Buddhist Community’s Retreat Center in New Hampshire, US, is busy celebrating their 25th anniversary this weekend. They say -

“In 1985 the vision of a retreat center in a quiet setting, not too far from Boston, took its first steps to being realized. Dedicated Order members, mitras, and friends moved into the domes in Newmarket, NH. Since then, a sangha of practitioners has grown steadily, calling Aryaloka their spiritual 'home'. Countless meditations, discussions, confidences, vegetarian meals, and chores have been shared over the last 25 years. Thousands of beings have been touched by the Dharma and the vision of Enlightenment that is kept alive here.

“Please join us to celebrate the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha at Aryaloka in our 25th year”.

The schedule of events is well underway, and includes -

the domes at the heart of Aryaloka Retreat Center

* Opening Ceremonies on Saturday, August 28, featuring original musical compositions by Sravaniya; procession and ritual placement of 15 foot hand-made banners as we tell a brief history of Aryaloka; mantra chanting and ritual in the Aryaloka shrine room; festive 25th Anniversary Picnic.

* Open House on Sunday 29: doors open to all members of the community, a time to enjoy a tour and hear what goes on at Aryaloka.

* A series of talks, starting with 'The Simile of Heartwood Circle', by Dayalocana, Chair of the Aryaloka Council. Dayalocana has often thought that Aryaloka's location at Heartwood Circle might have an interesting connection with the Buddha's teaching of the Simile of the Heartwood. She'll take a look at the teaching from the Pali Canon, and also what we might find at Aryaloka Buddhist Center as we search for the heartwood, Aryaloka's inner core and strength that has endured for 25 years.

There’ll also be a talk by Manjuvajra, founding Order Member of Aryaloka in 1985, entitled 'Beginnings: The conception, gestation, birth and infancy of a Buddhist Retreat Center'. Aryaloka's history can be traced back to a time eight years before it was purchased. The FWBO had to be established on American soil and then, after four years, the decision to establish a community and retreat centre was taken. Manjuvajra will talk about what led up to that leap of faith; how Aryaloka came about, helped by the generosity of some people, and hindered by extreme challenges. He will trace the development of the community and centre during the first ten years of its life and talk about the colorful characters involved in that adventure.  You should be able to find both these and more on FreeBuddhistAudio in due course.

The week will conclude with rededication ceremonies, rededicating Aryaloka to Another 25 Years of Dharma Practice - and Beyond!

They conclude by saying - “Thank you to everyone who has come in the past and who comes today to make Aryaloka a place of true practice and friendship”.

More details on their website,http://aryaloka.org

Sahaja launches new website

Sahaja is a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order who has for many years made sculptures from scrap metal. Anyone who’s visited the Manchester or Sheffield Buddhist Centres, or Padmaloka Retreat Centre, will be familiar with his giant metal angels and other figures.

Now Aryamati, a friend of his, writes from the North of England to say -

“Sahaja has a new website - www.sahajaart.com.

"At present he can no longer afford to continue with his impressive metal sculptures, but this last year has seen a renaissance of his creativity. With paint, cut-outs, photos and brilliant colours he is devising striking paintings. These have been put on a lively website which many of us will be intrigued to visit.

“Sahaja is willing to sell some of his sculptures and new paintings. You can also commission Sahaja to make new work, for instance to draw you a portrait in this new medium, if you wish to make a present to a friend.

“He is happy to discuss his ideas with you - and the possibility of paying him monthly rather than with one lump sum.

"Sahaja earns very little, as a Care Worker, on minimum wage. He cannot afford broadband, but sometimes goes to library to read his emails budmaher@live.com, or you can contact him via his website at www.sahajaart.com/contact.php

“Thanks, Aryamati”

The photos show images of Sahaja’s work currently on display in the garden of Triratna’s Birmingham Buddhist Centre, plus one of his new paintings.

Ordination at the London Buddhist Centre

The Nalanda Crest at the London Buddhist Centre

On the 19th August Anna Robinson had her public ordination at Triratna's London Buddhist Centre. Her private preceptor was Dhammadassin and the public preceptor was Mallika. During the ceremony Anna became Tareshvari meaning "capable of crossing over" (bridge builder)

Her name is Sanskrit, and should be written with a macron [horizontal bar] over the first "a", an uptick over the "s" and a macron over the "i".

Sadhu!

grattis på födelsedagen! happy birthday bhante!

Today - August 26th - marks Sangharakshita’s 85th birthday - and we’d like to say Happy Birthday Bhante! Or “Grattis på Födelsedagen” as they’d say in Sweden...

Sangharakshita’s Facebook page has been busy today with well-wishers from around the Triratna world - Sangharakshita himself is at home in Birmingham, having attended the recent Order Weekend at Wymondham College in Norfolk UK.

Meanwhile, tonight at the London Buddhist Centre - and at many other Triratna Centres around the world - they’ll be celebrating the eighth in a series of 108 annual pujas to mark Sangharakshita's life and work. This annual event was launched at the 2003 Order Convention, where participating Centres took possession of special boxes each containing fine cloths, 108 sticks of incense, candles which will burn for 108 hours, a signed photograph of Bhante and a log book with 108 pages to record those present each year. The items in the boxes were blessed by Bhante, who also signed a photograph for each. Each Centre has a precious supply of incense and other ritual items that have a direct spiritual and physical connection with Bhante himself.

Mokshapriya, who launched the event in 2003, comments - “This particular living thread may well be increasingly treasured by each Centre's sangha through the years. We should not underestimate how important it is to find links between the future members of the sangha and Bhante. It has been our great fortune to live in his time and have had some direct connection with him but perhaps we have a responsibility to think of those to come who won't have any such direct connection and imagine how we might enrich their spiritual lives through our forethought and the establishment of such a special festival as this one. It will also provide a thread of continuity in each Centre's sangha whilst the log book will bear witness to impermanence and change.”

We’re also produced new video of members of the Triratna Buddhist Order chanting the White Tara mantra for Sangharakshita’s long life, recorded during the 2009 Order convention. You’ll find it in the embedded player below or on-line at www.youtube.com/watch?v=M82Wv10l7UU

Bodhi Mind, Bodhi Living - new Right Livelihood in Sydney

Nick Maddocks writes from Triratna’s Sydney Sangha to say -

“Next time you’re in Australia make sure you visit Bodhi Books and Gifts - our exciting new Team-Based Right-Livelihood (TBRL) based in Newtown, epicentre of the Sydney Sangha. With the arrival of Bodhi, TBRL is now an integral part of the greater mandala in the Sydney Sangha, taking its place alongside the Green Elephant (our Op Shop), and Windhorse Books - plus of course the Centre itself!

Bodhi, in which I work, is in walking distance of the Sydney Buddhist Centre (24 Enmore Rd, Newtown) It started life in December 2007, being launched off the back of the well established (and still operating) Windhorse Books, which was set up by Ratnajyoti over 14 years ago. Since those early days we’ve grown to a core team of four people (three Order Members and one GFR Mitra), a further four casual staff and 10-15 volunteers from the Sydney Sangha.

Bodhi specialises in trading a unique range of ethically traded giftware, as well as stocking the largest selection of Dharma literature in Australia. Bodhi's vision is to make the Dharma accessible to more Australians, to practice non-harm and generosity through ethical trade and living, and to support TBRL as an integral part of Buddhist practice within the Australian Sangha.

So, in the meantime, until you have the opportunity to drop by the shop, visit our Facebook Fan page to become a fan and receive updates:  www.facebook.com/pages/Newtown-Australia/Bodhi-Books-and-Gifts/95512341087

The photograph comes from Google Street View - though taken before Bodhi's arrival on the scene!

Update on the Sangharakshita Land Project

Triratna News first reported on the Sangharakshita Land Project back in April. It will see a major move of some of the FWBO’s central institutions - and Sangharakshita himself - away from the Birmingham suburbs to a new and large piece of land and property somewhere in the British countryside.

This will serve as the basis for multitude of new developments - a permanent home for Sangharakshita’s ‘library’ - perhaps better described as a veritable treasury embodying the Triratna Buddhist Order’s spiritual history; a Dharma Training Centre focusing on Bhante’s teachings with study, exploration and practice - primarily though not exclusively aimed at the Order; space for single sex communities, guests, and ‘retired’ Order Members - and of course for whatever may come from the land itself. Sangharakshita has specifically specified that he wants elemental and sublime landscape rather than pastoral - a place that uplifts, inspires and supports meditation, a mythic environment which is, in itself, a place people will want to be and can make their own.

Much has happened since April: the project’s objectives have been clarified; the sale of the Birmingham properties has begun; the property search has taken Vajrasadhu and Mokshapriya across the length and breadth of Britain - and their blog has expanded dramatically, most recently with a call to interested parties to come forwards and begin building the team that will be needed to fully realise the project.

To find out more, check some of their blog posts -

Would you like to work on the Project?

Creating a garden for Bhante

Bhante’s Abode

Vajrasadhu on the road

The Gardens

Raising the cash

The Search Begins....

Meeting the Padmaloka Community

Visiting Retreat Centres.

How big is 300 acres?

Pilgrimage

Working out the essentials

A little background

The blog itself is at www.sangharakshitalandproject.co.uk

Karuna Mexico acts in response to flood and hurricane

Members of Triratna’s Mexican sangha have been battling floods this month, as heavy rains and hurricanes have battered the country.

They write to say -

“This month the North of Mexico has gone through a heavy rain season and a Hurricane called "Alex", this meant many of Mexico’s poorest communities were flooded, as a consequence of living adjacent to rivers and dams which could not cope. Mexican news spoke of over 200,000 affected people, many of whom lost their homes, furnishings, and possessions.

“The photographs talk by themselves.

“Through the "Colecta Karuna" project of Mexico City Buddhist Centre, we invited people to help donating some non-perishable food, water, medicines, etc. Thanks to the support and generosity of people, we were able to gather a good amount of donations that will be useful at this time.

“We also organized an afternoon of meditation in benefit of this cause, doing meditations each hour from 2 pm to 6 pm. We closed the day with a puja dedicated to the victims, with our best wishes and positive feeling for the early resettlement and the arrival of aid.

“This puja was dedicated to Avalokitesvara in order to get in touch with the feeling of compassion to develop and expand, so our Buddhist practice was dedicated to people who are suffering at this time

“We would like to extend the invitation to that we can devote meditations and pujas in various centers of the Order to persons who suffer for whatever reason in the world.

"We end by saying - "Sabbe Satta Sukhi Hontu - May all beings be well, that all beings may be at peace, that all beings be free from suffering”

For more details of Colecta Karuna's work check their website www.karuna.mx

First Mitras at new home of Brixton group

Ratnachuda writes from the small Triratna sangha in South London to say -

"On Thursday August 5th the Brixton Buddhist Sangha celebrated its first Mitra ceremonies in our new home at Vaccasin's yoga studio, YogaPoint. Greg, Rachel and Vicki took the very significant step of becoming Mitras that evening.

Amarapuspa and Satyanathin led the ceremony assisted by myself.

The photos show the shrine created by Amarapuspa and the three happy mitras after the ceremony.

Yogapoint can be found at122 Dalberg Road, London SW2 or online at www.yogapoint.co.uk

Community Archives at Free Buddhist Audio

One of the most successful developments to come out of Free Buddhist Audio has been our community archiving project. All around the world, local Triratna projects are able to access a simple upload system which allows them to send us their own particular archive of Dharma talks. The service is free (of course!) and it allows often small Buddhist communities to have world-class audio pages without any of the costs incurred trying to set these up for themselves. And what starts as a local service aimed at local sanghas is, by the magic of the web, turned instantly into a way to share regional colours and flavours of Dharma approach within an international spiritual community that relies on such exchange to help it stay united. We think it's pretty cool!



One of the happiest parts of community archiving is that, even with our rather limited resources, we are able to include more and more talks in languages other than English! This is an invaluable aid to some of our communities in Europe and America, and it's a feature of fba that we expect to see grow over the coming years.

Today we'd like to highlight one excellent new archive on the site in Spanish: Valencia! You may not speak Spanish, you may not have any personal links to Spain - but here's a chance to make a connection with a Dharma community across borders, across language and cultural boundaries, across the Triratna world! (If you get really stuck, you can view the Centre's English language pages here.) It's just one of the Centres from around the globe that you may not have heard of. From Pune, India to Krakow in Poland via Gent in Belgium, there's a wide world of Dharma engagement out there that relates, crucially, to your own... Have a listen, take a look!

If you like our work at Free Buddhist Audio and want to see it flourish, please consider becoming one of our 500 friends! Thank you.

Free Buddhist Audio Podcast - Relaunched!

Over the years at Free Buddhist Audio we've built up quite a following for our podcast. Each new episode is downloaded by around 15,000 people, with thousands more using our extensive backlist of talks distributed in this super easy-to-use way. This week, we're delighted to be relaunching the classic monthly fba podcast with much better sound quality and some snazzy new presentation. We'll be updating this more often from now on - every two weeks or so - and will be introducing a second shorter, more frequent podcast in the near future! More on that later, but for now, check out our podcast page for easy instructions on how to become a listener!

To get us started, where better to begin than at the recent International Triratna Retreat at which our community's name change became official? And who better to relaunch our podcast than Vajradarshini, one of our most popular and most eloquent and entertaining speakers? In 'Everything Matters - Turning Consumerism on its Head', Vajradarshini points out that we live in a world of things and there’s a world of practice in things. As consumerism is defined as ‘to destroy’, we are challenged to find ways to turn consumerism on its head and find the Truth in our relationship to Things. Accompanied by Kavyasiddhi reading both poetry and prose, this beautiful Dharma gem is worth hearing again and again.

Talk given at the 2010 International Sangha Retreat.

Track listing

1. Wooly tank tops, potatoes and trees: We live in a world of things and there’s a world of practice in things.

2. Consumerism is to destroy; Restlessness, continually searching there something; Keeping up with the ‘Jones’; Celebrities and the media distorting our views of the world and how people live.

3. Our need to consume is affected by what we’ve become accustomed to; Living conditions like drugs; Trying to sustain pleasure through our relationship to things.

4. Observing our response to the laws of consumerism; Suddenly feeling like what we have is not enough; Having less than others contributes to their happiness.

5. Restlessness and inner poverty, something seems to be missing is intuition into the Truth; The Three Laksanas, the Three Characteristics of Conditioned Existence; Everything is Impermanent, Insubstantial and Unsatisfactory; Trying to buy pleasure, comfort and security.

6. The image of the renunciate, the flavor of the hermit; Living a beautiful, simple life; What does it mean to practice renunciation in the world? Turning more towards things and the world; Things show us Reality.

7. Purelands are where everything communicates the Dharma to us, we just need to pay attention; The world we live in shows us Reality through the Three Laksanas.

8. Impermanence is as if everything is on a journey; Objects revealing the beauty in the passing of time; speeded up photography and faded images.

9. Insubstantiality is as if everything is a pattern; rather than having an essence, we encounter the coming together of various conditions that make up what an object is.

10. Unsatisfactoriness; human life has both pain and joy woven into it. Much of our pain comes from resistance to impermanence and insubstantiality; The tears in things and the story of Winchester Cathedral stain glass window.

11. Wabi-Sabi places more value on things that have been mended; the scars and imperfections of being human.

12. Finding beauty in our life helps us turn towards Reality; Moving towards experiences of the Laksanas leads to treasures; The Three Doorways of Liberation.

13. Finding beauty and meaning in everyday objects; Riku and the Japanese tea ceremony; mindfulness is the catalyst of deeply experiencing objects; Andrew Juniper on the pith of Wabi-sabi: the love of life distilled into form

14. If consuming is to destroy, how can we turn that on its head? Three things to practice: experiencing things, creating things and cherishing things; Rumi on the treasure of poverty; Practicing in a world where we only see precious things; Barbara Kingsolver on potatoes.

Free Buddhist Audio 2.0 Launches

The new Free Buddhist Audio website is here and, aside from a sleek new look, it’s packed to the gills with new features! We’ve worked very hard to make FBA 2.0 more interactive and user-friendly, and to provide even more to our community.

This week, we're going to feature some of the terrific new content being added to the site by Triratna projects around the world. But to start us off, here’s a run-down of some of the exciting additions to our all-new service:

FBA Members Area

Our Community section connects FBA users with each other and provides access to unreleased content with:

* Exclusive sneak-peek previews of future audio releases.

* Members-only access to unreleased archive recordings.

* Create your own FBA profile – Change your personal settings and add a profile picture.

* You can set up your own FBA profile or log in to Free Buddhist Audio’s members section using your Facebook account. Join today at http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/community/

Enhanced Search Options

Audio talks and text are now divided into intuitive sections for ease of browsing. In the main menu you’ll find links for “Audio,“(for general audio) “Series,” “Meditation” and “Text.” Under these main categories, talks are broken out by theme, speaker, year given, and so on.

Our new and enhanced search bar allows you to set your preferences for searches. Even better, it will remember your preferences the next time you search! And the search results page provides filters that will further refine your search and make it easier to discover what you’re looking for.

New Audio Interface

On most browsers, our new audio interface for talks allows you to play tracks before you download the full talk.

Similar to what you’d find in the iTunes store, you can now click a specific track to listen to it, or you can click on “Play all” to hear each track in sequence. If it’s what you’re looking for, you can then go and download the whole talk.

Social Connection

Connect to Free Buddhist Audio at your favorite social networking sites! FBA is on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, MySpace, Bebo, and even Second Life! We’re everywhere you are, so link to us for the latest updates and information.

To find us at our many homes online, or sign up for our newsletter, visit http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/community/social.

Easier Donation

Free Buddhist Audio depends on the generous donations of our community to keep providing the Dharma for free. Now it’s even easier to help us do so.

1) When you download or stream a talk, you can make a donation right there – quick and easy!

2) Become one of the 500 – Our “500 Friends” campaign is going strong, but we could use your help! We’re looking for 500 people who are willing to become monthly donors at the £10 / $15 / €15 level. This will help to ensure the future security of our work, and it’s only about the cost of 1/4 cup of coffee per day! You’ll get the continual satisfaction of knowing that you’re part of something greater than all of us, free Dharma talks for everyone.

3) Become a regular donor – Regular monthly donations are the best way to give to FBA. They’re helpful to us in planning our budget and helpful to you in that you don’t even have to think about it. The donation is set up to be charged automatically every month through your credit card or bank. Voila! Did I just give to Free Buddhist Audio? Yes, you did, and thank you!

4) Make a one-time donation – No matter how large or small, every donation is very appreciated and put to good use.

5) Create a fundraising page – Through JustGiving or FirstGiving, you can now create your own page to raise funds for FBA. You can do it as an event and get friends to donate to your cause, or just send out your own appeal and testimonial to let others know about our service.

We hope you enjoy all of the new changes to Free Buddhist Audio, and thank you for your support over the years – without you, our community, this would not have been possible.

Deadline for applications to Triratna Dharma Training Course

The Triratna Dharma Training Course looks set to go ahead. We have enough students to run a course, but there is still space to take more people. This may not be the case for long. Because we will need to plan the accommodation for the students, we may not be able to accept further applications after the end of August.

The course will take place at Madhyamaloka in Birmingham, where students will stay in comfortable dormitory style accommodation, and will run from early to mid January to around the end of June. The course will be for men, preferably young ones, though a serious interest in Dharma training is our main requirement. We aim to offer a thorough grounding in the basics of Triratna Buddhism. It will be taught by some of the most experienced teachers in the Triratna Buddhist Order, and will include a number of retreats with Subhuti. We will concentrate on Sangharakshita’s exposition of the Dharma, as well as looking at the Pali Canon, and other useful developments in Buddhist history.

The course has not been fully costed, but we will aim to keep it below £2000 per person, which would include everything except pocket money. There may be opportunites to earn extra money within the course working with Sanghadeva.

This is a rare opportunity. Circumstances may not allow us to do anything like this for years. Please consider this carefully. If you are interested and want to know more, please contact Vidyaruci – matt.notmatt@yahoo.co.uk

New opportunities in Triratna - check Triratna Jobs

There's a number of new opportunities appearing on Triratna Jobs, sister site to Triratna News.

Spanning the Karuna Trust in London, Vajraloka retreat centre in Wales, and a Brighton team-based right livelihood, there just might be something there for you.  Check it out..

Sangharakshita's news

Vidyaruci, Sangharakshita's secretary, sends Triratna News his diary for the past month. He says -

"The period since the last diary began with Bhante's trip to Ipswich, which he took in the company of Paramartha, and where he stayed with Swadipa and his partner Carol. On the way there he and Paramartha spent some time in Bury St Edmunds, which Bhante had not visited before, where they looked round the cathedral. In the evening they were taken out to dinner by Harshaprabha who then drove them to the mariner and the docks, and round other parts of Ipswich town.

"While in Ipswich Bhante and Paramartha drove around the beautiful Suffolk countryside, visiting the villages and towns of north-east Suffolk looking for traces of Bhante's Lingwood ancestors. They made some interesting discoveries, including the grave of Bhante's great-great-great-great-grandfather and his wife in Brome churchyard. They also spent an hour or so in Folkstone as Bhante wanted to look at the sea, which he had not seen for some years. They visited Ipswich centre, where Bhante blessed the newly finished chapter room, then gave a talk to the local sangha, and answered questions.

"ack at home, Bhante's regular guest slots remain well subscribed. Kalyanaprabha has come a couple of times to talk about her project of editing some correspondence Bhante had with a friend in Bombay, mainly in the 50s and 60s. These letters throw a lot of light on Bhante's life and activities at that time. Vajrasadhu, Karunika, and Mokshapriya, who together constitute the Sangharakshita Land Project development team, visited Bhante in order to tell him of their progress.

"From further afield, and from outside the Movement, came David Cherniack, who has been a Buddhist for forty years, and documentary for only slightly less time. He is making a film about Buddhism's transition to the west, which will be shown on Canadian TV and elsewhere, and is interviewing many Buddhist luminaries for this purpose, including Bhante, who he described as an 'elder statesman of the Dharma'.

"Paramartha went to Poland for a week, and Ashvajit stepped in once more to give Bhante practical help, as well as to read to him from Omens of Millenium by Harold Bloom. I have continued reading to Bhante, and we have now finished The Rainbow Road. He also wanted me to read him the Mahagovinda sutta from the Digha Nikaya, which he finds very interesting for various reasons.

"Audio books that Bhante has enjoyed include The Unknown Coleridge, a selection of some of Coleridge's less known poems together with a connecting commentary by Richard Holmes; A Child of Bliss by Sebastian Faulks, the author's reminiscences of his famous father, the author of the Gormenghast trilogy; and Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy, a collection that includes what is perhaps his best known short story, 'The Withered Arm'. One Bhante's many guests recently brought as a gift a series of four CDs on the life and work of Bach, which he has enjoyed listening to.

"The only health news is that Bhante went to the hospital for a vision check, and met with his consultant, who proposed not to give any more eye injections for the time being, and said he would monitor Bhante's progress over the coming months".