Tiratanaloka Retreats 2006
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Tiratanaloka Retreats 2007
Starting in 2006, and for the next few years, we will be using the 4 lines of acceptance from our ordination ceremony as a framework for our retreats. In traditional and new ways these retreats cover the essential principles and themes that will give a broad training for ordination.
With loyalty to my teachers I accept this ordination.
“Al Ghazzali says, ‘One of the marks of … perfect loyalty is to be extremely wary of separation and instinctively shy of its causes.’ Sometimes people allow themselves to be separated too easily, just by very little trivial things, by small difficulties, or just by distractions.”
Sat 22 July – Sat 5 Aug
A retreat exploring our lineage, a vast network of teachers through time and space. With a full teaching of the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice we’ll be looking at the relationship between active visualisation practice and the receptivity of just sitting: the play of form and emptiness. This will be a shrine room based retreat with meditation reviews and periods of silence.
with Candraprabha, Sridevi, Vajradarshini, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila
Fri 20 Oct – Sun 29 Oct
Through the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice we will meet Bhante as a doorway to our teachers from all traditions. We come to understand how these teachers, through time, have influenced Bhante’s own ideas and ideals; such as the centrality of going for refuge and the unity of Buddhism. With study meditation and poetry.
with Kalyanasri, Ratnadharini, Sridevi and Vajrasakhi
In harmony with friends and brethren, I accept this ordination.
“… there is a harmony which can be discovered… it's a question of being open to the genuine harmony and wholeness of things rather than trying to impose a very limited and partial harmony and wholeness.”
Fri 24 March – Sun 2 April
Through the Cula Gosingha Sutta we enter the life of the Anuruddhas. They live in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, ‘blending like milk and water’, viewing one another with kindly eyes. How do we bring these qualities to our lives? With metta and mindfulness practice as well as an option of yoga.
with Candraprabha, Kalyanasri, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Vidyalila
Sat 9 Sept – Sat 23 Sept
A deeper look at what it means to practise ethics as a path to insight. Getting to the heart of the ten Dharmacharini precepts, the means for us to live out our deepest values. With talks, study and discussion groups. In the shrine room the focus will be metta and we’ll be evoking the qualities of Vajrasattva. With the option of yoga.
with Kulanandi, Prasadavati, Sridevi, Vajradarshini, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila
For the attainment of enlightenment, I accept this ordination.
“I’d like to make a rather important distinction, a distinction between what I call ‘attainment’, and what I’d like to call ‘acquisition’. Attainment is the result of the gradual extension of our own real being and consciousness, an extension into higher levels and new dimensions. And this in a sense is a natural process..”
Sat 11 Feb – Sat 25 Feb.
This classic retreat is an attempt to grasp the ungraspable through in-depth study of some of the themes from the first chapter of Bhante’s Survey of Buddhism. As well as study and the option of yoga, we’ll connect through the poetry of Nagarjuna and Rumi, poets of emptiness. A touch of reality for the mind, heart and body.
with Candraprabha, Kalyanasri, Ratnadharini, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Vajrasakhi
Fri 12 May – Sun 21 May
An opportunity to reflect on our most significant experiences in the light of the Dharma, giving us confidence that enlightenment is possible. How do we allow wisdom unfold from insights we already have? With so many teachings, symbols and texts, enlightenment means something different for each of us: what does it mean to you? With talks, reflection, meditation and periods of silence.
with Candraprabha, Maitreyi, Vajradarshini, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila
For the benefit of all beings, I accept this ordination.
“I vow to gain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. What could be easier than that? That’s the Bodhisattva Vow: you’ve repeated it, you’ve recited it, you’ve taken it. But there’s not even a scratch on the surface of the mind. Go on repeating it. Say it a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times…”
Fri 9 June – Sun 18 June
Looking at transforming our relationship with the world, from that of grasper and grasped, to a greater enjoyment of living in a mandala of aesthetic appreciation. Based on the Ratnagunasamcayagatha and Bhante's commentary from Wisdom Beyond Words, with talks, puja and ritual helping us to live more fully in this greater mandala.
with Kalyanasri, Maitreyi, Sridevi, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila.
Fri 11 Aug – Fri 25 Aug
‘As long as space abides and as long as the world abides, so long may I abide, destroying the sufferings of the world’ – Santideva. Inspired by the bodhisattva we discover how we too can act from the Great Love in our day-to-day lives. The Bodhisattva Ideal continues to be one of our most uplifting and affecting themes.
with Candraprabha, Kalyanasri, Maitreyi, Ratnadharini, and Paramachitta
Other Retreats
At the turn of the year we reflect on the 4 Mind Turning Reflections.
Start the New Year with a renewed focus.
Thu 28 Dec 2006 - Sat 06 Jan 2007
details nearer the time
NEW
Sun 3 Dec – Sun 10 Dec
Through studying Vasubandhu's Trimsika Karika, a pithy exposition of the Yogacara perspective on Reality, and Joanna Macy’s explorations of the Dharma alongside general systems theory, we can start to look into the area of our own perception: why we see things the way we do and what it might mean to see things the way they are and so start to dismantle our deepest delusions. Led by Ratnadharini and Vajradarshini.
cost £195 / £160
Fri 13 Oct – Fri 20 Oct
“Beauty that is unconventional, irregular, intimate, unpretentious…beauty that lies in the faint traces at the borders of nothingness.” Leonard Koren
Wabi Sabi is a Japanese term for an aesthetic in which the so-called ‘faults’ of existence are its beauty. We see how our world, while veiling reality from us, also shows us reality. With talks, film, meditation and silence we edge closer to the ‘thusness’ of things.
led by Vajradarshini
Sat 15 April – Sat 22 April
Fri 29 Sept – Fri 6 Oct
There is no charge for these two retreats.
Tiratanaloka belongs to those of you who come here. For a week in spring and autumn our community invites you to come, roll your sleeves up, and work with us: gardening, decorating and generally helping to keep our retreat centre abundant and beautiful. We’ll start the day with meditation and in the evenings there will be study and puja.
Weekend retreats
Fri 10 March – Sun 12 March
It will be many years before we really know the significance of Sangharakshita’s life and teaching. This weekend will help us to gain a fuller understanding of Sangharakshita the teacher and a deeper appreciation of Sangharakshita the man.
led by Ratnadharini and Vajradarshini with the community.
cost £80/65
Fri 30 June – Sun 2 July
You may think discipline is a dirty word, you may think it’s about doing what you don’t want to do. True discipline is being able to do what you most want to do. This weekend we’ll look at some of the disciplinarians of the Buddhist tradition to see if they offer a different kind of happiness. With optional yoga.
led by Ratnadharini and Vajradarshini with the community.
cost £80/65
Fri 28 April- Mon 1 May
Fri 25 Aug - Mon 28 Aug
Come alone, with friends, your gfr group, or team. Enjoy silent mornings, use our Dharma library, hang out in deckchairs, walk in the Brecon Beacons… holiday or retreat: an open space to create your own weekend. After the success in 05, Vajradarshini and Vidyalila will be hosting again, continuing to develop their culinary edge with exciting new recipes.
cost £90/75
Fri 26 May – Mon 29 May
Hosted by Dharmacharinis from Taraloka, Tiratanaloka and Buddhafield, the largest international gathering of Dharmacharinis and women training for ordination.
Venue and bookings: Taraloka
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