Tiratanaloka Retreats 2007
See also
Tiratanaloka Retreats 2008
Our retreats offer an experience of a classic Buddhist context for training, grounded in Kalyana Mitrata and made relevant to contemporary practioners.
The 4 lines of acceptance from our ordination ceremony are the framework for most of our retreats, they cover the essential principles and themes that will give you a thorough training for ordination.
With loyalty to my teachers I accept this ordination
You best imitate your teacher by being yourself. If you deliberately try to copy the externals it means you are unsure of yourself, and unsure, in the end, of your essential nature, which, like your teacher’s, is sunyata.
‘Having a lineage is not just a nice idea. It is a truth, a fact, which can be experienced as a living spiritual reality’.
We connect with our lineage through the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice, a ritual enactment of Going for Refuge in our own lives. Entering the mythical context of the Refuge Tree we discover the confidence that comes from knowing where we stand in relation to Reality. With full teaching of this visualisation practice. These retreats will be based in the shrine room.
16 feb – 25 feb with Candraprabha, Kalyanasri, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila.
21 dec – 4 jan 08 with Candraprabha, Ratnadharini, Sridevi, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila
In harmony with friends and brethren I accept this ordination
This is communication in the context of Going for Refuge: a shared exploration of the spiritual world between people who are in a relationship of complete honesty and harmony.
‘We should consider not so much how our actions stand in relation to one another, as how they stand in relation to reality.’
At ordination we take on to train in the ten Dharmacharini precepts that include the more subtle acts of speech and mind. They are at the centre of our relationship with our preceptor. This essential retreat offers a chance to explore how to live from our deepest values, learning how to use Buddhist confession to bring metta into the ordinary issues of everyday life.
6 – 15 april with Kalyanasri, Vajradarshini, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila.
20 july – 3 aug with Kalyanasri, Maitreyi, Ratnadharini and Vajrasakhi.
For the attainment of enlightenment I accept this ordination
Spiritual insight does not consist in seeing new sights with the old eyes, but in seeing the old sights with new eyes.
This classic retreat is not to be missed. It’s an attempt to grasp the ungraspable through in-depth examination of some of the themes from the first chapter of Bhante’s Survey of Buddhism. With led reflections alongside study this retreat gives an understanding of how these teachings fit together illuminating the essential dharma. A good basic dharma knowledge is necessary.
11 – 20 may for Dharmacharinis with Kalyanasri, Maitreyi, Vajradarshini and Vajrasakhi.
19 jan- 2 feb with Candraprabha, Kalyanasri, Maitreyi, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Ratnadharini.
These Four Mind Turning Reflections are a traditional preliminary practice that establishes the ground for meditation. They are; the preciousness of the human life, the truth of impermanence, the meaning of karma, and the nature of samsara. Like many other so-called preliminary practices their effect is unlimited. They turn our minds towards Going for Refuge and uncover and clarify our deepest motivations for practice.
18-26 aug 07 with Vajradarshini, Vidyalila, Vajrasakhi and Candraprabha.
To understand the dharma deeply is to let it penetrate our whole being. Using the three levels of Prajna as a framework, we will be listening, reflecting and meditating on a number of essential dharma teachings. Using our experience as a starting point we can see how our own intuitions connect with the truth of those teachings giving us confidence that enlightenment is possible.
3 – 17 nov with Kalyanasri, Ratnadharini, Vajradarshini and Vajrasakhi.
For the benefit of all beings I accept this ordination
The activity of emptiness is compassion. One does not feel compassion for beings because they suffer. One simply feels compassion.
This is a significant going for refuge retreat led by Indian Dharmacharinis from the Arya Tara Mahila Trust. They will share some of the insights gained through 25 years of socially engaged Buddhism through which they have created social, health and educational opportunities for some of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in the world. This engagement characterises the practice of TBMSG (FWBO) in India. For more information on their work go to www.indiansisters.org or email
7 – 21 sept with Karunamaya and the Indian Dharmacharinis supported by Sridevi, Candraprabha, Vajrasakhi and Vidyalila.
‘Just as a child plays, spontaneously manifesting energy, in the same way the bodhisattva plays, manifesting the perfections.’
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. This retreat emphasises the sunya aspect of the Bodhisattva ideal and is based on the Ratnagunasamcayagatha and Bhante's commentary from Wisdom Beyond Words.
19 – 28 oct Candraprabha, Maitreyi, Sridevi and Vidyalila.
…I accept this ordination.
Liberation is not so much of the self as from the self. One who conceives the spiritual life as a means of attaining spiritual bliss has not understood. The whole conception of attainment is fundamentally wrong.
… although the act of Going for Refuge is an individual act it is, at the same time, an act that takes place within a wider context… it is because it takes place in this wider context that the act of Going for Refuge is able to reveal itself more fully.
The order is a living process, when any women is ordained the whole order changes and taking our place in this order is itself a practice. On this retreat we’ll uncover the mysterious anatomy of the Order.
17 – 24 march with Candraprabha, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Vidyalila.
3 – 12 aug with Candraprabha, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Vidyalila.
Other Retreats
- FOR WOMEN THAT ARE THINKING OF ASKING TO JOIN THE ORDER
‘In the case of Christianity, the training… is to make the monk more and more obedient. But in Buddhism the aim is to make the monk less and less obedient. The aim of the training is to make her self-dependent.’
Come and spend a week with us and get a fuller understanding of what it means to be part of the Western Buddhist Order and whether it might be the context within which you want to practice.
9 – 16 june with Candraprabha, Sridevi, Vajradarshini and Vajrasakhi.
Tiratanaloka belongs to those of you who come here. For a week in the 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.
There is no charge for this retreat.
28 sept – 5 oct with the commmunity
‘This is the root, this is the foundation, this is the absolute bedrock of our spiritual life: this is how we really start practicing the path – by going for refuge.’
If you come here regularly these weekends are a chance to keep in touch. For those of you who have not been before an opportunity to meet us and get a sense of what we do here. Themes will be created around whatever is exciting us at the time and advertised nearer the time.
30 March – 1 april with Candraprabha, Vajradarshini and Vajrasakhi.
13 – 15 July with Vajrasakhi and Candraprabha.
12 – 14 Oct with Candraprabha, Ratnadharini and Sridevi.
‘There needs to be some element of the dharma, which is not relevant to our spiritual development at all. When it comes to transcending conditioned existence the last thing we need is something useful.’
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. Vajradarshini and Vidyalila will be hosting once again.
4 – 7 may
Hosted by Dharmacharinis from Taraloka, Tiratanaloka and Buddhafield, the largest international gathering of Dharmacharinis and women training for ordination.
Venue and bookings: Taraloka
Fri 25 May – Mon 28 May
| 2007 Retreats |
| Date |
Code |
Retreat Name |
| 19 jan – 2 feb |
E2 |
The Transcendental Principle |
| 16 feb – 26 feb |
L1 |
Lineage of Loyalty |
| 17
mar – 24 mar |
A1 |
The Heart of Ordination |
| 30 mar – 1 april |
GW1 |
Going for Refuge Weekend |
| 6 april – 15 april |
H1 |
Ethics to
Insight |
| 4 may – 7 may |
CW |
Country Weekend |
| 11 may – 20 may |
E3 |
Transcendental Principle for
Dharmacharinis |
| 9
june – 16 june |
N1 |
Why Join this Order? |
| 13 july – 15 july |
GW2 |
Going for Refuge Weekend |
| 20 july – 3 august |
H2 |
Ethics to Insight |
| 3 aug – 12 aug |
A2 |
The Heart of Ordination |
| 18 aug - 26 aug |
E1 |
The Four Mind Turnings |
| 7 sept – 21 sept |
B1 |
Benefiting the World |
| 28
sept – 5 oct |
W1 |
Working together |
| 12 oct – 14 oct |
GW3 |
Going for Refuge Weekend |
| 19 oct – 28 oct |
B2 |
The Greater Mandala |
| 3 nov – 17 nov |
E4 |
Reflections on Reality |
| 21 dec – 4 jan |
L2 |
Lineage of Loyalty |
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