By invitation only.  This is the post ordination retreat for the Spring 1 & Spring 2 ordinations.  Led by Subhadramati and Vajratara.  Finally we will all meet in person!

Order members only

‘Lotuses usually grow in muddy ponds; but although the plants grow in the mud, the flowers bloom out of the water, so that their petals are pure and unstained.  Because of this, the lotus has become a symbol of purity… it has come to symbolise the presence of the Unconditioned in the midst of the conditioned, the spiritual in the midst of the worldly, unstained by the conditions in which it appears.’ (Sangharakhsita)

Sub35 Online Day Retreat: Why Join An Order? 

Why join an Order? Isn’t enough to simply practice Buddhism without joining anything? Vajratara and Karunadhi from the women’s ordination team along with Dharmacharinis from the young people’s steering group, will communicate a glimpse of the vision of the Order and the potential of spiritual friendship. The Order is more than it appears to be, and to realise that, we must also realise that we are more than we appear to be…

"Spiritual receptivity is of the utmost importance; without it, spiritual progress simply cannot be maintained.  We need to hold ourselves open to the truth as the flower holds itself open to the sun.  This is what spiritual receptivity means: holding ourselves open to the higher spiritual influences that are streaming through the universe, but with which we are not usually in contact, because we usually shut ourselves off from them.

“In the spiritual community, the rigid application of rules is replaced by something far more subtle:  a living network of friendship and communication centred on the highest shared ideals” (Sangharakshita: Living with Kindness)

"These precepts make up a path of practice rather than being a list of fixed rules or rigid prohibitions.  An ethical precept isn't an absolute in the sense of being something you are either observing or not observing.  As long as one is living with the precepts in mind, one's practice could always be worse and always be better.  There is always further to fall, and always further to go.  The precepts are therefore weightier than our limited experience of them allows us to realize...

“It seems to me that we can regard the whole Spiritual Path as consisting of five great Stages” (Sangharakshita: Seminar on Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland)

“The spiritual life is a question not so much of goodness or piety as of skill” (Sangharakshita: Living with Kindness)

On this retreat we’ll look at the five aspects of Sangharakshita’s system of spiritual life - integration, positive emotion, spiritual death, spiritual rebirth and receptivity - and see how they describe a mandala of interconnected experience that we can deepen into more and more.

                 'Of all those things that proceed from a cause, the Tathagata has explained the cause, and also its cessation.  This is the teaching of the great sramana'.

“‘Buddham saranam gacchami! Dhammam saranam gacchami! Sangham saranam gacchami! To the Buddha for refuge I go! To the Dharma for refuge I go! To the Sangha for refuge I go!’  These words from the ancient past reveal to us the origin of an act which lies at the heart of Buddhist life: Going for Refuge. They also tell us something of the tremendous spiritual significance of this act. Going for Refuge represents your positive emotional response – in fact your total response – to the spiritual ideal when that ideal is revealed to your spiritual vision.