For those of you not on our mailing list (you can sign up from the home page of our website) here's some information about a weekend we're running from 18-20 July for women who've asked for ordination and dharmacharinis. Sridevi and Ratnadharini came up with the idea in a tea shop in Ludlow! (or so the story goes). You can find details of how to book on the website. We'd love to see you there.
A non-rational weekend at Tiratanaloka!
We usually think of the spiritual life as gradual development. However, very early on,
at the first anniversary celebration of the WBO in April 1969 Sangharakshita gave a talk entitled Breaking Through into Buddhahood. He pointed out that to really practise we have to realize that the Dharma is revolutionary, that it has to transform every aspect of our lives.
Bhante said that we have to break through four things especially. They are: negative emotions, psychological conditioning, rational thinking, and time-sense. There has been a lot of emphasis in the movement on the first two but not so much on letting go of our dependence on the rational mind and clock-time. So we thought it would be really interesting and fun to have a weekend exploring these.
We shall do all sorts of crazy things – without ending up in a total chaos! And there will be a strong presence of Vajrapani whom Bhante introduced in his lecture.
“This fearful, or this wrathful, or this terrific form, represents the forces of Enlightenment breaking, even bursting through the thick dense darkness of ignorance and unawareness.”
You can find Bhante’s lecture on www.freebuddhistaudio.com. Listen to it, and come to a fun weekend at Tiratanaloka, very beautiful in late summer. It might just revolutionize your practice!
