June update

Sadhu and welcome to all the shiny new dharmacarinis ordained at Akashavana last week. It's lovely working here at Tiratanaloka, as it means we get to know so many women and consequently most of the women who go to Akashavana. It's always exciting when the new names come out and we get to practice pronouncing those less obvious. Hopefully most of them will come on the big mixed Order weekend at Wymondham in August to be introduced to the Order publicly.

We've had a few women express an interest in the Refuge Tree retreat listed in the previous blog, but if you do fancy a smaller and hence more intimate retreat here, then do please consider coming. September is usually a lovely time of year in the Brecon Beacons too, so could be another incentive to come. Dharmacarinis also welcome of course!

We have a What is the Order retreat starting on Friday, with Kulanandi and Vidyagita coming to lead a German group too. After that we have a week of community time when we plan our programme for next year, and have Dhammadinna to stay as our president (and friend). We're planning on having a new roof put on the whole conservatory early in the year and so will probably have a retreat in February and then close until the Easter holidays in April. It's going to be a zinc roof with a couple of skylights as it won't let in so much light, but the aim is to also stop it being like a sauna in the summer or deafening us all when the rain comes down the rest of the time! It's a big undertaking and we're grateful to Gil, our architect, who designed the community end a few years ago. We're also looking into having a ground source heating pump at the moment, as we'd like to be more environmentally friendly, but we have to look at the practicalities too. We'll keep you informed.

Come to our mythic realm!

Once upon a time there was a retreat run at Tiratanaloka called “The Mythic Context”. On this retreat, magical things happened. There was space to explore what it meant to practice at the foot of the refuge tree, engaging strongly with visualization practice and entering a world where the mythic reminded us of our own deepest wishes.
The Tiratanaloka community invites you to once again enter this mythic realm on our retreat “The Refuge Tree” from 17 Sept – 1 Oct 2010.

Why do we think this retreat is important for women who have asked for ordination? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is to do with confidence.

Effective going for refuge could be said to be when our understanding, our emotions and our will are all moving us towards the Three Jewels most of the time. And, for that to happen, we need confidence in the transcendental and in ourselves as Dharma practitioners. And this is an actual experience, not just a nice idea!

Subhuti, talking about the going for refuge and prostration practice, says “One of the strongest effect the Prostration Practice had on me was in giving me a sense of confidence, because in that practice you are representing your place in the scheme of things. You are seeing yourself in relation to what is most valuable in the Universe”. And this was my own experience of doing this practice on this retreat – a strong sense of the sort of sraddha that overcomes confusion and conflict. We may have all sorts of other roles in life – professional and personal – but on this retreat we simply engage with our own experience of being Dharma practitioners together in the biggest possible context.

We’ve suggested that the retreat’s suitable for those who have been to Tiratanaloka at least twice before – so you feel comfortable in the place, have a sense of what joining the Order is about and have an amount of Dharma study behind you. Then simply take it all into the mythic realm and see what happens!


This is likely to be a small retreat. To book a place, please send a £50 deposit to Retreat Bookings, Tiratanaloka, Aber, Talybont-on-Usk, Brecon, Powys LD3 7YS. For more information, email office@tiratanaloka.org or ring 01874 676482.

Spring arrives

The daffodils are starting to die down and the bluebells are arriving. It's great to see spring coming into bloom after such a long and cold winter. Our cherry tree is looking glorious in the back garden, and slowly, slowly the vegetables are growing.

We have had a busy time here recently, with a Transcendental Principle retreat, which is great material to study, but requires time and effort to make the most of it all. The women on retreat really threw themselves into the study, and there was a good atmosphere in the shrine room as we did the Going for Refuge and Prostration practice within a sevenfold puja. Straight afterwards we had a week of community time when we studied together, had a number of meetings (including planning putting a new zinc roof on the conservatory next year) and four of us went to see Seth Lakeman in concert...none of us knew him, but YouTube allowed a preview and we all really enjoyed the evening.

Most everyone has been away recently, with Ratnadharini still on sabbatical, Candraprabha in Ireland with her mum who is unwell, and the rest of us dotted around the country. Vajrasakhi and Amritamati led a day at the LBC on Letting Go Into Beauty, which was attended by 44 women. They really enjoyed being at their old centre and linking up with women there. It's nice to come to the centres sometimes and see you all in a different context. Maitreyi went on an ordination retreat at Rivendell where she privately ordained one woman and publicly ordained another at the Brighton Buddhist Centre. She, Ratnadharini and Sridevi will be off to Akashavana later this month to ordain women there.

There haven't been any more sheep rescues as Harry, our much appreciated handyman, put chicken wire along the fences, so none of them could get their heads stuck again. Better for them, but it was quite nice to get up close and personal with them, rather than them running off or turning their backs and urinating in our direction! The lambs are growing and so will probably vanish soon. This is the time when the idyllic nature of living in the country is sorely tested. The sheep make so much noise when their lambs go. It's quite distressing.

The retreats are booking up well for the rest of the year. However, there are quite a few places still available for the Refuge Tree retreat from 17th September to 1st October. It used to be called the Lineage of Loyalty retreat if you're wondering which retreat it is. Book through the office if you'd like to come. More information is on the website.

March update

Things are very quiet at the moment with only two of us here today. Ratnadharini headed off this morning on her 3 month sabbatical, most of which she plans to spend in Scotland, whilst others are scattered about the country. Most of us will be joining forces again on the National Order weekend at Padmaloka. It's great using their lovely shrine room, and the added flourish of flowers in the urinals is always appreciated!

The lambs are gradually arriving in the surrounding fields, and we've been having to do a fair bit of sheep rescues recently, mainly as they get their heads stuck in the wire fence (Sridevi even endured a 'war wound' as her sheep rather excitedly sprung free, throwing her into a hedge and giving her a black eye), but also getting entangled in barbed wire and a tree root...that one ended up with quite a haircut in order to free her. On the last morning of the Going for Refuge retreat most of us meditated whilst half the team valiantly rounded up about 30 sheep who'd appeared in the garden! You learn lots of new skills here! One retreatant asked if you need to learn to gather sheep in order to be ordained...the answer is yes! OK, so it's not really, but it helps!

We've just had a woodburning stove fitted in the community lounge, which was bought with retreat dana collected over time. It should prevent so much heat vanishing up the chimney and keep us snug in the winter (well, often the summer in Wales too!). We had a slight hiccup earlier today as it set off the fire alarm, but as I write this all seems well. We really do appreciate the dana that you so often generously give us when you come on retreat. It helps keep this place in good condition for those of us living here, and whoever comes next...which will one day be some of you.

It snowed!!

OK, so I spoke too soon and as you can see the snow, all 6 inches of it, did hit us! Stunningly beautiful as it glistens in the bright sunlight, but somewhat treacherous underfoot. Our food delivery van couldn't make it over the canal bridge and so left our supplies at the local shop in Talybont, thanks to the kindness of Laura, the owner. She later rang us, concerned that our veggie bangers were in danger of defrosting with no room in her freezer, so Vidyalila and myself donned our wellie boots and rucksacks and set out over the fields to rescue them.

Today the post-ordination retreat is due to start and it feels a little like a military operation in the office with a white board marking everyone's plan of arrival, with mobile numbers at the ready. Three women have sadly had to cancel at the last minute due to the difficulties travelling, but we're hoping the remaining women will make it. The postman is getting through and is our information system for the local roads...very icy he tells us this morning, despite being gritted yesterday.

We're really appreciating living somewhere so beautiful, even if we're unable to get out and about much!

Wales in winter

It is so beautiful here at the moment, with dazzling white hill tops and the reservoir partially iced over. We've been spared the snow that much of the country has been seeing recently, and the plans to dig out the toboggans had to be shelved for now, but what we do have is lending itself to some stunning views.

We've just finished a Bodhisattva Ideal retreat, and now Vajrasakhi is on her way to the Chairmen's event at Dhanakosa (if she makes it all the way there!), Candraprabha is driving carefully to Colchester and the rest of us are busy catching up on things here. Sridevi has just returned from Finland where it really had snow!

Next week we begin a two week period of community time when we'll all be here. Hopefully Dhammadinna will join us for some of that time and we'll do some study with her, but we'll have to wait and see if she makes it. The snow is proving a good lesson in letting go of expectations!

Year ending

The year is drawing to a close and many of you have already booked for a retreat here next year, which is great. There are still a few places available on the Bodhisattva Ideal retreat starting 19th December until 2nd January if you're starting to feel that you'd like to mark Christmas and the New Year exploring such an inspiring theme with friends in the sangha, surrounded by the beauty of Tiratanaloka. Just e-mail us at the office if you're interested.

We've had a busy time here recently, with the College of Public Preceptors holding their meeting here for 10 days, which we supported by cooking as a community, whilst Maitreyi and Ratnadharini attended the meeting. During that time we also spend time as a community, tuning in together, being led through 2 days of reflection by Ratnaguna, and then sharing our life stories in 15 minutes each, which were enjoyed by all. It's amazing how much you can say about your life in such a short time, and we felt we could understand things about each other more as a result. It's been interesting following areas up with each other too.

We've all just been at Padmaloka for the National Order Weekend, which was on the theme of giving the Dharma. It was a very good weekend, with 102 Dharmacharinis there at it's peak, including a number of new OMs who introduced themselves to us all. That is always a very lovely part of the weekend. It feels very special to be able to sit and practice in the beautiful shrine room there surrounded by so many other women practitioners. You understand why Bhante emphasises the importance of collective practice and gathering in large numbers.

Last night we drove through the rain (nothing unusual in that!) to see 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' on the big screen for Brecon's monthly film club night. If you haven't seen it it's an old black and white film where Alec Guinness plays 8 parts. Very funny...and Sridevi and I spotted a Kuanyin statue in the background of one scene!

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in 2010. Enjoy the festive period whatever you are doing!

August update

Well, it seems summer came and went quite quickly, but how lush and green are the hills and valleys. Beautiful, if damp!

Most of the community are here at present, with only Maitreyi away caring for her mum. Amritamati is off on an intensive meditation retreat soon (up at 4am everyday!) and everyone else is on the Transcendental Principle retreat, which includes a Spanish speaking group. It's always great having groups from Europe coming together and so far we've had groups from Spain, Germany and France. It also can add a different dimension to the pujas and it's lovely to hear the Heart Sutra spoken in another language.

Talking of people from abroad...we have an extra GfR weekend coming up on 4-6 September, led by Maitreyi, Karunamaya and Tarahridaya. Tarahridaya is an dharmacharini from India and Karunamaya has been living and working there with TBMSG for many years. It is quite late notice for this weekend we realise, but it's not been easy negotiating via e-mail and phone to India, so we really hope we see a good crowd of you here that weekend. It's not often we get the chance to spend time with one of our dharma sisters from India, so do make the most of the opportunity if you can. E-mail or call the office if you'd like to come. It's called 'What is Enlightenment for?'...a good question!

Enjoy what's left of the summer.

July update

We've been enjoying the summer sunshine and less rain than Wales often seems to offer. It's been lovely, although does appear to have caused the spinach to bolt early! A small price to pay. The garden is looking beautiful, helped by the hard work of those on the working retreat and again the recent Nature of Existence retreat and a work morning. We really appreciate all the effort the women on retreat put in to keeping this place so lovely.

The Nature of Existence retreat seemed to be enjoyed by all. It was the first time we have run this retreat here and it was good to look at the material afresh with the women who came. Over the next few days the community are meeting to decide on next years programme and which retreats we'll run again. It's always a very full few days.

Everyone is here at present, with Kalyanasri and Amritamati glued to as much Wimbledon as possible (both Federer fans!); Ratnadharini collecting palettes with a view to building new compost bins and Maitreyi, Kalyanasri and Vajrasakhi preparing for the Order study retreat. Candraprabha and Amritamati had a day out in Ikea recently...it was meant to be a day out in Cardiff but Ikea is like a vortex and sucks you in! Hopefully you'll notice the nice glasses and new salad bowls when you're on retreat! Sridevi has recently been back to Finland for a visit and Vidyalila is in the current edition of Urthona being interviewed about her painting.

That's it for now. Enjoy the summer sun.

Quick April Update

April already! Here's a bit about what we've been doing in the last few months:
Ratnadharini, Vajrasakhi, Sridevi, Kalyanasri and Sridevi went to the International convention in Bodhgaya in February - a fantastic experience. Maitreyi and Amritamati have both been on solitary retreats. Vidyalila has been in the heat in Australia. We ran a retreat in March on 'The Heart of Ordination' along with Vajratara - thoroughly enjoyed by all the team. The leylandii are now down - watch this space for photographs. We've now got quite an bit more garden! Amritamati's been preparing the veg patch and Candraprabha's been ordering obscure (to Wales!) varieties of seed potato. The Bodhisattva Ideal retreat is currently underway in the April sunshine.
If you're planning to come to Tiratanaloka later this year, then do think about booking now as quite a number of our retreats have only a few places left. If you'd like to come in May, we've got places left on our work and meditation retreats, which you can do individually (as a one week retreat) or together as a 2-week retreat.
That's the April summary! Look our for some pictures soon.

'At Home' at Tiratanaloka

We've just come to the end of two weeks of the community being 'at home', which has been really enjoyable. We decorated the hallways in the community,which took four days of full-on work. Anaglypta is a challenge to paint to say the least, but it is looking so good! If you've ever noticed the germoline pink ceilings in the hallways then you'll appreciate our delight in saying goodbye to some of it! It was a fun way to spend time together and great to see such a change in the environment.
We also had meetings, meditation days and studied with Dhammadinna, our president. And we've watched some good films some evenings! It's not that often we all manage to be here together, so it's been lovely just spending time together and experiencing the easy harmony that can be community living.
Some of us are now planning our first two week retreat of 2009 on the Heart of Ordination. It's a really interesting topic to look at and a great way to gain a clearer understanding of what it means to join the Order. There are still some places available if you'd like to come. There will be 6 of us on the team, including Vajratara, so it's also a good opportunity to meet more of us, and for us to get to know you.
Candraprabha and I (and possibly Vidyalila) are taking on to do a 10km run in Bristol in May and so training is underway. Vajrasakhi and Ratnadharini have just learned how to use a chainsaw (safely) and are having fun with that. And we're all waiting in expectation for the removal of the leylandii by the vegetable plot. They have grown too large and unmanagable and so after a very long time of discussing it they are finally due to come down next week. You'll probably notice it straightaway, but a beech hedge is being planted, although it will be some years before it really looks like a substantial hedge, but it'll be a good lesson in patience.
A happy new year to you all and we hope to see many of you up here throughout the year.

Give someone a retreat!

The festive season approaches and everyone's in present-giving mode. If you know someone who's asked for ordination and you want to give them a gift, why not buy them a Tiratanaloka gift voucher? We can make them out for any amount and they can be used against any of our 2009 retreats! Just ring or email the office and let us know what value of voucher you want and where you'd like it to be sent. We can add a gift message if you'd like it to be sent directly to the recipient.

Working together

We've just finished our annual work retreat and this year 10 women came to work, meditate and study together for a week with members of the Tiratanaloka community. We were decorating in the retreat centre and working in the garden - loads got done! Here are some pictures of the fruits of our efforts. We had fun too (and lots of biscuits - thanks to Vajrasakhi). Next year we'll be running another work retreat followed immediately by a week focussing on meditation - you can come on either or both.





One of our offerings at the end of the retreat was Rachel's poem below:-

The Lakshanas of Room 4

Sweet satisfaction
Of peeling paper
All things are impermanent
We say as if in apology

Peeling paint!
We nervously peer through the door
The imperfections become our friends
What truths can these walls teach us?

Nearly done!
Just doors and skirting to go
Paint lumps you are insubstantial
And yet you refuse to budge

Running for it

I'm just coming up to the last few days before my first half marathon - the Great North Run on October 5th. Unfortunately I've had a cold over the last week so haven't done much last-minute training but I'm hoping to pull a few extra miles out of the bag on the day. I'm also hoping to raise some money for the bursary fund here at Tiratanaloka, which is used to give financial help to women to come here on retreat. If you'd like to sponsor me you can do so online here. If you've already sponsored me then a big thanks - it's the thought of that money that has stopped me backing out a few times!!! I'll let you know how it goes.
It's wet and windy today so I get a chance to wear my new showerproof, windproof running top at last!
Candraprabha

A goodbye

On 17th September we very sadly waved goodbye to Vajradarshini, who has left Tiratanaloka after almost 6 years to live in Spain with Padmadharini.  During her last week we had an outing to the circus (preceded by a darts match in which she pulled off an astounding finishing throw) and an evening of charades which included items being acted out by a small kangaroo.  Life is certainly varied and fascinating!!  The good news is that Vajradarshini will be running retreats at various venues over the next year - you can see what she's up to on her website.  We'll miss her.

Amritamati joins the team!

The newest member of our team, Amritamati, arrived in June and has been on retreat almost constantly since then! You'll be able to find out more about her on our website soon, but in the meantime, here's what she has to say about her move to Tiratanaloka so far:-

"I joined the team here at the beginning of June, having left my job as a mental health nurse for older adults a few weeks earlier. I’ve lived in London since 1986 (on and off) and so it’s been quite a move coming to the countryside of Wales, the rain, the sheep and the relative quiet. ..I say ‘relative’ as there is the constant sound of the river, the birds, the rain (much of the time) and the occasional RAF jet zooming down the valley. So far I love it.

Vajradarshini will be leaving in a couple of weeks and I will replacing her...at least her spot on the team. I think her Wabi Sabi vibrant energy will not be easily replaced. So, I’m in a period of being ‘trained up’, being in groups with various members of the team and learning the ropes, from the material we study to driving the lawnmower, from ordering food to tackling the computer. I’ve dived in with two Transcendental Principle retreats and the Reflections on Reality retreat too. The retreats have been very enjoyable and I find myself often thinking how blessed I am to be living here. It’s a full-on way to live, but I couldn’t wish to be doing anything other at the moment. It’s been great meeting the women who come here too and I look forward to getting to know more of you over the years."

Just Giving

Just a short post to let you know that if you'd like to donate to our bursary fund, you can now do so online via the Just Giving website by clicking here. This is great for one-off donations as Just Giving can also reclaim the gift aid for us (for a small charge) if you are a UK taxpayer.
Recently, a mitra from South Africa came to the UK just to attend one of our retreats and it was great to be able to give her some help to do this. She's hoping to come back next year and we're hoping we can again offer some financial aid. The centre in Johannesburg is the FWBO centre that is farthest from any other centre!

To show we're serious (!) about raising money, Candraprabha's going to be taking part (note, the cautious wording!!) in the Great North Run (a half marathon) in October and is hoping to raise some money through sponsorship. If you want to go through every aching mile of training with her, you can see what's happening on her blog.

Let go in July!

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!

Our new handbook

Just a quick post before I go on solitary to say that the first version of our new Tiratanaloka handbook is now available to view or download from the website.
You can access it by clicking on the 'our handbook' link on the left hand side of our home page at www.tiratanaloka.org.uk.

The handbook aims to answer some of the many questions women have about asking and training for ordination into Western Buddhist Order and outlines the part that Tiratanaloka plays in all of that.

We'd welcome any feedback on the handbook so do email us at office@tiratanaloka.org.uk if you have something to say about it or leave a comment on this blog posting! In time, we hope to produce a printed version to send out too.

What's happening with the bursary fund? by Vajrasakhi

About the bursary
The Bursary at Tiratanaloka has been undergoing some rethinking over the last year or so, and we are pleased to report that it is now looking quite healthy! We want it to become a resource that will directly benefit the order and help spread the dharma to more and more countries and people.

A brief history of the Tiratanaloka Bursary
Two separate funds had been started in response to specific needs; the first for a woman from Estonia, who was having difficulty paying for retreats and travel. Later a general fund was set up for women from overseas, this was often used for women from countries like Mexico with poor exchange rates, for whom retreat and travel costs here were very high. We decided to amalgamate the two in 2007, and extend the remit so the money could be used by women in this country as well as abroad.
This year we intend to move all our income from standing orders (about £2,400 a year) to support the Bursary.

How do we decide who to give the money to?
When we get a request for help from the Bursary we usually ask about the financial circumstances and suggest alternative ways of paying for retreats. Retreats can be paid for in instalments, and some women can fund raise around their centre. If it is not possible to do this and there is a genuine case of financial hardship we ask how much of the cost can be covered, and give Bursary money to fund the rest if we have it.
We also suggest that someone who has received help from the Bursary could think about ways of publicising it or raising money for it in the future.
We do not attempt to prioritise the different financial situations women are in, but do keep in mind our sisters from poorer countries for whom the exchange rate and travel costs can be an big obstacle.

Facts and figures
We gave a total of £1,680 during 2007. This is £947 more than in 2006, and enabled us to help 11 women come on retreat here, who would not have been able to otherwise. Our funds presently stand at £1,500.
Some people are giving standing orders to the Bursary fund: even as little as £2 a month adds up. Others give a bit extra when they book on a retreat themselves. We can sometimes claim Gift Aid back from the government for these donations, increasing their value by more than a quarter.

Interconnectedness
What I like about this is that it is a step towards a true Dana economy, and a recognition of the significance of Tiratanaloka as a resource for the women's wing of the FWBO.
The team here support ourselves on £45 a week and with retreat and health allowances this adds up to a maximum total of £3,740 a year each. We manage to keep food costs at around £3 a day per person, and do our best to keep other costs low, so that we can run retreats here as cheaply as possible.
We are a self contained charity: FWBO Sarana; and like all the other FWBO charities we have no central funding body on whom we call for financial help.
If people can give money to our Bursary we get more women on retreat here, we help women from abroad, from outlying situations with no sangha, women who are younger or have dependants to support; and in the end these women will be joining this precious Order and helping to spread the Buddha Dharma. It's a win win situation!

Donations
Please see our web page on Bursary donations at www.tiratanalok.org.uk, or contact: office@tiratanaloka.org.uk. Snail mail: Aberclydach House, Talybont-on-Usk, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7YS. Tel: 01874 676482.