After waving goodbye to this years young women’s DharmaLife course (applications for 2025 women’s are already open) we entered into our community At Home days, on which we studied parts of Mind in Harmony and half way though welcomed home Maitriyogini from her ordination retreat!
We’ve had another wonderful collection of volunteers – Annika from the recent DharmaLife course as well as Harry’s sister have regularly been seen in the kitchen. Kerianna has been supporting Sanghadeva in the garden (allowing him to take a well-deserved break in one of the solitary huts) and Joanne has done a sterling job helping Maria. The scaffolding has also come down from around the accommodation blocks (watching the scaffolders dismantle it showed how mindful they were of every movement!), and several members of the community are delightedly checking electricity production throughout the day.
We have also welcomed the new International Course participants – Darsavini and Prajnahridaya from the UK, Dharmaraja and Priyada from Australia, Guhyanaga, Maitreyni, Ojogeeta and Prabodharatna from India, Maitripa who will be heading to Belgium after the course finishes, Muditadevi from Norway, Saddharuci and Silaraja from Mexico, Suddhayu from the USA, Suvarnadhi from New Zealand and Tyagatara from Canada. They will be here for five weeks living, training and practicing together. They are supported by the Dharma Team, International Order Convenors and visiting Order members – the project of weaving the order together in International friendship and resourcing different areas for the future continues…
The grounds are overwhelmingly abundant at the moment, with moorhen chicks on the ponds, the old oak surrounded by a garland of white foxgloves, and the sunken garden so full of flowers that it’s hard to see! All perfect timing for Pilgrims Week and the Sanskrit Summer School, both of which didn’t follow the typical retreat programme and therefore gave people plenty of time to relax and enjoy being outdoors, and created a really wonderful atmosphere on site. We also completed another 108 hours of circumambulation around Sangharakshita’s burial mound and had a fabulous talk from Lokeshvara to celebrate Dharma Day.
Jayadhi spend a decent chunk of this month running Thana Cafe at Buddhafield festival, a project in collaboration with the Alfoxton community, and delighted Bodhiketu with donating a portion of the profits to the fundraising for more environmentally friendly and effective lighting around the burial mound (if you would like to donate, Háganos saber). The rest of the profit will go to supporting Alfoxton. We also had the cycling pilgrims from Croydon here who are raising money for Alfoxton, going from Buddhafield up to John O’Groats; it was lovely to host them for a few days and we wish them all the best with the rest of their journey north!
