Surrounded by parched golden fields of scrub stretching for miles around, Adhisthana stands – an oasis of verdant trees, fragrant rose gardens, and cool ponds: a haven for moorhens, dragonflies, hedgehogs, kestrels, and weasels, to name just a few of our local non-human friends.
Through the driest July on record, life goes on at Adhisthana. After a connecting and refreshing ‘At Home Days’, the retreat centre went back into full swing with three exciting events commencing almost simultaneously. The ‘Sanskrit & Pali Summer School’ is a fantastic offering from Sraddhapa for people to come and learn these ancient Indian languages, whether they’re absolute beginners or already have a strong foundation. Then we had ‘International Pilgrims’ Week’, which includes a 108-hour nonstop circumambulation of Bhante’s burial mound, for which people sign up for one-hour slots. ‘Co-Working Week’ was enthusiastically attended by various digital creatives and freelancers, offering a relaxed, warm atmosphere in which to work. And, as if all this weren’t enough, partway through the week, 30+ Mexican Pilgrims arrived, bringing great cheer and friendliness, at one point all cramming into Subhuti’s nearby hermitage, and leaving the Operations Team with an abundance of Mexican candy, and a very generous donation, with which we plan to treat ourselves to an evening at a pizza restaurant.
Our community has temporarily grown, as we welcome seven Dharmacharinis from around the world onto our Dharma Study Training Course – an initiative aimed at upskilling the next generation of Triratna Dharma teachers. We’ve also had a good number of volunteers, including Bertrand and Sergey, who attended last year’s DharmaLife Course, and Gareth, Marie and Dee, all of whom have generously given their time and energy to keep Adhisthana ship-shape.
Our beautiful wild-flower meadows finally got the chop this month, with tractors mowing and baling the hay over the course of a few days, transforming the landscape significantly. Although seemingly destructive, this process will suppress the dominant grass and allow the wildflowers to flourish next spring. We experienced a dramatic “summer drop”, when the Swales Oak dropped an absolutely enormous branch one night. Renate, who was camping at the time, reported that the noise was tremendous. The reasons for this slightly mysterious phenomenon are not well known, but it may be related to the extreme dry conditions we’ve been having.
The Local Sangha had a couple of joyful events in a row this month, with an afternoon tea one Sunday, held as a thank-you for raising £1866 to buy new mats and cushions for the class, which are now in the yoga studio. It was an informal, bring-and-share sort of occasion and a lovely way for the community to meet and get to know the local sangha a bit better. Then, instead of the usual Monday night class, around 80 of us gathered for a Dharma Day talk and puja. This festival day celebrates the Buddha’s Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma, and Manjuvajra gave an inspiring talk exploring how we can engage with this theme in our own lives.
After months of work, the Adhisthana 2027 print programme is at the very brink of being sent off to the printers. With Khemabandhu spearheading the content curation, Dhammarati working many long hours on the design, and Hally coordinating, editing and proofing the rather chunky document (with gratitude to others who helped with proofing), there is not a little relief to see the project coming to fruition. This year, we’ve gone for a more magazine-style publication, with dozens of contributions, and we hope friends of Adhisthana will enjoy reading it.
It’s also a good month for home-grown produce. Kerianna harvested 24 kilos of organic potatoes that she lovingly cultivated, which went into a delicious potato salad. Like a miracle, honey has started pouring out of the walls of the Men’s Community – our resident beehive must be working hard! The Victoria plums are now ripe and ready to eat, and we’re looking forward to the first wave of apples coming in the next month. Let’s also hope that August brings with it some much-needed rain, though if it doesn’t, we’ll rest easy knowing that the rain of the Dharma falls every day here at Adhisthana.
