Triratna Day: a moving reminder of what we are all trying to do together.
My experience of Triratna Day is bound up with the Adhisthana community, with conversations about solitary retreats over lunch, vegan croissants for breakfast in the women’s community, and gathering around big screens to watch and listen.
It is also in Ujjalamati sharing meeting Bhante when she was eight, Danadasa’s soulful evocation of a night in the Adhisthana shrine room after Sangharakshita’s death, and Varadhi’s enthusiasm for her work as Young Person’s co-ordinator for Australia and New Zealand.
The online festival days I have attended throughout the last year have helped me appreciate the beauty of the Triratna network. It spans across time and space, each of us a jewel in Indra’s Net, reflecting each other in practice and friendship.
In 1976 you could fit the entire order in a single room and hear from each about what they were up to. Forty-five years later, our rooms are larger and virtual, but the story is the same. I witnessed individuals living out shared values, amplifying the same message in a myriad of different voices, rippling around the world.
I feel deeply blessed to be living in a place where depth of inspiration is imminently visible in the people I am surrounded by, if I only remember to open my eyes to it. I particularly enjoyed seeing Lizzie, who is usually occupied as Kitchen Manager, take on organising the technical side of the day, and co-ordinate a complex and detailed day with finesse and ease.
Seeing someone grow towards their potential is always deeply pleasurable; it is an infectious inspiration, and that is the flavour I am left with from Triratna Day. A deep harmonious connection, a vast energetic potential, and a recognition that by some miracle, my life is being carried along on a wave of blessings.
Metta, Caroline
1. The Green Stone
Beginning in New Zealand Shraddanitta leads a special, adapted dedication ceremony. Ujjalamati shares her story beginning with meeting Sangharakshita when she was eight, and ending with her recent ordination.
Purna and Saddhanandi introduce us to the green stone, it’s traditional symbolism in Maori culture, and its significance to our teacher. We end with a ritual placing of the Adhisthana green stone, a gift from Bhante, into the hands of the Buddha in the Adhisthana shrine room. Hosted by Ratnavyuha and Saddhanandi.
2. In the Presence of the Buddha
Live from the Adhisthana Shrine room Yashodeva leads a Buddhanusati meditation, a reflection on the Buddha and his qualities.
It includes the use of the Buddha Vandana, a traditional Pali chant/text which evokes and praises the Buddha’s qualities: Such indeed is He, the Richly Endowed, the Free, the Fully and Perfectly Awake, Equipped with Knowledge and Practice, the Happily Attained, Knower of the Worlds, Guide Unsurpassed of Men to Be Tamed, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the
Awakened One Richly Endowed.
3. Triratna: A Living Tradition
We head over to Sydney for the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Sydney Buddhist Centre. Ratnajyoti interviews Dharmamati about his and his friends’ adventure down under.
Keynote speaker Dhammarati presents on the meaning of lineage in our community: our collective project, since the first communication of the Buddha, to liberate beings from suffering.
Hosted by Ratnajyoti and Shubhavyuha.
4. Ritual & Devotion: Words of Our Teacher
From Bhante’s living room, where he met hundreds of people in his time at Adhisthana, Saddhanandi shares Bhante’s strong connection with India.
We hear from Dharmacharinis Tarahridaya and Abhayanavita, Bhante’s last two visitors, two weeks before his death. Join us for a special ritual including circumambulation around the burial mound.
5. Blessings of all the Buddhas
Introduced by Yashodeva and Rochani, Jnanadakini (MEX) and Danadasa (US) share their experiences of internationality, including their time on an intensive international one-month training course at Adhisthana, during which Bhante died.
Parami evokes the Blessings of the Buddhas through internationality and the Bodhisattva ideal.
6. Triratna: What Next?
How do you make the most of what you’ve been given? What role can you play in the future of Triratna? An international panel discussion of young and recently ordained Buddhists – Varadhi (AUS), Ruchiramati (MEX), Moksharati (MEX), Moksadhi (UK) – concluding with a rousing talk from Sanghadeva at Adhisthana. Hosted by Ksantikara.