As the year draws in a number of community members attended a performance of Handel’s Messiah sung by Yashodeva and Danasamudra’s choir. The operations team have also been venturing out – in one of the weekly Team-based Right Livelihood meetings going on a very misty walk up to the top of British Camp.
We’ve been delighted to welcome Jane, a visiting research student, to our community. She has been diligently utilizing the library’s resources for her studies, and we’ve enjoyed having her as a part of our space.
Ratnaghosha has departed now for the next few months – he is off on a long solitary and so we won’t be seeing him again until spring! Sanghadeva has also gone on his usual mid-winter solitary while the gardens are dormant, and the majority of the community are taking a break while the London Buddhist Centre are holding their winter retreat here.
Bodhiketu treated us to an evening learning Devanagri script, in preparation for the handful of community members who will be out in India in January. It was satisfying to be able to interpret (using a handy alphabet cheat sheet) words on signs such as ‘Pune’ and short texts such as the refuges and precepts.
We waved goodbye to the latest DharmaLife course this month, but not before Dhammarati snapped some great photos of them all, as well as for the newer members of the Operations team, you can see the great new photos over on the page for the residential communities.
Aryajaya has been out in Australia this month to spend time with her bothers in his last few days. She returned at the end of the month and will be with us for At Home days before going to India to run the International Order Convention.
Looking ahead, 2025 will mark the start of a year of celebrating Sangharakshita, who were he still alive, would have turned 100. To whet your appetite, have a look at this video from Paramartha.
