A Vision of Radical Wholeness: Bhante, Blake and the Imagination

31 Jul – 7 Aug | LED BY Prakasha, Ratnaprabha, Amitajyoti , Paramartha, Sraddhadipa

The Buddha, Bhante, Blake, and the Romantics shared a profound creativity in how they saw the world and how they experienced it. This way of seeing – and being – has the imagination at its heart, a human faculty we can’t simply grasp with our limited, conceptual minds. We need our emotions and somatic intuition to come into play alongside our rational minds. Doing this isn’t easy – but it is possible. And it’s central to our practice on the ‘Blake retreats’, which involve a range of creative practices, including seeing images, hearing talks, reflecting together, meditating, journeying, ritual, artwork, writing, bonfires, and quiet unprogrammed time.

The inspiration that Bhante found in both the Dharma and William Blake wove through his long life, from his teens to his 90s. In his essay Buddhism and William Blake, he gives us a clear perspective on Blake as one of the foremost of the ‘winged spirits’ who can help us to understand and translate Dharmic principles into the language of Western culture. The Triratna Blake Reader contains this essay and a deeper exploration of key themes.

Blake worked at the dawn of the industrial age and was already responding to its effects. He urged us to keep the imagination alive – as a faculty that enables us to see with greater perspective and relate from a more expanded sense of self and world. So, the imagination forms an integral part of our theme for this retreat. During the retreat we will explore some core themes from Bhante’s thinking, identify how he drew inspiration from Blake and the Romantic tradition, and discover how the imagination can offer us a profound sense of wholeness and perspective, as well as resilience and joy, amidst everyday life, adversity, and life’s uncertainties.

Just as the Dharma is ‘caught, not taught’, two-dimensional words on a page can’t fully communicate the experience we’re inviting you to participate in here – but if something touches your heart-mind, imagination, or intuition, why not join us and discover what might be waiting to unfold?

The ninth retreat on the English poet, artist, prophet, and visionary William Blake will take place from Friday 31 July – Friday 7 August 2026, close to the 199th anniversary of his death in 1827. In Bhante’s words, Blake is important to us because he offers us ‘a non-theistic imaginative vision’ and an example of a ‘radical revaluation of Western religion and culture’.

No familiarity with William Blake’s work is required.

This is not an ordination training retreat.