November has been marked by a striking contrast in the weather – one moment a great storm lashes down upon the land of Adhisthana, flooding roads, stopping trains, and making crossing the courtyard feel like an epic scene from an action movie; the next moment the sky is perfectly clear, with radiant sunshine streaming down from brilliant azure blue, the air fresh and crisp, and an ever-so-light coating of frost on the grass.
The month began with the largest gathering of Public Preceptors in Triratna history, with only 4 members of the College absent. They brought a wonderfully warm atmosphere to Adhisthana, with enthusiastic veg chopping, friendship in spades, and peals of laughter ringing about the halls. The communities were invited to have dinner with the College one evening, which was a lovely way for us all to get to know each other. In appreciation for their hard work, members of the communities baked various cakes and sweet treats for the Public Preceptors. At the end of the 10-day meeting, the College gave a hearty thank you to the Operations Team for all their extra effort and support throughout.
During the meeting, Adhisthana hosted ‘a crisis for young people: a vision of the future’, an online event run by the College that aimed to highlight and explore the comparatively low numbers of young people involved in the movement and joining the Order. This is a central question for the ongoing vitality of Triratna, and will hopefully lead to further explorations and efforts to get more young people interested in transforming their lives and the world through the Dharma.
Our final Immersion Retreat of the year, ‘Padmasambhava’s Advice’, had a dramatic start when a violent storm caused travel chaos. Fortunately, most of the residential retreatants made it here despite the adverse weather conditions, and those who couldn’t had the option to attend online. The storm cleared up by the next day, and Viveka, Parami and Dhammarati went on to lead a very rich and impactful retreat.
Max organised a Sangha Day celebration for the Monday class, including a Mitra ceremony for Ross, who has been attending the class for over a year. Khemabandhu held the puja in front of a Three Jewels themed shrine, with particular emphasis on red – the colour of Sangha. It was a joy to witness Ross making this commitment to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Overall the communities have been rather quiet this month, with lots of comings and goings for various solitaries, GFR retreats, a trip to Berlin, and even a holiday in Thailand! Because of this, the Operations Team has been running a bit of a skeleton crew at times, with many of us stepping up to take on unfamiliar roles and more responsibility. As always, the devotion and dedication of the team means that operations at Adhisthana continue to run smoothly whatever challenges arise.
The month closed with ‘An Inconceivable Freedom’, a Sub30 long weekend retreat on the Vimalakirti Nirdesa with some electrifying talks from Vajratara and Nagavajri, as well as profound personal talks from Olivia and Allan, who were on the team. Many of the retreatants were new to Adhisthana and for some it was their first retreat, so the atmosphere became especially vibrant, bubbly and inspiring. The shrine room was filled with parasols (cocktail umbrellas) representing each individual’s ādya-āśaya, their deepest heart-wish, that collectively came together (with a little imagination) to form a great glittering canopy, a reflection of the field of mutual delight – the Buddha Land we aspire to build.
