4 – 13 April | led by Vessantara
[You as a] human being are the product of millions upon millions of years of evolution…You don’t have to justify your existence by being useful. You yourself are the justification for your existence. You haven’t come into existence after all these millions of years of evolution just to sit down in front of a typewriter, or to keep accounts… All that you can really be said to be here for is to develop into some higher form of human life – to become a Bodhisattva, to become a Buddha. So don’t be ashamed of sitting around and doing nothing. Glory in it. Do things spontaneously, out of a state of inner satisfaction and achievement.
Sangharakshita
With this retreat Vessantara completes a cycle of three retreats devoted to the Perfection of Wisdom and Sangharakshita’s commentary on it in Wisdom Beyond Words. This time the text is the first 2 chapters of the Ratnagunasamcayagatha (The Collection of Verses on Precious Qualities).
In his commentary Sangharakshita laid out a teaching on the ‘greater mandala of aesthetic appreciation’ or, more provocatively, ‘of complete uselessness’, from which the above quote comes.
This ‘greater mandala’ teaching is a fantastic antidote to many of the ways in which we become driven, pressured and anxious in modern life. It also takes us deep into the mystery of life.
We shall explore the text through teaching, guided meditations and evening devotional practice. The retreat will mainly be in silence. As usual with Vessantara’s retreats the aim is to have a satisfying meditation retreat but with enough teaching input to gain new tools and understandings to take away with you and unpack in your future practice.
Vessantara was ordained in 1974 and was on the seminar with Sangharakshita in which he studied the first two chapters of this text. This is likely to be the only retreat Vessantara will be leading in the UK in 2025.
book:
vessantara
Vessantara has assisted the development of several Buddhist centres, including retreat centres in England, Wales, and Spain and has extensive meditation experience, having gone on a three year retreat. He has written several books, among them ‘Meeting the Buddhas’, as well as some beloved pujas such as the ‘Midnight Star’ puja to Tara.