Living in the Greater Mandala 2025

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.

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