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.

Retreat Resources

Zoom Information

https://thebuddhistcentre.zoom.us/j/87427605366?pwd=kQVlkVissaZvXmrbBU1fYumUNlsnBu.1

Meeting ID: 874 2760 5366

Passcode: 836799

Retreat Timings

The retreat starts with Session 3 on 4th April. The online element ends with Session 3 on 12th April. Please double-check the timings for your time zone here.

on Saturday 12th, there will be a checkout group at 4pm.

Session	BST/GMT+1 (UK)
1	10:30 – 12:30
2	16:00 – 17:30
3	20:00 – 21:00

Retreat Resources

Ratnagunasamcayagatha tr. Sraddhapa Download

Ratnagunasamcayagatha – Admonition tr. Conze Download

Living in the Greater Mandala Retreatants Download

Longchenpa’s Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of PhenomenaDownload

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Gift Aid

Day 1

Dedication Ceremony

Vessantara welcomes everyone and leads a Dedication Ceremony to start off the retreat. This is then followed by a period of meditation.

Day 2

Conditions for the retreat

Vessantara remembers his time on the seminar where Bhante first spoke of The Greater Mandala of Aesthetic Appreciation. He also gives some suggestions on how best to approach the retreat, by being aware of the stories we tell ourselves.

Open Meditation

Vessantara leads an open period of meditation.

seven-fold Puja

Mokshanadi leads a seven-fold puja, including a reading from the Ratnagunasamcayagatha.

Day 3

Meditation and talk

Talk and meditations

Akshobya MANTRA and meditation

Lead by Mokshanandi, includes readings and akshobhya mantra chanting.

Day 4

Lead meditations

Vessantara answers questions passed to him yesterday, then leads two sessions of meditation.

Lead meditation

Reviewing and picking up from the previous session, Vessantara leads us in a guided meditation.

TECHNICAL ISSUE: we had an issue with the recording that made video and audio out of sync. This will be corrected at a later date. We apologise if this makes it more difficult to connect with.

Ratnasambhava Sadhana

Ratnasambhava led sadhana and meditation with Vessantara.

Day 5

teaching & meditations

Two sessions of teaching and meditation, with responses to retreatants’ questions.

teaching, questions, meditations

Vessantara picks up on his thread from the previous session, leads two meditations, and answers questions from retreatants.

Amitabha Puja

Amitabha puja, led by Mokshanandi.

Day 6

teaching & meditations

Vessantara leads two sessions of mediation, with teaching in between.

The bodhisattva and the five skandhas

Vessantara talks of how we relate to the five skandhas and how the Bodhisattva does not draw security from anything in conditioned existence. He also answers some questions on how we can practice dhyana in a way that doesn’t reinforce the self.

Amoghasiddhi Mantra and MEditation

An evening dedicated to Amoghasiddhi with hearing his mantra and then a meditation.

Day 7

teaching & meditations

Vessantara talks about when the separation between subject and object disappears, vijnana becomes jnana — the five wisdoms, or “timeless awarenesses”, of the five Jinas. He ends his teaching on abiding in aesthetic appreciation, and living more in the greater mandala, even though life is full of “things to be done”.

Questions and meditation

Vessantara responds to some questions and explores what might be holding us back from relaxing and expanding into blue sky.

Meditation and puja

Mokshanandi leads meditation, a puja from the mandala offering practice, and Vairocana mantra chanting.

Day 8

Session 1

Exploring verse seven – using faith to explore the nature of thoughts and concepts, and find a way of relating to them that brings freedom.

Teaching and meditations

Vessantara talks about the issue of maintaining focus, and how that arises through motivation and interest, itself founded on emotional engagement with the meditation.

Puja

Mokshanandi leads a Prajnaparamita puja, with a long reading from the first two chapters of the Ratnagunasamcayagtha.

Day 9

Teaching & meditation

In the final teaching session Vessantara starts talking about the mediation being rather like spiritual community in action — our individual, unique qualities going into the collective — and this being a key takeaway from the Perfection of Wisdom.

Meditation

Unled meditation with Vessantara.

Thank yous and Sevenfold Puja

We hear a heartfelt thanks from Vessantara to all those who helped make the retreat happen followed by a strong rejoicing in Vessantara. The retreat is then finished off with a sevenfold puja.