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- Updated Timing for the Public Ordinations -

On the 8th of July at 14.30 (BST), not 14.00 as previously stated, seven men will be welcomed into the Triratna Buddhist Order. The public ordinations will be live-streamed from the Padmaloka shrine room and available to be seen on our YouTube channel.

Please follow this link to access the scheduled live stream: https://youtu.be/B4gFXNTb4DI

Image: cropped and edited line drawing by Aloka ©

Summer Great Gathering - Break Out and Batter Down the Door

Currently we have around 100 bookings for the Great Gathering that will take place here at Padmaloka next weekend, and there are still places available. It may be an online gathering, but it certainly will be a great one! Join us in the exploration of the theme of freedom through Sangharakshita’s ecstatic poem ‘I want to break out’.

Please note that bookings will close at midday on Thursday.

This weekend retreat is open for all men who are familiar with the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana, and open to Buddhist ritual.

– The Four Ordination Vows –

- A new series of talks from Padmaloka -

In these talks, four speakers from the Ordination Team at Padmaloka explores the meaning and significance of the four acceptance vows or verses which are taken at the time of ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. Perhaps, through this exploration, we can get a glimpse of the true nature of ordination, the Order, and the Dharma life itself.

To listen to the talks, please follow the links below.

Transcendental Principle Hybrid Retreat - Fully Booked

Both the residential and the online component of the Transcendental Principle hybrid retreat here at Padmaloka is now fully booked.

If you wish to have your name put down on the waiting list, please email the Guest Master at info@padmaloka.org.uk

The retreat takes place between the 21st and 28th of June and is open for men who’ve asked for ordination as well as Dharmacaris. To find more information about the retreat, please follow the links below.

- An invitation to the Summer Great Gathering - Break Out and Batter Down the Door -

Please follow this link to see Padmavajra’s invitation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3YQPMuGkA

With the prospect of full lockdown coming to an end, we are all looking forward to greater freedom of movement. At this time of liberation, perhaps it would also be good to open up to other liberations: liberation from restrictive conditioning, from superficial contacts and from deep ignorance. And liberation into genuine spontaneity, deep friendship and the vastness of Reality.

- An Invitation to The Bodhisattva Ideal Online Retreat –

Please follow this link to see Padmavajra’s invitation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7S02fcmoow

Sangharakshita has likened the Triratna Buddhist Order to, and even identified it with, the eleven-headed and thousand-armed Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion. He says of that identification that it is ‘Not just a manner of speaking, it’s not just a figure of speech. We should take it very seriously, even take it literally’.

- The Lion’s Roar – A New Talk by Padmavajra -

In this talk, Padmavajra tells us why the Buddha's communication of the Dharma is described as the Lion's Roar. He tells us that when the Buddha communicates, we sit up and listen very carefully because the King of Truth has spoken. He also tells us how, following the Buddha, the great Buddhist teachers have always attuned themselves to the aspirations and needs of particular individuals and cultures. Padmavajra brings this into his own times through explaining a teaching he received from his teacher, Bhante Urgyen Sangharakshita: the Six Dharmas of Protection.