This month, 63 years ago, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, along with hundreds of thousands of his followers, converted to Buddhism. This started a Dhamma Revolution, lifting millions of people out of the hell of the caste system, allowing them to live lives of dignity and meaning, free from discrimination.
During the first weekend of October, from Thursday until Sunday, we held our Autumn Short Order retreat. The retreat was led by Dharmacharis Maitreyabandhu and Jnanavaca from the London Buddhist Centre and the theme was 'Entering Emptiness: Approaches to Spiritual Death and Rebirth'.
During the retreat both Maitreyabandhu and Jnanavaca gave a talk. Those talks are now available for all to listen to on Free Buddhist Audio.
You can find them here:
This is a photo of the Padmaloka Padmasambhava Day shrine.
Padmasambhava is known in Tibet as the second Buddha. He is a semi-historical figure credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet. He did this by transforming the 'demons' that each night tore down the monastery that he had built in the day. For this reason he is associated with transformation, particularly with the transformation of our subconscious 'demons' so that they work for us, rather than against us.
Last month we held our second Ordination Training Weekend of the year. The theme of the weekend was 'Desire for Training'.
During the weekend Padmavajra gave a talk on the Padhana Sutta from the Sutta Nipata, a sutta that focuses on the Buddha's striving.
That talk is now available on Free Buddhist Audio, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/BuddhasStriving
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Image: Line drawing by Aloka©
Here is Paul Klein with his completed Buddha Tile.
Earlier this month, Paul left Padmaloka to go back home to the Cuernavaca Buddhist Centre in Mexico. He has been living here for the past 8 months as a long term working guest. He has been working in the garden along with helping out in the kitchen when needed.
During this time Paul has contributed greatly to Padmaloka. He has worked really hard and the fruits of his efforts were visible in the beautiful flower beds during the summer. He's also been a kind and inspiring presence in the community as a whole.
Thank you to Don Allan from the Glasgow Buddhist Centre for his Buddha Tile photo.
If you'd like to be involved with this project, email info@padmaloka.org.uk to be added to the waiting list for when more tiles become available.
How can we live a satisfying and meaningful life in the face of fear?
Join Prajnahridaya, Satyakirti and a team of young Order members this November for a weekend of meditation, talks, discussion, ritual and friendship.
You can find a video about this retreat here: https://youtu.be/tBlEGo2lXPg
Book your place here: http://bit.ly/sub35s2019
Thank you to Jacqui from the Cambridge Buddhist Centre for her Buddha Tile photo.
If you'd like to be involved in the project. Email info@padmaloka.org.uk to be added to the waiting list for when tiles become available again.
Thanks to Lizzie from the Colchester Buddhist Centre for her Buddha Tile photo.
If you'd like to be added to the waiting list for when tiles become available again, email info@padmaloka.org.uk.
After a pause in posting these photos, I think it's about time to show you all some more.
Here is the newly ordained Dharmachari Devaghosha from the London Buddhist Centre with his Buddha Tile. It's lovely to see him wearing his robe and kesa.
If you'd like to be notified when tiles become available again, email info@padmaloka.org.uk to be added to the waiting list.
