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Thank you to David

Here is David, a former long-term working guest at Padmaloka. He recently stayed on for a couple of weeks after attending a retreat to do some more work and connect with old friends in the community.

Knowing that David is skilled in building work, we decided that it would be a good opportunity while he’s here to replace the disabled access ramp that leads into the dining room. The old wooden one was becoming less stable over time and the wire we put on the surface to prevent slipping often had to be replaced.

New Padmaloka Talks Now Available

Last month, we hosted our final Great Gathering of the year. The theme of the weekend was ‘Creating the Land of the Buddha: The Buddha's Social Revolution’.

During the weekend, two talks were given. The first talk, from Vadanya of the Sheffield Buddhist Centre, was called ‘Making the Pure Land’. The second talk, from Padmavajra, was called ‘Inspirations from the Dhamma Revolution’, drawing on the example of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his followers.

More Buddha Tiles On Their Way

We have recently picked up a new batch of blank wooden tiles. Later this month, they will begin to be painted with a whitewash and then stamped with Aloka's line drawing of the Buddha.

Once these tiles are ready, you will be able, for a donation, to order and then paint one. We will then be putting them up onto the walls of the main Shrine Room. Around 70 tiles are already up on the walls, we will soon be posting photos of them so you can see what an effect they have.

Remembering Urgyen Sangharakshita

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the death of Bhante Urgyen Sangharakshita.

Along with many others across the Triratna Buddhist Community, we used this day to remember our teacher; who he was and all that he has given us. It was also a time to reflect upon our experiences of Bhante's death from last year, a strange and magical time in which we felt loss but at the same time having a vivid sense of Bhante's presence.

Winter Retreat 2019/20 Now Fully Booked

This year's Winter Retreat, 'From Breath to Bodhi' led by Satyaraja, is now fully booked.

The retreat will be a two-week intensive meditation retreat exploring Sangharakshita's system of meditation, with its five stages of integration, positive emotion, spiritual death and spiritual rebirth.

If you would like to be added to the waiting list for the retreat, email the Guest Master at info@padmaloka.org.uk

New Talks by Maitreyabandhu and Jnanavaca

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:

Padmasambhava Day

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.