Out of loyalty to his friend Alaya, Aloka has given Padmaloka a portrait of Alaya which Aloka has painted. In recent years Alaya's health has deteriorated considerably and Aloka is keen that we bear Alaya in mind, not least because of the substantial contribution Alaya has made to our tradition.
For those of you who may not know about Alaya's background, Aloka has detailed it below:
After the success of our short Going For Refuge retreat, themed around the great Mahayana Sutra The Vimalakirti Nirdesa and Sangharakshita's profound exposition of it, we're pleased to announce that we are continuing the theme of Mahayana Sutras in our two upcoming short Ordination Training retreat, with the theme of 'Transforming Self and World: Inspirations from the Sutra of Golden Light'.
The dates for the ordination training event in february have now been changed. The retreat will now run from friday the 20th to sunday the 22nd of february.
Originally this was a three day event, but to ensure as many of you could make it as possible, we've decided to hold it as a weekend event instead.
Please contact the Guest Master on info@padmaloka.org.uk if you have questions.
The Ten Pillars retreat being held at the end of february 2015 is filling up fast. If you intend to book on this retreat, please do so soon to ensure you get a place. The Ten Pillars is one of our most popular retreats for men who've asked for ordination and last year was booked up a couple of months early.
Here is a link to the retreat page: https://www.padmaloka.org.uk/retreats/2015/ten-pillars
The new programme for 2015 is here. Retreats are available for booking.
We include on or website each year a link to download a separate calender which we find useful.
Dipankara and Maitreya have arrived.
Over the next while, the whole 'wall' either side of the Shakyamini rupa will be 'adorned'.
Padmasambhava’s realm
thank you for your generous contribution to the development of Padmaloka.
Without your help we would not be able to improve Padmaloka’s facilities.
It’s been another year of upgrading Padmaloka and with yours and others support we will be able to continue this work.
“Mutual helpfulness in leading the spiritual life-
such is the foundation of the Buddha Land” – Sangharakshita.
Why do we need your ongoing financial support?
Lokeshvara writes from Padmaloka, Triratna’s long-established men’s retreat centre in Norfolk UK, with news of - the arrival of their Buddha! This is part of their long-running project to populate every part of the shrineroom with images of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, mostly if not entirely painted and sculpted by Aloka. He says -
Sanghanistha writes from Padmaloka, Triratna’s retreat centre in Norfolk and home of the European men’s ordination training process. They’re planning a one-year intensive - a course of retreats and other events open to men who’ve asked for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order. He says -
As Buddhism establishes itself in the west it will develop it’s own form of iconography just as has happened throughout Buddhist Asia. Padmaloka has a special relationship with Aloka, a Buddhist artist who used to live in the Padmaloka community. Aloka thinks this development of a western Buddhist art will probably take 200 years or more. He is one of the people who is starting this process, drawing on more than 30 years experience as a Buddhist and an artist to produce images that can inspire, challenge and transform us.
