‘…if a man had a spiritual friend it was to be expected that he would develop and cultivate the Perfect Eightfold Path. Thus it could be seen that spiritual friendship is the whole of the holy life. With him for spiritual friend, beings subject to birth are freed from birth; beings subject to ageing are freed from ageing; beings subject to death are freed from death; beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair are freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair. Thus the Buddha was the original spiritual friend.’

Sangharakshita, The Good Friend, the False Friend, and the Spiritual Friend

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In a concise and pithy form, this paper sets out the high ideals and duties of the good friend and goes on to show how the spiritual friend goes beyond even this and enables one to move towards Enlightenment. Come on this weekend to celebrate and delight in Spiritual Friendship, one of Triratna’s distinctive emphases and Bhante’s contributions to the modern Buddhist World. We will also be exploring the Buddha as the ‘original spiritual friend’, and how we could strengthen our sense of him as being so.

There will be a talk by Paramārtha, to whom Bhante dictated the paper, as well as personal talks from a range of Order Members, Puja, Meditation and Ritual.

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Details and Timings

The retreat starts with dinner on the first day at 6:30pm and finishes on the final day at 2:30pm. 

‍Banner and thumbnail image: Triratna Picture Library ©

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The weekend is followed by a week long Padmasambhava Retreat for Dharmacharis.