preceptors' college

A meeting of the College of Public Preceptors

2011-01-13T12:29:00.000+00:00

from Moksananda

A little later than normal, here is a brief report on the last meeting of the College of Public Preceptors. We met in November at Madhayamaloka.

Subhuti was with us for the first few days and shared his thoughts coming out of recent conversations he has had with Bhante on the Imagination. We covered similar material to his talks in Cambridge and at the LBC, and which he has written up in his paper ‘Imagining the Buddha’. Amongst other things we spent some time exploring the implications for Sadhana practice, which is something that Subhuti particularly draws out.

We also spent some time discussing meditation, especially with regard to the ordination process. In the Order we now seem to be arriving at a renewed understanding of meditation and we would like to build on that in communication with others.

We spent time simply identifying areas of meditation we think need more discussion or clarification and how we could proceed. We want to make sure that meditation continues to go hand-in-hand with the teaching of the Dharma at Centres, and not become divorced from ethics and wisdom. We’re suggesting that a working group on meditation come out of the planned International meeting. We would like Order members representing the three strands of the Order, the Movement and the College to come together to look at coordination in meditation and to talk through the issues.

We are also keen to continue to work with private preceptors, not only in the area of clarifying meditation but also with regards ordination and post-ordination training generally. Private preceptors are in important kalyanamitrata relationships with Order members and their role is essential to the spiritual dynamism of our community. We have a number of training retreats planned for private preceptors next year, and would like to have a large retreat with public and private preceptors in 2012.

We also talked about the ordination process in India. The men and women’s process there are seriously under-resourced in terms of preceptors and it seems essential that consultation processes for new preceptors, especially public, are started. We agreed to do so, at the same time aware that there are different points of view in India about what is needed for the ordination process to develop. We see consultation regarding new preceptors as a means of also discussing and clarifying such issues.

Another area to which we gave some time was the area of sexual ethics within kalyanamitra relationships in our community, including the whole range of such relationships: preceptor/preceptee, retreat leaders, class leaders. We recognised that this is a complex and sensitive issue and one that needs further thought and discussion.

A number of further points were on our agenda, which we gave more or less time to. These included changes to FWBO Central, which holds central assets of the movement such as Madhyamaloka. There is a plan for a change in the structure of FWBO Central ensuring that the College is legally responsible for the assets it is morally responsible for.

College funding was also on the agenda, and we decided to partially support a professional fund-raiser, who will also be working for the European Chairs’ Assembly. We also had an update on the Sangharakshita land project, discussed 7-year reviews (with a number of us coming up for review in 2011/12), and looked at our policy on Order names and concerns that the scholars have raised about ensuring their grammatical correctness.

We also, of course, had time together in our kulas. The kulas decide on ordinations, on private preceptor consultation and reviews, and gives a smaller context for each of us to share our work and concerns. There are 5 kulas at present. Men and women in the ordination process, and Order members themselves, may not be aware of which public preceptors are working together in this way, so I thought it might be useful to list the kulas:

- India: Chandrasil, Suvajra, Karunamaya, Srimala and Subhuti

- two men’s Kulas: Manjuvajra, Padmavajra, Satyaraja, Saddhaloka, Surata and Moksananda in one, and Dhammarati, Sona, Nagabodhi, Buddhadasa, Mahamati, Kamalasila in the other.

- a women’s kula: Dhammadinna, Dayanandi, Parami, Maitreyi, Ratnadharini, Sanghadevi, Padmasuri, Mallika, Vajragita

- a South pacific women’s kula: Varadevi, Dharmanandi, Megha, Ratnadharini, Parami and Sanghadevi.

Some public preceptors may be in more than one Kula if they have overlapping responsibilities.

Our next meeting will be in March 2011 at Padmaloka.

A report on the recent meeting of the College of Public Preceptors

2010-04-19T09:20:00.008+00:00

From Moksananda

Werner Herzog is reported to have once said that documentaries are as close to the truth as glaciers are to flatulence. The point being I guess that documentaries just cannot do justice to the subtlety and complexity of things. In the case of glaciers neither the awe they inspire nor their beauty can be captured.

Likewise, perhaps a report of a meeting of Order members can never really communicate what that meeting was like. Even a good report is inevitably flat and two-dimensional. A meeting of Dharmafarers exists in many dimensions, on many levels, and manifests the play of friendships that may go back a whole life-time. Certainly that is true of the recent public preceptors’ meeting.

I'd never been to Taraloka before. For some reason I wasn't expecting it to be quite so lovely. I guess I just imagined a place on the edge of a peat-bog being somewhat flat and uninteresting. But no, it's lovely. The retreat centre is really well done, light and spacious, well looked after, and the community just seem to brim with delight in it's smooth-running. And even after a week I was still finding corners of the place I hadn't noticed before.

And the birds. I loved getting up in the mornings and being outside just listening to their song! Maybe it's like that all over Britain this time of the year. After more than 20 years in Spain I don't remember. I suspect it is. What a delight! I felt happy before even getting into the shrine room, which itself was another delight. Being in it felt like a kind of blessing. Really. Light pours in through the large windows and there is such a stillness. I'm sure some of what I experienced had to do with being there with friends in the Dharma, but I'm equally sure it had something to do with the place itself and the many women who have sat there in meditation over the years.

After meditation, breakfast: my favourite meal on retreats. What is it about meditating with friends and then sharing coffee, porridge and toast? So simple, so satisfying, so normal.

We began our morning meetings at about 10 o'clock, coming together to sort out any practical details before getting on with whatever it was we were going to be doing. There were about 20 of us and during our 11 days together we spent time studying with Subhuti – his reflections on various suttas and things coming out of his recent conversations about the Dharma with Bhante – kula meetings, a report on the ordination process in India, discussion about structures for co-ordinating decision making (in the order, movement and college) and a number of other points such as college funding, mitra study, reviews of preceptors, the land project…

India:

The India Public Preceptors Kula discussed the consultation process for new preceptors with us and Subhuti talked about responses in India to Bhante's recent conversation regarding his personal life. We also heard a little about the effects of Karuna deciding to withdraw funding from the ordination teams in India. Karuna still supports the teams to some extent, but from 1st April their support has been cut by 25%, and it will be completely gone in a years time. The India Dhamma Trust has recently been launched with the aim of supporting the teams that work with Karunamaya and Suvajra, and to expand the women's team. This is important because these people do a lot of Dharma work, and provide many of the retreats in India. They are a crucial part of our Order and Movement there and if we are not able to find financial support for them it's going to have a big effect on things.

A structure for the Order and movement:

We spent some time discussing some of the principles for making communication and decision-making within the Order and movement more effective.

It's a complex issue, as we all know. We started by seeing that there is a lot already in place within the three strands of the Order, the Movement and the College. We have such things as the European and international chairs meeting, the centre presidents, the mitra convenors' meetings, the order convenors and chapters, the preceptors' college and the private preceptor gatherings. It's important that each of these three strands work effectively in each of the regions, and that there is good liaison between them. At present we have very little structure that allows the different strands to 'talk to each other' and in a way that balances on the one hand the views of all Order members, mitras and friends, and on the other, spiritual and organisational experience. We need to balance the horizontal and vertical, autonomy and coordination.

We talked about all this at some length in the college meeting, and we're very keen for Dhammarati, as chair of the college, to continue discussion with others in the Order and movement. In fact, we think it's pretty essential. Dhammarati plans a number of meetings with other bodies in the movement and we hope we can steadily move towards a clear structure with broad consent.

Funding:

Moksananda presented a report. We need to find a more effective and long-term means of finding funding for the work of the College. Though we are very generously supported by a number of the men and women who have asked for ordination, and a few Order members, we simply are not getting enough financial support to meet basic running costs. The funding of the college is somewhat precarious and we would like to find a more sustained and on-going source of financial support for our work. It seems to me important for the Order and movement that the college does get the support it needs to be able to work effectively. There’s more information about college funding on our web page and links if anyone is able to donate via standing-order. And there's a button to our JustGiving page here on our blog, for one-off donations.

We also discussed, amongst other things, mitra study (and the need to perhaps strengthen some elements in the course), the land project (the visions behind it and how it's going), the changing of the name of the Order and movement to Triratna, young people and how we can encourage them in the ordination process, and preceptor reviews. We also returned to look at the theme of Order members going to Dharma teachers outside of the Order, and in the light of Bhante’s message of last year.

During our time together we celebrated Dhammadina's birthday, we had Ratnasuri with us for dinner one evening, we marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Dhardo Rimpoche, and Chandrasil from India shared his life story.

And some of us watched 'Encounters at the End of the World' by Werner Herzog. The documentary is about people who spend half the year living in the Antarctic, mainly eccentric scientists and travellers who like to discuss such things as the beginnings of evolution or cosmic energies that permeate all things. A pretty wacky, but somehow very inspired and positive bunch of men and women. In some ways, not unlike a few of the public preceptors I thought…

Personally, the meeting was very enjoyable and I think beneficial. It was good to be back with my kula and catch up on where we're all at. I really appreciated Subhuti sharing his understanding of the Dharma so fully and hope that he has the opportunity to share some of what has come out of his conversations with Bhante as widely as possible. I think of lot of people would find it very helpful. I also loved seeing more of Suvajra. And if any of you want to see some photos of our meeting, then Suvajra has posted quite a few here on Facebook.

'A report on the recent meeting of the College of Public Preceptors' sounds so prosaic, doesn't it? Couldn't I be allowed to call them 'Dispatches from the Edge of the World', or 'Glimmers of a Glacier'?

Or maybe just this once, ‘Birdcall from the Realm of Tara’?

A trip to Mexico

2010-02-03T11:45:00.006+00:00

from Moksananda

Just back from Mexico after a 10-day visit.

The trip out was, as always, pretty horrible. I don't like being stuck in an aeroplane for more than 11 hours, not least after having first travelled from Valencia to Madrid. And I don't tend to sleep on long flights. The flight from Madrid was also delayed, so I finally arrived at the Buddhist Centre in Mexico about 1 a.m. Mexico time, or 8 a.m. Spanish time.

But hey, I do like Mexico. And particularly connecting up with our Sangha there. I've been visiting for some 12 or 13 years now. Participating in the Order and movement there is an important part of my life. I've ordained many of the Dharmacharis, privately, publically or both, and am president to one of our two Buddhist Centres, el Centro Budista de la Ciudad de México, which is in the area of Mexico known as La Roma. This is run by Upekshamati, who is the chairman and who started Order activities in Mexico, and by Virasiddhi, Dayachandra, Padmabandhu and Abhayagita. There is also another centre of the movement in Mexico City, BudaMandala, run by Jñanadakini, Saddhajyoti, Akasavajri, Rocani and Kavindu. This is in Coyoacan, for anyone who knows Mexico.

Some 5,500 miles away from Europe and 2,000 miles from the nearest other centre run by order members (San Francisco), the FWBO in Mexico is relatively small. There are 13 order members living there, all of them Mexican, and well over 100 mitras, about 30 of whom have asked for ordination. I don't think any of the order members there would mind me saying that there have been some tensions between some of them over the last couple of years. It's not easy building a Sangha from scratch, a long way from other order members etc and in a very different culture from anywhere else in our movement. And especially so perhaps during a period when our community as a whole has been in a period of flux. But things seem to be coming together again and personally I have only admiration for what my brothers and sisters in the Order are doing there.

I met up one way or another with all the men who are actively pursuing ordination in Mexico, some 16 men. I was glad to see that the 4-year mitra study course is getting underway, or about to get underway, in both centres there. One of the things I am concerned about, as public preceptor for Spanish-speaking men, is that those who ask for ordination are able to follow through their request. This is not always easy in a situation a long way from other parts of the movement. Dharma study, longer intensive retreats and meaningful contact with order members are not so easy to come by and it has taken time to build these things up. But even in the last few years I have seen definite development in all these areas in Mexico and I think that is reason for celebration.

Since Upekshamati started Buddhism courses etc in Mexico there has been a gentle stream of Mexican men and women visiting the UK and Spain, even living here for extended periods. Several Mexican order members have been ordained while living in the UK. At present both Saddhayu and Maitrigosha are in Cambridge at Windhorse, and Ivan, who has asked for ordination, also lives there. Samamati, who lived in Mexico working at the centre for many years, also works at Windhorse.

Apart from the opening of BudaMandala and developing conditions for the men and women who have asked for ordination, the last year or so has also seen the translation and publication of quite a few of Bhante Sangharakshita's books in Mexico. This is an important project that has benefits not just for the movement in Mexico, but in Spain and Venezuela too. Upekshamati has been leading a small team that plans to translate and edit a number of Bhante's books, and some by other order members, over the coming years.

Last year also saw the birth of 'Karuna', a project to raise money or goods for charities and NGOs in Mexico. Mexico has a population of some 105 million people. 40% of the population share only 11% of the wealth and are considered to live below the Mexican poverty line. Many families live in total poverty and children are compelled to work on the streets in order to supplement the family. Some 44 million Mexicans live in poverty; 14 million live in conditions of extreme poverty, with children on the streets. You can read more about Karuna Mexico on the movement's news page here.

Approximately 400 people a week are involved with Buddhism or meditation classes/courses at the Mexico City Buddhist Centre (I don't know the figures for BudaMandala). Some 150 of those are in weekly study groups. OK, with a metropolitan area population of over 21 million they say anyone can draw a crowd in Mexico City. That the Dharma could have a very positive effect on a lot of men and women in Mexico, and on the society as a whole, I have no doubt. At the moment the work of order members and other Buddhist groups in Mexico is just a drop in the ocean. But it's a drop of something very special indeed and with our growing Sangha in Mexico beginning to find its feet I think that the Three Jewels may yet find a place in the heart of many, many Mexicans. And that could have quite some effect.

I left Mexico thinking that I must go back again soon. Even if I do find the long flights difficult. And the trip back home? Well that was pretty horrible too.

But hey, I do like Spain ...

fund-raising 2010

2010-01-15T12:27:00.007+00:00

from Moksananda

Most preceptors, public and private, just donate their time; theyʼre not supported to be preceptors. To be able to connect to thousands of men and women around the world, we do however need to support the chair and a part-time administrator of the college. This year we would also like to begin to provide the chair of the college with part-time secretarial support.

We also help to bring public preceptors from India and Australasia to our meetings in the UK. It is an important link that keeps our Order and movement spiritually unified.

To do all this we need to find £20,000 per annum. Itʼs not a lot, but we need to raise it. We have no ongoing funding, apart from what we can raise from men and women who have asked for ordination and a few Order members who generously support us.

If you have asked for ordination and live in Europe you should be receiving a letter from me soon, asking for your support in 2010. However, I thought I'd post something here too. Just in case there is anyone else out there who would like to contribute!

Your financial support will make a real difference to how well we can do this work.

2009

In 2009 we set out to raise £15,000. We finally raised about £14,000 (as I write I am still waiting for the end of year figures). That's fantastic! I have written to nearly all our supporters thanking you/them for supporting us in 2009. There are a few, however, who I have not been able to track down. If that's you, then please be assured that all of us in the college really want to thank everyone who donated, whether by standing order or one-off donations. People contributed from the UK, Europe, and from Australia and New Zealand too. We have the beginnings of a worldwide community to support the work of the college.

This year we hope we can build on that growing support and reach our new target of £20,000.

Who is getting supported?

The chair of the college, Dhammarati, has a responsibility for the smooth running and development of the whole ordination process. Bhante once said that what links the Order is ʻa shared understanding of going for refugeʼ. Itʼs Dhammaratiʼs job to make sure that we share experience about what makes spiritual training work and that the college is able to effectively assume itʼs many responsibilities.

He works directly with Bhante and the private preceptors; meets with the chairmen, mitra convenors and Dharma teachers; helps in the training of private preceptors; and, of course, chairs the Preceptors' College itself. He wants to make sure that training for ordination is a real spiritual training.

He is also responsible for the men's ordination process in the USA.

Moksananda - me! - is our part-time administrator. I give essential support to private and public preceptors, look after our web pages, work with Dhammarati and find the funds to support the college, amongst other things.

I also run the Spanish-speaking ordination process for men.

The public preceptors respond wholeheartedly to every request for ordination. Please help us.

Of course, what we'd really like is for people to make a regular donation to the work of the public preceptors. Weʼre suggesting that everyone who has asked for ordination make a donation of £50 a year, for those in the UK, and the equivalent in Euros for those in the rest of Europe. But if you want to give, weʼd be grateful if you just give what you can afford, whether it is more or less.

A standing order, paid monthly or annually, would make this simpler and more reliable for us.

If you want to make a contribution you can find information for setting up a standing order here, or for making a one off donation at JustGiving click here or the donate button on this blog. It's easy.

And you can find out more about us here.

Please, help us to help those who wish to commit themselves to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and be Ordained into the Western Buddhist Order.

Many thanks.

Guhyaloka and Vajrasattva

2010-01-13T17:42:00.013+00:00

from Moksananda

I've just come back from a short solitary at Guhyaloka, which I very much enjoyed and benefited from. It was particularly good to connect more strongly again with the figure of Vajrasattva, the sadhana I took when I was ordained by Bhante in 1985.

I spent quite a bit of time meditating and reflecting on Vajrasattva, and his significance Dharmically and in my life. Having the time and space to simply follow through those reflections led to a natural flowering of confidence in the practice of the Dharma, Bhante as my teacher and the context of our Order.

In fact I came away with a very simple set of precepts, which I would like to follow, back in my day to day life. Nothing particularly radical, just simple Dharma:

1. Be happy - and if not happy then positive.
2. Do the practice - whatever particular form my Dharma practice takes at any given time.
3. Help others - my family, friends and the Sangha. If I can help strangers and 'the world' too, then great.

It was, as always, really lovely to be back at Guhyaloka, our retreat centre in the mountains near Alicante, Spain, where the 4 month ordination course for men is held each year. I'm very grateful to the community for looking after me there and providing such good conditions for solitary retreats. I first lived at Guhyaloka in 1987, then again in 1997, and have spent many shorter periods up there. It's a kind of spiritual home for me I guess. The first day I arrived at Guhyaloka in 1987 I awoke to a blanket of snow covering the valley. As it happens, I hadn't seen so much snow there since. Not till the penultimate day of my solitary. Beautiful.

And of course Vajrasattva is said to be the colour of sunlight on pure white, virgin snow.

(painting by Aloka)

fund-raising

2009-02-17T12:33:00.011+00:00

from Moksananda

We are raising on-going funds so that the preceptors’ college can support two vital jobs, that of the chair and a part-time administrator, and so that we can contribute to bringing public preceptors to our meetings from India and Australasia.

Thank you!

As a result of the donations we recieved in 2008 we have been able to go some considerable way to meeting these aims. People's contributions have really made a difference.

How is the fund raising going?

Last year we managed to raise some £8,000 pounds through standing orders, one-off donations and gift aid. That’s a good start, and with a grant from Windhorse:evolution of over £9,000 we managed to raise a total of £17,352 (we are looking for £15,000 per year at present).

This year we want to double our income from donors, given that for the foreseeable future Windhorse is not going to be able to help us again. In 2008 we had just over 100 donors, between those who set up a standing order and those who made a one-off donation. So we are looking to find an extra 100 people to help support us in 2009.

How is our work going?

Sangharakshita once said that what links the order is ‘a shared understanding of going for refuge’, and this is very much how we see our work in the Preceptors’ College: deepening a mutual understanding of going for refuge between ourselves and sharing that understanding with others in the Order and the FWBO, especially with those of you who have asked for ordination.

At present the chairman is Dhammarati and I am the administrator/secretary. As a direct result of people's generosity I have been able to work two days a week for the college, during which time I've covered a number of essential jobs, such as maintain our web page, help private and public preceptors with information etc, register names for ordinations as well as follow through decisions made at our meetings, write reports and respond to queries, and give Dhammarati some secretarial help. And of course I have been finding the funding we need!

Dhammarati works directly with the college of public preceptors to help us focus and develop that all important ‘shared understanding of going for refuge’. He also works with the private preceptors, and meets with the chairs of fwbo centres, the presidents, the mitra convenors and Dharma teachers, as well as with Bhante. This link between the college and the Order and movement is vital and it’s essential that we are able to support him to be able to do this work. Though Dhammarati holds other responsibilities too, through the generosity of donors he has been able to give a considerable amount of his time to these important tasks.

Keeping in touch:

Remember you can find out more about the college on our site at www.preceptorscollege.org.

I am hoping that gradually we will have more frequent posts from public preceptors on the blog here, so it’s probably worth having a look once a week or so to see if there’s anything new.

Little by little

People are contributing to the financial support of the college from the UK, from Europe, and from Australia and New Zealand too. A world-wide community of people who help support the College is gradually developing. And now we've got the ball rolling we'll be continuing to put our efforts into finding more supporters.

Want to help?

As I wrote above, people's donations really do make a difference to us being able to support public and private preceptors, the men and women in the ordination process and once they have joined the Order, and to our work alongside others in the FWBO as a whole. It quite directly helps us to contribute to the unfolding of our movement and to our community.

Quite a few of our supporters have written to me saying how much they appreciate being to able to help us. I’ve personally found that really inspiring. If you want to make a contribution you can find information for setting up a standing order here, or for making a one off donation click here.

Private Preceptor's Retreat at Padmaloka

2009-01-21T20:11:00.006+00:00

Last week I attended a retreat for private preceptors at Padmaloka. We were eleven men, some had done over twenty private ordinations, others were yet to actually ordain someone. But we were all engaged with the process of helping men join the Order, and so the discussions that we had every morning and evening were stimulating and illuminating. Saddhaloka and I hoped that the retreat would go some way to working towards deepening our common understanding of what it meant to be an Order member. We discussed very fully our own views, and what we would expect from someone we invited into the Order.

In particular we talked about our relationship to Bhante, and the Order generally; our attitudes to ethical practice and where we drew the lines of acceptable behaviour; what meditation practices we did and what we would expect the men we ordained to do; whether Bhante's 'teaching' was complete or whether we needed 'other' teachers; whether our 'institutions' were working; and so on. We were not looking for a crude authoritative list of agreed conditions but a deeper appreciation of the spiritual principles involved. Of course there were differences in perspective, but gradually, by listening to each other and speaking honestly, we each formed a greater degree of confidence in the others. In the same way that I'd felt an increasing shared confidence in our common understanding as a result of our Preceptor's College meetings, I felt a greater unity from our discussions on this retreat. It was a common experience – as of course it had to be, to be real – and through our engagement we were all inspired and educated.

We also talked about the more practical aspects of how we can help men prepare for ordination, and the difficulties that it can involve. Some of the discussions reminded us of the nature of the responsibility we have taken on, and how this urges us to intensify our own personal practice.

But it was not all talk, we did a couple of hours meditation every morning and the six-element practice every afternoon as well as a puja every evening. The familiar walks in the Norfolk countryside and the unflagging attention of the Padmaloka community completed the experience. I felt it was a deeply satisfying week which we hope to repeat next year – hopefully with even more preceptors in attendance.

A brief report on the recent Preceptors’ College meetings

2009-01-16T12:59:00.008+00:00

by Moksananda

The college of public preceptors met at Padmaloka, from 24th November to 3rd December. Those present for some or all of the meetings were: Padmasuri, Dhammadinna, Maitreyi, Ratnagosha, Mahamati, Sanghadevi, Nagabodhi, Dhammarati, Moksananda, Parami, Manjuvajra, Sudarshana, Ratnadharani, Megha, Sona, Dayanandi, Satyaraja, Saddhaloka, Surata, Padmavajra

For the first three days we met up in our kulas to discuss how we're doing and our work together. In the kulas we can discuss the details of our work and lives and share our concerns and inspirations more intimately. The kulas are the working basis of the college and allow for a strong sense of a shared understanding of Going for Refuge.

In the kula to which I belong, for example, apart from reporting in we clarified the nature of what we call giving 'blessings' (i.e. our agreement to a request from another public preceptor to ordain someone); we talked about practising the Dharma while living the 'household' life; we looked at how the team at Padmaloka is working; and we had Kulananda over for an afternoon to say 'goodbye' (he has decided to no longer form part of the college as he wishes to give his time to other things). If you want to know more about the make up of the kulas visit www.preceptorscollege.org/about

Following on from the kulas we had our main business meetings. We had a wide variety of things to discuss this time, including:

Coherence in the Order and movement: A regular topic of discussion in the college is that of maintaining the balance between diversity and unity in our work together, and how we can help the movement and Order to do likewise. This time we particularly focused on the aspect of coherence and wanted to look at the college's role in contributing to coherence and unity in the movement as a whole. Bhante has said recently that he thinks coherence in the movement is threefold: doctrinal, practice based and social. The college is responsible for the ordination process, and as such wants to help maintain the unity of the movement, of the training through which people are coming to ordination, and of the Order into which they are ordained. At the same time it’s important that we are sensitive to the development of practices and approaches, and to the unfolding of the Dharma in the lives of individuals. We want our own understanding, confidence, questioning and experience to positively influence the movement, and be of help to others, in dialogue with other voices.

Order convenor: Parami had been put forward as international order convenor and we explored the pros and cons of having another public preceptor hold this responsibility. We think that Parami will make a very good order convenor and will also be able to help in a transition to greater involvement by other Order members in Order convening, whether at a chapter, regional or international level. We expressed our confidence in Mahamati and Parami and our support of them.

Other teachers: After our last meeting in March we sent out a questionnaire to private preceptors asking them for information about people they have ordained going to other teachers. Only about 30 responded. About 180 order members had been ordained by them, and of these 16 have been or are going to other teachers, plus 3 who have done one off retreats.

The desire to go to a teacher outside the order seems to nearly always come from a wish to deepen meditation practice. How do we feel about those in the ordination process going to other teachers, especially going soon after ordination? Our general recommendation is that they, and newer Order members, base their meditation firmly within our framework of teachings and practices, not only for coherence and unity but also because of our confidence in the basic practices of the Order and because it takes time to become competent in them. We’d encourage order members to talk about their interest in other teachers with their preceptors before making a decision.

Interestingly, Bhante has recently said that he considers the only justification for visiting other teachers is that it is spiritually necessary, and is to do with some aspect of the Dharma and practice that is not found within the FWBO. He is also concerned that anything new be properly integrated into our existing approach and practices.

Structure of college: The college meets every 6 months, and we think that there is a role for a smaller executive group to meet between meetings. Dhammarati hopes to set up such a meeting. This meeting would be in addition to the meeting that he has set up with representatives from the FWBO chairs meeting, the mitra convenors and the Order convenors.

Preceptor training: We are beginning to hold more retreats for private preceptors. Next year there is a men's retreat at Padmaloka in January, a mixed retreat planned at Madhyamaloka in May, a women's retreat at Tiratanaloka in October and a mixed weekend at Padmaloka in November. The women have successfully established a community of preceptors who receive ongoing training, and the men hope to do likewise. Private preceptors can find information about retreats for them on the private preceptors web page: www.preceptorscollege.org/privprec

Fund raising: The college urgently needs to raise funds in order to be able to support the jobs of chair and an administrator/secretary, as well as help bring public preceptors to our meetings from abroad. We have managed to attract about 100 donors so far, raising about £9,000 this year. However, we need £15,000 per year. We have asked the ordination process retreat centres and the mitra convenors to help communicate to the men and women who have asked for ordination the importance of helping support the college financially. More information can be found on our web page: www.preceptorscollege.org/funding/

Communicating ourselves: We’d like our thinking to be more widely and easily available in the movement. At present our main way of communicating our thoughts and discussions is through retreats, talks and seminars and we'd like to make some of this material more widely available. For the time being we plan to do this through the college website and blog and will hopefully be adding more material over the coming months.

Violence: We were asked by an Order member to discuss the implications of members of the Order being involved in domestic violence and we wanted to clarify the responsibility of preceptors in such situations. We felt that public and private preceptors would find it helpful to have some support and training in the ethical issues involved, and how to deal with them. We’ll return to this at the next meeting.

The last two days of the meeting Padmavajra led us in study of some teachings of Geshe Drom, Atisha's main disciple, from 'The Door of Liberation'.

Overall, the meeting was enjoyable and fruitful I think, if a little heavy on the amount of time we gave to meetings. The Padmaloka community were very hospitable, as always. We'll be meeting next in India around the time of the convention, though we expect only a few of us to be able to attend.

2008-06-23T15:56:00.001+00:00

last couple of days i attended a meeting of presidents of fwbo centres, the first meeting like it for four years.

the centre president was intorduced in the eighties as a useful way of plugging a local centre into the wider movement, and of giving the centre the support of an experienced order meember who would develop a real relationship with the chairman, and with people at the centre.

when we restructured the order and movement in 03/04, the loss of the presidents meeting was one of the unforseen consequences. this meeting was a toe in the water: would such a meeting have value, for the movement, for the people involved. we unanimously thought that it would: at the simplest level it would be supportive for the people attending, and provide a context where they could talk about the work they're doing with others with similar responsibilities. one of the most useful activities of the previous presidents' meeting was the study we did together, supporting the deeper, spiritual roots of the work a president does.

a couple of practical outcomes: we'll encourage those centres who don't have presidents to think about it again; encourge centres to think more widely about the pool of presidents that centres can draw from: and we'll meet again.

ordination statistics 3

2008-06-22T22:14:00.000+00:00

another graph: numbers ordained, 1968 – 2008.
click the graph to enlarge it.

a system of training

2008-06-19T00:22:00.003+00:00

i've just posted the text of a talk i gave at the recent national order weekend, on our system of training. you can find the full text by clicking here.

ordination statistics

2008-06-05T07:40:00.001+00:00

sunanda has produced some very interesting up to date statistics about the order, and about ordination.

for example, there are now 1516 order members: 1010 men and 506 women, almost exactly two thirds and a third .

the average age at ordination in 1975 was 25: in 1985, 33;

in '95, it was 41; and in '05, 44.

of the 1516 order members, 807 live in the uk, and 376 in india.

here's a selection of the figures:

Order members by gender
men 1010
women 506

Country of residence
Australia 46
Belgium 3
Brazil 2
Canada 5
China 1
Denmark 1
Estonia 2
Finland 15
France 4
Germany 43
India 376
Ireland 16
Italy 1
Kenya 1
Mexico 10
Netherlands 16
New Zealand 48
Norway 1
Poland 1
Portugal 1
South Africa 2
Spain 33
Sri Lanka 1
Sweden 15
Turkey 1
Uk 807
Usa 56
Venezuela 2
None or not stated 7

Average ages
Dharmachari (839) 50 years and 11 months
Dharmacharini (456) 53 years and 9 months

Age at Ordination

Year No yy:mm

Men
1968 1 23:7
1972 4 27:8
1973 7 26:3
1974 11 27:3
1975 8 27:2
1976 9 27:9
1977 10 25:1
1978 10 27:4
1979 13 30:9
1980 9 30:8
1981 18 28:3
1982 22 28:3
1983 17 32:1
1984 14 31:2
1985 35 32:0
1986 11 30:6
1987 28 33:9
1988 15 33:6
1989 13 33:3
1990 22 35:5
1991 23 32:8
1992 44 33:3
1993 49 35:2
1994 34 36:9
1995 12 40:8
1996 22 36:10
1997 22 36:10
1998 38 42:0
1999 38 39:8
2000 50 41:7
2001 35 38:10
2002 18 39:6
2003 33 44:3
2004 34 40:2
2005 35 43:4
2006 20 44:2
2007 22 47:10
2008 33 48:8

Women
1969 1 20:0
1973 3 30:5
1974 3 51:8
1975 2 23:1
1976 1 27:11
1977 3 31:1
1978 1 32:4
1979 1 47:0
1980 5 31:4
1981 2 36:1
1983 5 44:6
1984 4 33:5
1985 2 33:5
1986 4 37:11
1987 7 39:11
1988 11 38:0
1989 7 36:1
1990 10 35:5
1991 4 39:11
1992 10 36:5
1993 14 43:5
1994 9 36:5
1995 17 41:10
1996 12 52:0
1997 16 39:4
1998 21 44:2
1999 18 41:6
2000 22 44:2
2001 21 47:9
2002 43 45:6
2003 27 46:11
2004 28 44:9
2005 50 46:4
2006 36 49:4
2007 36 57:11

vegetables + american buddhists

2008-06-03T13:46:00.003+00:00

from my admittedly limited personal experience, more american buddhists than europeans seem to have qualms on health grounds about becoming vegetarian. are americans so much less healthy than europeans? this from kathy freston in the huffington post:

When I tell people that I'm vegan, the most popular question, by far, inevitably follows: "But, how do you get enough protein?"

There it is again, I think, the meat industry's most potent weapon against vegetarianism--the protein myth. And it is just that--a myth.

In fact, humans need only 10 percent of the calories we consume to be from protein. Athletes and pregnant women need a little more, but if you're eating enough calories from a varied plant based diet, it's close to impossible to not to get enough.

The way Americans obsess about protein, you'd think protein deficiency was the number one health problem in America. Of course it's not--it's not even on the list of the ailments that doctors are worried about in America or any other countries where basic caloric needs are being met.

What is on the list? Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity--diseases of affluence. Diseases linked to eating animal products. According to the American Dietetic Association, which looked at all of the science on vegetarian diets and found not just that they're healthy, but that they "provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

read the full article here.

bhante beating a drum

2008-05-27T12:38:00.006+00:00

just back from the 'beating the drum of the dharma' event,

where about 400 of us met under buddhafield canvas for 4 days.

bhante gave a talk on conditions for the stability of the sangha.

delightful, poignant even, to see him there.

here's a pic: click the picture to enlarge it.

a joined up meeting

2008-05-06T15:12:00.003+00:00

bluebells in north wales

from dhammarati:

a visit to tiratanaloka on sunday, to talk about my proposal for a 'joined up meeting'.

in the last few years, there have been a lot of structural changes in the order and movement. the general direction of them has been towards decentralisation and local autonomy, of centres and of ordination training. this was something we set in motion in the early 2000s, the intention of which subhuti summed up as 'broadening the movement; deepening the order'.

a lot of the more central, co-ordinating structures were revised or removed: the preceptors college drew its brief more narrowly, the preceptors' college council was dissolved, and the mitra study programme shared by all centres allowed for more variation and adaptation to local circumstances.

but on top of that planned opening up, came the period of questioning and soul searching of the last few years, and the result was that this necessary decentralisation was never balanced by new ways of co-ordinating, to replace the job that bodies like the pcc had done.

one modest step that i've suggested is a meeting that brings together people from the preceptors college, the chairs meeting, the order convenors and the men and women mitra convenors. most of those have already agreed to take part in the meeting, and i've been waiting for the women mitra convenors to meet, to invite them to participate. on sunday they agreed, and i'll now go ahead and try to set up the first meeting.

we're planning to meet for three or four days twice in the next year.

the idea is to share the experience and perspectives of each body, first of all to try to get a bigger perspective on the order and movement, and to get a higher level of agreement about what the next spiritual and organisational steps might be.

the brecon beacons, where tiratanaloka is, is glorious in this early spring weather. one hillside was covered in the most bluebells i have ever seen in one place.

a system of training

2008-05-02T11:15:00.002+00:00

empress theodora, san vitale, ravenna

i've gradually been transcribing the talk i gave on the recent order weekend: here's the first installment:

Yesterday, Vishvapani was talking about significant birthdays, and remembering our sixteenth birthday. I think that was the occasion of Bhante giving the paper on ‘the ten pillars of Buddhism’, with most of the Order sitting, I think, in York Hall, listening to the first reading of the text. It was a seminal moment.

A fortieth birthday is a more problematic beast, isn’t it. If the sixteenth birthday is the Indian coming of age, the association I have with fortieth birthdays is mid-life crisis. Assuming that we’re not all going to go out and buy a red sports car at the end of this weekend, what happens at age forty? Traditionally, there’s a taking stock. It’s a time where our youthful idealism,even, may I say, our naiveté, meets the complexities of real experience, and we have to figure out what is of real, central value to us.

I was talking to Subhuti recently, and he was reminding me about his time as order convenor. He became order convenor, he told me, just before the Guardian article came out, and stopped being Order convenor just after Yashomitra’s letter. He was making the point that he was Order convenor during what was probably the most turbulent period of self questioning that we’ve ever been through as a community. So at age forty, maybe it’s apposite to be taking stock, and thinking well, where have we got to? What is of central importance to us?

I wanted to give this talk on our system of training for two reasons, which follow on from that idea of taking stock. Subhuti recently wrote about the cetokhila sutta, One of the points the buddha makes in that sutta is that to make spiritual progress, you need to have confidence in the spiritual training you’re engaging with. That confidence is not a sectarian thing, it’s a practical necessity. You have to be able engage confidently with the practices you’re using. So first of all, I wanted to engage with this idea of a system of training: for some of us I think confidence in our training has been an issue in the last few years, and I want to try to spell out the grounds for confidence in our training.

Secondly, over the last few years we had more inflows from other sources and traditions than ever before. On the whole I’ve found that a stimulating thing. One of the ways we become clearer about who we are is to be in open dialogue with others, and the dialogue we’ve been involved in has been a healthy thing. But I think it’s also true that it has raised questions that need clarification. So I want to come on to the whole issue of ‘lineage’ that was raised yesterday. I think we’re already at a point, as a community, where now that we’re forty, we’ve been handed a responsibility by our teacher to hand on to the generation coming behind us, what he has handed to us. To do this we need to be clear as a practice community: what is it that we’ve been given, what is it that we’re passing on?
So I want to try to address both of those issues; confidence in our own training as a condition for successful practice; and clarity about what our system of practice is, so we can hand it on faithfully.

The title I was asked to speak about is ‘What do we mean by our system of training?’. The first thing I want to say is personal`; talking about a ‘system’ at all makes me uneasy. I like my freedom. I was visiting Vassika in Paris recently. Vassika makes mosaics, and she was telling me about how they made mosaics in Ravenna. Ravenna, if you don’t know it, is a town in the North of Italy, with some extraordinary Byzantine mosaics dating from the sixth century. She was showing me a pice she had done in the style of modern mosaics, and a piece she had done in the style of mosaics from Ravenna. The thing about modern mosaic, if I understood Vassika, is that the tiles are regularly cut, and laid flat in the grouting; the mosaics from Ravenna are cut irreguarly, in fact they’re sometimes broken, and are laid into the cement at more irregular angles. And the effect of that is that the way light catches the surface is completely unpredicatable, the surface is scintillating, much more interesting than the more uniform, more modern method. In the pice that Vassika showed me, those irregular tiles mae up this beautiful, luminous halo of a saint. That image struck me. The whole thing held together, but it was unpredictable, alive,. At least when it comes to mosaic, I like a little irregularity, something that’s not too tight.

So I want to reassure myself that when I talk about a system, I want to allow for a bit of iregularity in the pattern. I’m uneasy with a system that ‘s too tight. Luckily, it seems, so has Bhante. As part of the preparation for this talk, I was listening to a series of question and answer sessions that Bhante did recently at madhyamaloka, on a seminar organised by Subhuti on ‘sangharakshita as teacher’. Some of the things Bhante said on those sessions about our system of meditation really struck me. I’m assuming that most people are familiar with the main categories of what Bhante has called ‘a system of meditation’: the stages of integration; positive emotion; spiritual death, or vision; and spiritual rebirth, or transformation. In the seminar Bhante had this to say about these stages:
The system is not meant to be a rigid system, with carefully defined boundaries. Each stage is meant to cover a vast range of experience and practices… For example in the second stage, the stage of positive emotion, there can be joy, ecstacy, bliss, compassion: everything that’s of an emotionally positive nature, from ordinary positivity to sublime spiritual experience. One shouldn’t think of these stages in too narrow a sense...

So that was the first point I wanted to make: when Bhante talks about the stages of a system, he’s talking about something that covers ‘a vast range of experience and practices’.

So what, in that case, is the value of a system at all? In the first lecture that Bhante gave on ‘A System of Meditation’ he spelled out his reasons:
‘I want to take up the different methods of meditation current in the order, and see in what way they link into what I have called (and at this point he puts in the qualifier) a trifle ambitiously, a system.

So the first thing Bhante wanted to do was to show the relationship between different practices. He then went on to explain why:
‘it needs to be clear how the practices are related. What we need is an arrangement of practice that takes us forward, step by step, and stage by stage… to make clear the progressive, cumulative nature of spiritual practice.

So these are central points that I want to underline in this talk. That the ‘system’ covers a wide range of experience and practice: how a range of practices hang together and support each other; and how they become a progressive, cumulative series, that takes us from the first steps into awareness, to a transformative spiritual experience...

to be continued.

a chance to support our work

2008-04-24T14:32:00.005+00:00

from moksananda

A important part of the work of our Order is that of training the men and women who have asked for ordination. This training is overseen by the College of Public Preceptors, a body of over 30 senior Order members, some 13 women and 18 men. Between us we work with all those who have asked to join our Order, and with the growing number of private preceptors, strengthening our underlying unity while encouraging a diversity of approaches to ordination training. Personally I feel very grateful to be involved in this aspect of the Order, and to witness the enthusiasm and altruism with which the public preceptors engage in their work.

There is a lot of organisational work to the effective functioning of the College. In order to carry out this work the preceptors’ college needs to financially support a part-time administrator/secretary and the college chairman (at least partially). We also try to find funds for the public preceptors from India and Australasia to attend our meetings in the UK: this is one of the important links that keeps the Indian and Western Orders spiritually unified.

The work of the chair and the administrator are central to the effectiveness of the college, as is our ability to come together in relatively large numbers once or twice a year. To support all this we need to find just £15,000 per annum.

Last year I wrote to those men and women who had asked for ordination asking for donations to help support the work of the college. We managed to raise some £6000. We’re very grateful for this help and I really want to thank all of those who made a donation or set up a standing order. With this money the Preceptors’ College was able to support me as a part-time administrator/secretary and to partially support Dhammarati as chairman. As secretary I was able to oversee and develop the preceptors’ webpage, give email support to private preceptors in various ways, as well as give ongoing secretarial support to members of the preceptors college and it’s chairman. Dhammarati has worked with Bhante, with the preceptors kulas in different parts of the world, and with the chairmen, mitra convenors and Dharma teachers to make our training for ordination and preceptor training more effective

This year Windhorse:Evolution have kindly given us the £9,000 to make up the balance. However, it seems that they may well not be in a position to do so next year, so once again we need to find ways to make this important work sustainable. We are asking for help. And we are particularly asking for the help of those who have asked for ordination into the western buddhist order because our work is of most benefit to them: we hope that they will understand its importance and want to make it possible for us to do what we need to do in order to support their ordination training.

We’re suggesting a donation of £50 a year, less than £1 per week, for those in the UK, or 75€ per year for those in the rest of Europe. A standing order would make this simpler and more reliable for us. This could be a monthly or an annual standing order.

To make a donation just click on the donate button below or at the top of the page. This will take you to our page on 'justgiving' where you can donate to the preceptors'college using a debit or credit card. If you need any more information you can contact me here. I can also send a Gift Aid form for those in the UK.

Many thanks.

college meeting

2008-04-16T11:41:00.010+00:00

The preceptors’ college met at Madhyamaloka, Birmingham UK.

from moksananda

The preceptors' college met in March. Present for some or all of the meeting were Saddhaloka, Maitreyi, Mallika, Mahamati, Manjuvajra, Padmasuri, Ratnadharini, Dhammadinna, Buddhadasa, Nagabodhi, Sanghadevi, Parami, Karunamaya, Nagabodhi, Dayanandi, Sona, Ratnagosha and Moksananda. A number of public preceptors are either on sabbatical or on long retreat, and so were unable to attend. Most of those in India and Australasia were not able to make it either, due to travel costs and time.

We met from the 12th to the 20th, and the first 3 days were spent in kulas, during which time we shared the specifics of our work, and discussed men and women for possible ordinations, as well as private preceptor consultations and reviews.

The following 4 days we studied a song by Milarepa with Dhammadinna – ‘the grey rock vajra enclosure’. Dhammadinna had studied the text with Bhante in the 70’s. The tape of the seminar was subsequently lost, but she had substantial notes and anyway was able to bring her own awareness and understanding to the text. The songs in the text are Milarepa’s response to a ‘tantric yogi’ asking for teachings on meditation and include teachings on the Mahamudra, recognising ’real’ and ‘false’ experiences or realisations, the 6 Paramitas and finally the 6 Resolutions or renunciations.

The last 2/3 days of our meeting were given over to ‘business’, by which we generally mean anything from discussion of basic principles to the deciding of particular working arrangements in the college. Some of the most significant discussions were the following:

1. The make-up of the college:
Once someone has done a public ordination they are and always will be a public preceptor. However, for some public preceptors training for ordination is no longer their central focus. Some more experienced preceptors have withdrawn to spend time intensifying their personal practice; some have moved on to other areas of responsibility. What is their relationship to the college if they are no longer focusing on ordination, or attending college meetings? Briefly, we agreed that the college is made up of those public preceptors who are either actively attending it’s meetings or are on sabbatical, and that it made more sense for those preceptors who had fully withdrawn from attending the meetings of the college - for example if they retire, or move on to other responsibilities and are clear that they’re unlikely to focus on ordination training in the future - to withdraw from membership of the college.

We also recognised that public preceptors will occasionally want to take periods of sabbatical. Because of the importance of ‘common standards’, and the need for those performing public ordinations to be in good communication with preceptors in other parts of the movement, we proposed that while preceptors are on sabbatical they would not perform public ordinations: that public ordinations would only be performed by those actively attending college meetings (allowing for the difficulty involved in those who live outside of Britain attending and the occasional missing of meetings for different reasons).

2. A five-year review of the college:
5 years ago there were major changes to the college, private preceptors, mitra system and the ordination processes. We want to review and evaluate these changes and begin to look at the whole pattern of ordination training and entry into the order. How is teaching at centres supporting ordination training? How are the more decentralised ordination processes working? What are the specialist training centres at Padmaloka and Tiratanaloka teaching since we moved from the 6 guidelines as a framework? What has it been like for new order members joining the order in the last five years? What has been the effect of having a much larger number of private preceptors? Has having an expanded college worked? How do we see the college developing in the future?

We spent some time simply trying to build up a picture. We heard from the different elements present in our ordination training. We began by hearing from Padmaloka, Tiratanaloka, then Guhyaloka before moving on to ordination training in different regions, as well as hearing how the Order convenors see things in terms of ordination training and entry into the Order. We also had a preliminary go at digesting all this information, though recognised that a smaller team of us will be able to do this more effectively. Dhammarati plans to set up a smaller meeting of public preceptors, which will continue the review and bring back conclusions and possible points of action for discussion in the college.

3. Report back from private preceptor working group:
We think that one of the most successful changes in the last five years has been the increased role of the private preceptor in training for ordination. We heard from Maitreyi and others their proposals for further supporting and training private preceptors. We wish to support and re-invigorate the practice of kalyanamitrata in general, particularly encouraging those Order members who want to work with men and women who have asked for ordination. We plan to develop more specialist training retreats for private preceptors and are looking at ways to provide more mentoring. We’d also like to encourage more peer support between private preceptors.

4. Links between college, order and movement:
Dhammarati went to the FWBO chair’s meeting in January and also attended a men’s mitra convenors meeting. He has an agreement from the chairs, the order convenors and the men mitra convenors (and is discussing it with the women mitra convenors) to set up a joint meeting to create more co-ordination between college, order and movement.

5. Those who have asked for ordination attending activities led by other teachers: at the last college meeting in September 2007 we discussed the importance of those in the ordination process focusing on Bhante as their teacher. We still wish to explore this further and Sanghadevi is contacting all private preceptors asking them about their experience of the effect on men and women who have asked for ordination practising with other teachers.

6. College finances: Moksananda presented figures. We are trying to support the chair of the college part-time, as well as a part-time administrator/secretary. We also want to be able to offer financial support to public preceptors travelling to our meetings from abroad. Just ₤15,000 a year would meet these essential needs of the college.

This year we have received some ₤9,000 from WH:evolution in order to make up the shortfall from what we receive in the way of regular donations. Windhorse have told us that it is very unlikely they will be able to help us financially next year, so it’s vital we build up this extra ₤9,000 in the way of regular donations from those who have asked for ordination, and we need to do it this year. We need, for example, at least another 180 people donating us ₤50 a year, which means more than doubling the number of those who presently donate.

Other things: apart from meeting in our kulas, studying and discussing ‘business’, some evenings we met more informally. Some of us saw a film or two, we heard Sanghadevi’s life-story and we also gave some space to Dhammarati to talk about his needs as chair of the college. In particular, he talked about the need for a more on-going meeting of some of the public preceptors to be looking at the work of the college, in relation to the order and the movement. A number of us showed an interest and a willingness to try to take part in such a meeting. We also heard from Karunamaya about her work in India.

The next public preceptors’ college meeting will be held in India, in February 2009 to link up with the international order convention.

a system of training

2008-04-04T00:49:00.010+00:00

6th century mosaic, San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.

from dhammarati:

a good order weekend at wymondham college, marking the fortieth birthday of the order.

a series of talks looked at the order, our practices, our relation with the world around us and the buddhist world.

my talk was on ‘a system of training’, looks at the system of practices current in the western buddhist order, how they relate to going for refuge, and, through the relationship to the five spiritual faculties, how the system of practice relates to the the nature of the awakening mind itself

along with the other talks from the weekend it should be available for download soon from FreeBudhistAudio. meantime it's available to download here.

the talk referred to a seminar extract by the ven sangharakshita, where he describes what he calls the '5 great stages of the spiritual life'. a numberof people have asked me for the reference, and you can read the full text of that seminar extract here.

meantime, here is bhante summing up the significance of the five great stages:

So what does this mean? It means that everyday
one has got five things to practice as best you can.
i
one has too keep up the effort to be mindful and aware and to be as integrated as possible;
ii
one remains in as positive a mental state as one possibly can;
iii
one does not loose sight of one's ultimate goal at any time;
iv
one tries to apply at every level whatever you've realised or discovered on the highest level of your being;
v
and you do your best for other people, you do what you can to help people.

This is your spiritual life and this is your spiritual practice. These are the things with which you are basically concerned...
On the practical side, this is all that you really need or all that you really need to think in terms of. What so ever has been said by all the different Buddhist teachers in the course of several hundred years of development is all really contained in this in principle.... this is essentially, this is basically what it is all about.

You can also think of these if you like in terms of the Five Spiritual faculties which are both successive and linear. the first stage correspond to the faculty of mindfulness. The second corresponds to the faculty of faith. The third corresponds to the faculty of wisdom. Fourth to the faculty of meditation. The fifth to the faculty of virya.

So if you just try to do these five things all the time you can forget all about making progress or where exactly you are along the path. One just intensifies one's effort in those five directions as it were, all the time. One simply can't go wrong then, (pause).
Now is that reasonably clear?

seeing the future

2008-02-01T14:32:00.001+00:00

loch lubnaig, near dhanakosa. click to enlarge

from dhammarati:
this is a paper i prepared for the chairmen at their meeting at dhanakosa this january.
it outlines the history of madhyamaloka, and gives some idea of the proposed new sangharakshita library. i thought it might be of wider interest.

In March 06, fwbo Central recruited some new trustees; Parami, Ratnadharini and Ratnagosha joined Cittapala, Srimala, Sona and me. After the organisational changes of the last few years, one of the first things the new trustees had to do (after trying to balance the books) was to clarify the responsibilities of fwbo Central, and the role of Madhyamaloka in the future. Fwbo Central is essentially the organisational structure for the Madhyamaloka ‘project’. To plan the future, we realised that first we needed to understand our past: how Madhyamaloka had started, and what its intentions had been. That history lesson was instructive. It will be easier to understand our plans if I recap some of the history first.

Madhyamaloka
In 1993, Bhante appointed a group of thirteen senior order members, who made up the Preceptor’s College and Council. They had a wide range of responsibilities, which can perhaps be understood most simply as Bhante handing on his responsibilities to this group, to create a structure that would replace his distinctive role. A key element in Bhante's initial vision was that College and Council members would deepen their connection by living together. In 1995 Madhyamaloka was purchased. Along with its sister community in Park Hill, it brought a core group of public preceptors and college council members into day to day contact with Bhante. It provided Bhante with a home, and the College and Council with a meeting place. It housed the Order Office, the Order convenors, the overall Mitra convenors, Bhante’s library and archive, the Order library, and later became home to the Communications and Liaison offices.

Phase 2
From early in the project, a second phase to Madhyamaloka was planned: a library and ‘vihara’. This would be a home for Bhante’s archive, and would house a residential community with a more ‘spiritual’ emphasis on practice and teaching, and less on organisation. The closest we got to purchasing a property was around 2001/2, when we made an offer on a farm in the Welsh borders, which would have had space for Bhante and his library, and a men’s and a women’s community. The offer was declined, and we decided it was too big a financial stretch at that time to pursue this.

The college, the order and the movement.
In 2000 Bhante handed the last of his formal responsibilities to the preceptors’ college and council. Subhuti, as chairman, began a review of the College’s role. This resulted in the important clarifications of responsibility in 2003, put most succinctly as: ‘the order runs the order; the movement runs the movement’. This left the primary responsibilities of the college defined more clearly as training for ordination, the support of new order members after ordination, and training the growing number of preceptors. Madhyamaloka began to shed some of it’s movement focussed responsibilities. In particular, the College Council was dissolved, and responsibility for the appointment of presidents was passed over to the centres.

We suggested at the time that these changes, re-emphasising the autonomy of the Order, Centres and the College, would need to be balanced by other factors that supported unity, in our organisation and in our shared practice. For example, it was intended to create a meeting to bring the College, the movement and the order into dialogue with each other. In the atmosphere of the last few years, it was easy to decentralise; it was harder to take initiatives that supported coherence. I think we’re only now emerging from this period, and the rebuilding of coherence is an unfinished part of the changes set in motion in 03.

Tasks for the future
With the clarification of the College’s role, fwbo Central let go of its movement related responsibilities. At the same time, many of the first generation of residents moved on. However after the March 06 review, it seemed that some main responsibilities remained the same. We saw these as our distincitve responsibilities:

to support the work of the Preceptors College.

We had a responsibility for the unity and coherence of the movement, particularly to make sure that it was rooted in, and an expression of, Bhante’s approach to the Dharma.

We felt a strong responsibility to Bhante:
to house him, and for the ‘lineage’ of his teachings: to help ‘preserve, communicate and extend’ Bhante’s teaching.

Arising from those, we had some more specific tasks:

To house a community of experienced order members.
We saw this as integral to the initial vision of Madhyamaloka, ‘the coincidence of wills’ made possible by that intense engagement with each other.

To build the Sangharakshita Library.
Bhante had specifically asked us to set up the library, and had given us £600,000 specifically to do that.

From this discussion, some clear next steps began to emerge.

The Library and Vihara
Given that we must use those funds to build the library, we want to make sure that we do it in a way that is as useful as possible to the movement. Since we will have an expensive building, let’s use it as much as we can.

The most ambitious next step is a proposal to build the library and an associated ‘vihara’ This is close to the original intention for Madhyamaloka to have more of a practice and teaching role than an organisational one.

The library, as Bhante explained in a recent session with the chairs at Madhyamaloka is something that he thinks is important, and we want to honour his wish. The library project itself is modest; a home primarily for Bhante’s archives, for his books and artefacts. Bhante has given us funds specifically for this.

So, as well as housing the library, we are planning a facility that will have space for study, teaching, meditation and accommodation. This brings us back to the plan for the ‘vihara’.

One of the most direct and effective ways for us to build coherence is for our most experienced practitioners to do more Dharma teaching, We intend to develop a teaching programme over the next few years, concentrating on Bhante’s distinctive approach to the Dharma, and particularly aimed at order members. The Preceptors College – a group of senior order members, who have worked closely with Bhante and who have his confidence, who are in close communication with him, with each other and with the people they’ve ordained – can make a distinctive contribution to that. We will work closely with Dharmapala College, and we will also use the facility to develop the training of Preceptors, who are one of the most important influences on the next generation of the order.

Because of the library’s association with Bhante, we want it to be accessible to both wings of the movement, which means that it will not fit easily into the existing, single sex retreat centres. So we are proposing a new building near Madhyamaloka, which would be accessible. Mokshapriya has begun preparatory work on this project. The new building would, incidentally, be a good investment, and would significantly increase the value of the assets.

Other tasks
The library would fulfill a number of the core tasks of fwbo Central. It directly lets us house Bhante, his archive, and a community engaged with the project. It gives us another significant way to ‘preserve, extend and communicate’ Bhante’s teaching, which is one of the most important ways the College can contribute to the ‘unity and coherence’ of the movement. (We are also proposing that we set up some of the forums for discussion planned in 2003, bringing the college, the movement and the order into more effective dialogue, another way to support unity and coherence).

Some speculation for the future
In some ways Birmingham is not ideal for what we’re trying to do. A more rural setting would be better for meditation, and we have at least speculated about moving from Birmingham to the country. We’ve speculated about a facility that would include a teaching centre and the library focussing, one that could grow to include a wide range of order and movement activities, including big retreats and the Order Conventions. It is also likely that in future the library will have a symbolic role, and it would be good to see the library as part of something that would be widely used by the movement.

However, for the time being, Bhante wants to stay where he is, and perhaps in other ways the time is not ripe for such a development. A new library building in Birmingham, and a teaching syllabus, based on Bhante and aimed at the order, seem like doable next steps.

wildernesses of the heart

2008-02-01T13:00:00.000+00:00

surlingham, the home of padmaloka. click to enlarge

from dhammarati:

I saw in the new year on corstorphine hill with edinburgh's spectacular firework display.
for the rest of january, i was inolved in discussion with the chairs at dhanakosa, with new private preceptors and with the mitra convenors, both at padmaloka, and with bhante, subhuti and mahamati at madhyamaloka.

I was at the chairs meeting to talk about the plans for fwbo central, (details in the previous post). bubbling under the surface, though, was a deeper discussion around the issue of 'coherence'. the last few years have seen a major organisational restructuting in the f/wbo, and something of a spiritual upheaval. we deliberately encouraged a process decentralisation and autonomy: of individuals; of centres, of the order, movement and college. this looser and more decentralised structure was a healthy and a needed development.

more recently, though, it's becoming obvious that the decentralisation needs to be balanced (balanced, not opposed) with more emphasis on what connects us. this seems to have been emerging independently in meetings of the preceptors' college, the chairs, the mitra convenors and with order members involved in meditation teaching.

the organisational decentralisation of the last few years has had a big impact on our spiritual teaching, and not one that we entirely foresaw, when the decentralisation coincided with a period of intense questioning triggered by the criticisms made by yashomitra in his 2003 letter.

two of the strongest unifying influences on our teaching in the past were the ordination training at padmaloka and tiratanaloka; and the mitra study courses, which meant that each centre had more or less the same syllabus of dharma teaching. both of those influences meant that people from every centre were using more or less the same framework of ideas and practices. they certainly supported unity, but perhaps they had also become too uniform.

in the last few years ordination training has been decentralised, and the mitra study syllabus is no longer taught at every centre. in the climate of less central organisation and more cultural questioning, a wider range of meditation practices and approaches to the dharma has been taught, and some significant differences in meditation teaching have developed between the retreat centres and the urban centres. some of this experiment has been stimulating and valuable, but it has also created a degree of confusion.

rebalancing
my own sense is that something is shifting. i've been struck by how many discussions i've been in recently that recognise a need for rebalancing. there are some specific steps being taken to provide that balance. perhaps the most concrete one is the new mitra study course, put together by saccanama, and with the strong support of the chairs , the preceptors' college and the mitra convenors. one of the issues with the most energy in it has been about 'formless practice', a strand of our meditation teaching which has developed very strongly in the last few years, and its relationship to the more sat in on discussion on this at the colloquium at madhyamaloka in august. the discussion carried on at the dhanakosa chairs meeting, and again at the private preceptors retreat and chairs meeting, both at padmaloka in january. maybe the best short summary of this important discussion came from a short memo from kamalasila and tejananda, both of whom are influential in teaching formless practice. after the august colloquium, they wrote:

Formless meditation is an aspect of Just Sitting in our system of meditation...
...It connects with all aspects of our practice (such as ethics, kalyanamitrata, and Dharma study). ...formless meditation does not operate in isolation from these, replace other meditation practices... nor supersede other aspects of practice!

wildernesses of the heart
this clarity about how our practices hang together into a coherent system of training is important, i think. in a recent paper, Subhuti discusses the Cetokhila Sutta. He quotes a passage from the sutta, where the Buddha talks about the conditions needed for spiritual growth. It is impossible, the sutta says, for any bhikkhu ‘to come to growth’ who has not ‘abandoned five wildernesses of the heart’. The five ‘wildernesses of the heart' are, ‘being doubtful, uncertain, undecided or unconfident in relation to five things. The first three of these are the refuges: the Teacher, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

But then the text gets more specific. The fourth and fifth of the five wildernesses are doubt, uncertainty, lack of confidence in relation to the ‘training’, and to our ‘companions in the spiritual life’. The refuges are principles; but to be practical spiritual supports, the principles have to take a specific form. In every tradition, the dharma has to be expresssed in a particular set of teachings, a particular set of practices, a particular set of precepts: a ‘training’.

One of the things we need as practitioners, as a practice community, is clarity and confidence in the shared, specific practices and precepts of our own practice community, and in the depth of spiritual experience within that community. This is not primarily an organisational matter, it’s a spiritual one. The sutta is saying that this clarity and confidence is a necessary condition for growth.

It has been an interesting, demanding, stimulating few years, and maybe a little chaotic.
it seems to me there's a deeper clarity about the details of our 'training', which includes what's positive in the experience of the last few years, beginning to emerge.

private preceptors' training

2007-12-04T21:20:00.002+00:00

from dhammarati

a meeting at madhyamaloka, with dhammadinna, ratnadharini and maitrey and dhammarati, to discuss the training of private preceptors.
this came out of a discussion in august at the preceptors college meeting. as the group of private preceptors grows, we're recognising what an influential group it is, probably the single biggest influence on the shape of the next generation of the order will take.

till recently, private preceptors were usually members of a specialist ordination team, and very experienced at helping people to prepare for ordination.
there is an advantage as the pool of preceptors broadens: it makes for much closer personal relationships between the preceptor and the person being ordained. but there's a disadvantage. we can no longer assume that the preceptors have the same depth of experience in preparing people for ordination. so we're giving more thought to preceptor training.

we're proposing a series of new retreats that each new preceptor would have access to:
the retreats would cover practical responsibilities, like how to orchestrate the discussion between all order members who have a say in the decision to ordain someone. but we'd also intend to cover the threefold path, aiming for short but intensive retreats, deepening the practice of ethics, meditation and wisdom, particularly from the point of view of the preceptors' responsibility for the training of new order members.

An account of the recent college meeting

2007-09-19T09:36:00.000+00:00

Dhammadinna, Buddhadasa, Dhammarati, Sanghadevi and Sudarshan

during the recent meeting

from moksananda

The public preceptors’ college met for 10 days at the end of August, this time at Padmaloka. 22 of the 31 public preceptors were present for some or all of the meeting.

During this meeting we had a number of discussions around training people for ordination and the role of private and public preceptors. We began by looking at some basic assumptions in these areas. Our order is built upon Bhante’s understanding of the Dharma and we especially looked at the importance of private and public preceptors having confidence in Bhante's understanding and in his teaching. This is, of course, an important area for all order members, but because of their responsibility for ordinations it is particularly so for those who act as preceptors.

The meeting was particularly fruitful in terms of clarifying our immediate priorities. We identified 3 areas in particular where we want to move things forward. These were:

1. Ordination training
2. Training private preceptors
3. The relationship between the college and the order and movement.

1. Ordination training.

We are concerned that people entering the order have a firm grounding in Bhante’s approach to the Dharma, particularly understanding and sharing his general perspective on the Buddhist tradition, on Going for Refuge and on Dharma practice. This forms the basis of our tradition and gives us coherence as an Order. We’re keen to be in dialogue with centres about what is being taught. We want there to be flexibility around training for ordination, and the role of the private preceptor is particularly important here. At the same time we want to make sure that people are clear about what constitutes the basis for ordination into our order. We think there is value in having a clear period of training around ordination, both before and after, during which we would expect people to concentrate on Bhante’s teaching.

2. Training private precepts.

The role of the private preceptors is crucial to training people for ordination. Some private preceptors have expressed a need for more support and training.

We identified 4 levels of training for private preceptors:

a) those who are not yet preceptors

b) those in the consultation process

c) new private preceptors

d) older private preceptors

There are specific needs in each area. We want to encourage and support effective kalyanamitrata in our order and movement, and we want to find ways of bringing effective kalyanamitras into the work of ordination training, encouraging them, for example, to go on Going for Refuge retreats. We’re keen to find ways of disassociating precepting from any kind of status and to put it firmly in the realm of kalyanamitrata. For those in the consultation process towards becoming a private preceptor there are already retreats specifically for them in the UK. We see these retreats as being very, very important training contexts for becoming a preceptor. For existing private preceptors, we have weekends twice a year in the UK. However, some preceptors have specifically asked for more training in the ‘nuts and bolts’ of being a preceptor, in the principles and practices of our tradition and in how to train their preceptees both before and after ordination.

We want all this to be as clear as possible for the private preceptors, and to give them as much support as possible. We have formed a working-group to move things forward and to think more carefully about the training of private preceptors. This group is presently made up of Dhammadinna, Maitreyi, Saddhaloka, Dhammarati, Padmasuri, Ratnadharini and Manjuvajra

We also had some discussion about how to undertake preceptor reviews most effectively.

3. Relationship between the college and the order and movement.

The function of the college is based on a three-fold model in which the movement is taking responsibility for itself via the fwbo chairs and councils, the order is taking responsibility for itself via such structures as the chapters and the order convenors, and the college is collectively responsible for ordinations. All three should be in fruitful dialogue.

With respect to the functioning of the college itself, we decided that important next steps would be:

1. To have a more effective internal executive
2. To find more effective ways of both communicating with and listening to the voices of the order and movement.

We value being in good communication with the rest of the order and movement and want to make full use of the forums for dialogue that already exist. We are also interested in exploring the value of a meeting with some of the chairs, mitra convenors and order convenors.

During our time together we had a discussion on the structure of our college meetings. Coming together, in the flesh and blood and not just via email, is important. It gives us a tangible sense of harmony. When the college was relatively small this was easier to bring about. Nowadays the college is not made up of a small group of full-time public preceptors, but is a larger, and therefore more diverse and geographically spread-out, group of order members with different temperaments, interests and more restraints on time.

One of the main jobs of the college is to maintain shared ‘standards’ at the point of ordination and coherence regarding Going for Refuge. We have found that different ways of meeting help us to do this in different ways. Working together in smaller kulas we can look at the particulars of the work that each of us is doing, learn from the practical experience of others and clarify the working out of principles. Practising and studying the Dharma on retreat and in larger numbers (ideally the whole college together) allows us to experience that coherence, and the diversity that exists even within such a small group as the public preceptors. It helps us to strengthen our sense of shared Going for Refuge and our understanding of it. At the same time we need to deal with important practical issues pertinent to the whole college, what we are calling ‘business’. It’s difficult for a large meeting of people to deal effectively with these kinds of practicalities, at least beyond a certain degree of detail.

The structure of our meeting needs to reflect all this, and after some discussion we have decided to divide our meeting into 3 periods: a period when the kulas meet, a period when the whole college meets – primarily retreat based with input relevant to our work and practice – and a period for business, with only those who wish to be involved in this way present. This meeting will make recommendations to the whole college and is the beginning of the creation of a college executive. At present this core business meeting will be made up of Dhammarati, Maitreyi, Saddhaloka, Ratnadharini, Parami, Buddhadasa and Moksananda.

We also gave some time to exploring gender issues, during which we were able to share our individual experience of them in the order and movement. Strong appreciation of the practice of single-sex activities was expressed. At the same time it seems clear that, particularly in the early days of single-sex, some people found it at times painful and confusing, as well as supportive. We particularly wanted to talk about gender so as to clarify to what extent issues of gender influenced the dynamic in our mixed college meetings.

We met up in our kulas for several days, to talk in more detail about our work and practice, the ordination processes we are involved in and the men and women we are helping to train.

Early on in the meeting we had Subhuti visit us for a day. It was good to have him back briefly, sharing some of his reflections and also his personal experience of the last couple of years. His thoughts regarding our work for the order fed into the meeting and some of the discussions we had over the course of the 10 days. We also had a discussion about how he, and some of the more experienced public preceptors, can most fruitfully participate in our meetings.

During the course of the meeting we had some evening events: study with Subhuti on the Sabbasava Sutta ‘All the Taints’, from the Majjhima-Nikaya; life stories from Moksananda, Varadevi and Sudarshan, a moving and inspiring account of Abhaya’s recent 3 month retreat in New Zealand, his discovery of sculpting and drawing, and his decision to no longer form a part of the college (at least for the time being) so as to lead a more ‘contemplative’ life. We also watched some slides with Ratnadharini from the recent ordination retreat at Akasavana.

Our next meeting will be in March 2008, at Madhyamaloka.

Moksananda

the guhyaloka ordination course

2007-08-02T16:58:00.000+00:00

manjuvajra, on his time at aryaloka. click on the image to enlarge

from dhammarati

It’s more than 20 years since I did a retreat as long as this four month ordination course. In early April I came straight to the retreat from an intense set of meetings, with the public preceptors for 10 days, then the private preceptors, with bhante, for a weekend. The private preceptors meeting finished on Sunday evening, and by Tuesday morning I was on a plane heading for Alicante.

The retreat has a very simple programme, but it has a surprisingly strong impact.
On the first week, 18 guys, most of whom hardly know each other, turn up in this little cluster of huts in the mountains 3000ft above the holiday resorts of the Costa Blanca. For the first week, pretty much, we told life-stories. It was surprisingly effective. All these people, about whom I already had opinions, on the basis of nothing much more than the way they walked or talked or ate or looked, gradually turned into to real human beings. I felt much more understanding of, and sympathetic to, everyone on the retreat at the end of the life stories.

The second week of the retreat is given over to the precepts. Following on from the life stories we look back over our whole lives from the point of view of each of the ten precepts. And then, in little desana kulas, we confess breaches of the precepts, a preparation period of purification before the later ordinations. That was quite intense; I had quite mixed feelings about it; some real reluctance, and some moments of excruciating embarrassment. But overall, like it says in the books, it really did feel like a liberating thing. By this time we were a couple of weeks into the retreat, and it was possible to be a bit more subtle and self aware around ethical behaviour. Habitual things, like ways I communicate, things I usually wouldn’t notice or take very seriously, I was becoming aware of, and seeing how the behaviours set up subtle and not so subtle disturbances, that spilled over into my meditation.

On an ordinary retreat it would be time to go home. But here we were just warming up. The next phase of the retreat was study, looking at the dharma section of the three jewels. One of the things that bhante has been saying a lot recently is that he’d like people to go more deeply into some of the basics. This study really felt like that. We were studying karma, conditionality, samkrta and asamskrita dhammas and the laksanas. It doesn’t get much more basic than the laksanas, but again because of the context, it felt like these pretty familiar ideas were able to go in more deeply, and started to make more experiential sense: that when you bring meditative attention to them you can’t see anything you can cling to, or define in concepts… you’re right into the heart of the dharma. it was like ryokan's old joke: ' i'll tell you a secret: all things are impermanent'

There were some real gems in the seminar on the chapters we were studying, like:
‘if you change your attitude towards the conditioned, well it’s as though the conditioned becomes the unconditioned. In a sense you could say if you changed your attitude towards the conditioned you don’t need the unconditioned. It’s your attitude itself which is unconditioned… the unconditioned acceptance of the conditioned was itself the unconditioned.

So, we’re sitting out in the spring sunshine, in a grove beneath some pine trees, looking down the valley with walls of vertical limestone, studying this stuff. It was exhilarating.

As someone remarked, basically we’d done a sangha retreat, followed immediately by a confession retreat, followed immediately by a study retreat, and now it’s being followed straight away by a meditation retreat. and we were still not at the halfway mark yet.

retreat in mexico

2007-07-10T10:33:00.001+00:00

from moksananda

I'm just back fom Mexico, and a week's retreat with some of the order and some of those who have asked for ordination. The retreat was at the Benedictine monastery I mentioned below.

This was the first time in 10 years that Parami and I have coincided on a trip out there, so we decided to hold a joint retreat for both men and women who have asked to join our order. Though retreats for those who are in training to join the western buddhist order are normally held either just for men or just for women, we both felt that it would be good to hold a joint retreat for all those who have asked for ordination, so as to help build a stronger sense of spiritual community between them. Our buddhist centre in Mexico city is flourishing, as is the centre that Jñanadakini and Kavindu have set up (called 'yogaespacio') yet the order and fwbo is relatively small in Mexico as a whole, and a long way from any other fwbo buddhist activities. So friends, mitras and order members need all the support they can get from each other.

I think we were succesful in developing this sense of shared community. Using the 5 stages of the path as outlined by Sangharakshita there arose a strong sense of the common path to be trode by all, an appreciation of the individuality of each, and at the same time an awareness of gender conditioning (which of course has it's own particular slant in Mexico, as it does anywhere).

I was interested to know how people would experience such a retreat. On the whole my impression was that participants really appreciated the chance to have a retreat with all those who are in training to join the order, enabling as it did a stronger sense of the wider community and the chance to get to know fellow practitioners a little better. At the same time I think that most, though not all, felt that being on retreat with just women or just men enables communication, study of the dharma and its practice to go just that little bit deeper. It was interesting that quite a few seemed to feel that the retreat had made them more aware of their, and others', gender conditioning.

I myself enjoyed the retreat, despite the jetlag, and appreciated being with everyone very much. I had the chance to catch up with most of the men who have asked for ordination, and to get to know those new to the process of training. Some of the men have been involved with the fwbo in Mexico for quite a longtime now and I certainly feel a very strong connection with them.

I also appreciated being with the order members again, and it was especially good to be on retreat with my dear friend Parami. We used to live and work together in Valencia, so we have a long history too. She knows me very well indeed!

Upeksamati is also someone I have a strong friendship with and appreciation for. The community he has created in Mexico is, I think, characterised by cheerfulness and friendlines, and a growing sense of participation. Many of the newer order members are obviously finding their feet there and taking their own place within things. That truly is a delight to see.