No class Oct 6th, then Dr Ambedkar Celebration Oct 13th

No Class Tuesday 6th October

Tuesday 13th October
Dr Ambedkar Celebration
6.45pm to 8.45pm

Adelaide

First, please note that there will be no class on Tuesday 6th October as many of us will be away on a residential retreat.

On Tuesday 13th October we will be celebrating the life and work of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.

Dr Ambedkar was an Indian politician and social reformer. He was born as a so-called “Untouchable”, a victim of discrimination and persecution at the hands of the caste system. Despite this he was a keen and brilliant student leading to a great career including becoming the first Law Minister of independent India in 1947 and chairing the Committee which drafted its Constitution.

In his efforts to gain liberation and social justice for his fellow Untouchables (or Dalits) he converted to Buddhism on 14th October 1956, along with many thousands of his followers. Unfortunately he died shortly after and Sangharakshita, the founder of Triratna who lived in India at that time, was influential in giving talks to many of these new Buddhists to inform them more about what their conversion entailed.

We will hear about Dr Ambedkar’s vision and work for transformation and what we can learn from him in our own practice and daily life. The night will be a fundraiser for Triratna’s longstanding work in India and we welcome any contribution that you can make.

From Tuesday October 20th onwards we’ll be resuming our ongoing theme of Buddhist ethics which takes us through until the end of the year.

Don’t forget that every Tuesday night includes a drop in class for newcomers to Triratna’s system of meditation.  All are welcome.

Padmasambhava, The Lotus Born

Tuesday 1st September
6.45pm to 8.45pm
Anthroposophic Book Centre

Adelaide 5000

Or online via Zoom:
Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we will take a break from our ongoing theme of Ethics and The Dhammapada to celebrate Padmasambhava Day.

Why was Padmasambhava so important?

Born in the mythical land of Uddiyana in northern India and said to be fully Enlightened from birth, he created the conditions for the propagation of the Vajrayana in Tibet. He tamed the indigenous spirits of Tibet and harnessed their energies to serve the Buddhadharma and hence transform Tibetan society and culture.

He is celebrated as the founder of Nyingmapa the oldest school of the Vajrayana. Several of Bhante Sangharakshita’s teachers were of this lineage. Therefore on the 1st of September we remember the life of Guru Rimpoche Padmasambhava.

Spring Retreat: Four Gateways to Freedom

Friday 2nd October 6.00pm to
Wednesday 7th October 2.30pm
Glenbarr
Paris Creek Road
Strathalbyn SA 5255

Insight is a form of freedom when, not just through mental ideas, but through actual lived experience, we grasp the real nature of how things are now.

Without insight we tend to construct our experience around hopes and expectations for permanent and substantial ends that will make ‘me’ feel happy. The actual characteristics of existence as it is – impermanent, unsatisfactory and selfless (no separate self) is obscured from us and we suffer from our delusions about how life should be. We can change our lives for well-being and compassionate living through insight.

Come on retreat with us in the beautiful setting of Glenbarr and explore the Buddha’s practices and teachings to find this freedom through meditation, study, discussion and silent reflection – with a good dose of friendly companionship.

To book your place or with any queries, please email us. The recommended donation for the retreat is $320 / $280.

Buddhist Ethics and The Dhammapada

Tuesday 14th July and onwards 6.45pm
Anthroposophic Book Centre

Adelaide 5000

Or online via Zoom:
Meeting ID 
Direct Link

From Tuesday 14th July we will come together in person again at our usual venue, the Anthroposophic Book Centre in Halifax Street, to explore our theme for the coming months: Buddhist Ethics and The Dhammapada.

The ethical precepts are the pillars which support our efforts to develop and transform ourselves, helping us live in harmony with one another and to refine and calm our minds, making them ever more receptive to the truth of the way things are.

The Dhammapada is one of the earliest of the Buddhist texts and so is as close as can be to the words of The Budhha himself. It paints a vivid picture of the spiritual life which is as relevant in the present day as it was when the words were first spoken some 2,500 years ago.

We begin on the 14th with an introduction from Saddhavijaya to the First Precept, or training principle, which underpins all the others, the practice of kindness or non-harm.

On the 21st, Ratnadaka will give the first in a series of talks about the Dhammapada.  From then on, the two themes will continue interleaved, and interspersed with some special events, until the end of the year.

Meditation beings at 6.45pm with a drop in class available for newcomers. After the meditation, the break will be shorter than usual and the kitchen closed, so please bring your own bottle of water or flask of tea. We will aim to finish a little earlier than usual, at 8.45pm.

Please remember to practice social distancing during the evening and make use of the hand sanitiser that will be available. For health reasons we will also be maintaining a record of attendees in case it’s needed to provide as a contact tracing list, so please be willing to share some simple contact details for this.

For those that are unable to join us in person, the zoom meeting will be open as usual and you will be able to join us that way.

Dharma Day Celebration

Tuesday 7th July 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we will come together online for the last time, before we start meeting in person again from the following week.

Nagasuri will be joining us to celebrate Dharma Day, the annual festival which celebrates the first ‘Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma’ – the occasion on which the Buddha first communicated his teaching (Dharma), making it possible for any human being to practise as he practised, and so attain the liberation of Awakening.

We will gather from 6.45pm with the aim of starting our meditation at 7pm with a short tea break at 7.30, after which Chris, Tash and Ing will give short talks about how the Dharma is inspiring them, before Nagasuri brings the evening to a close by leading us through a Buddha Puja taken from the Dhammapada.

As on all of our Tuesday evenings, we invite donations to help us with running our events.  If you would like to contribute directly to our bank account, please use the following details:

BSB 313140
Account 12113931
Account name: Adelaide Triratna

Dhammapada: The Way of Truth

Tuesdays 16th, 23rd, 30th June 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we start our new themes for the second half of the year.

For the next week and the two weeks following, we will gather from 6.45pm with the aim of starting our meditation at 7pm and the evening will finish a little sooner than usual, at 8.30pm.  We look forward to welcoming Nagasuri who will be joining us via zoom to explore the theme of the Dhammapada and Ethics.

Tuesday 16th June. Nagasuri will introduce the Dhammapada: The Way of Truth – a very early text as close as we can get to the Buddha’s own words offered in short, direct and often challenging verses that go to the heart of the Dharma. This evening we will explore verses 1-2:

1 Experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, and produced by mind. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows even as the cartwheel follows the hoof of the ox (drawing the cart).

2 Experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, and produced by mind. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow that never departs.

Tuesday 23rd June. Nagasuri will introduce the topic of Ethics – the beauty and vital importance of ethical conduct of body, speech and mind.

Tuesday 30th June. We will return to more verses of the Dhammapada.

As on all of our Tuesday evenings, we invite donations to help us with running our events.  If you would like to contribute directly to our bank account, please use the following details:

BSB 313140
Account 12113931
Account name: Adelaide Triratna

What Is the Order?

Tuesday 9th June 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

On Tuesday we will start the evening meeting with our usual meditation. After the tea break, our 5 women mitras who are currently training for ordination (Jo, Katrina, Claudia, Keryn, and Tracy) will share some of their personal experience after attending a 5 week special online retreat with around 30 other GFR women mitras from all over Australia.

With lots of reading and discussion on the theme “What Is The Order” they went deeper in their understanding of what it actually means to join the Order – an Order that is often compared to Avalokiteshvara where each member or hand is an offering to the world to help relieve suffering and lead beings to liberation.

Let’s hear about their own personal perspectives and insights, and what it means for their practice in their daily lives.

As on all of our Tuesday evenings, we invite donations to help us with running our events.  If you would like to contribute directly to our bank account, please use the following details:

BSB 313140
Account 12113931
Account name: Adelaide Triratna

The Journey to Il Convento

Tuesday 26th May 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we will start our evening meeting with meditation and then after the tea break, Ratnadaka will be leading us on ‘The Journey to Il Convento’.

Why do some images strike us and “capture our imagination”? This is one of a number of questions explored by Sangharakshita in his classic lecture “The Journey to Il Convento”.

Join us on zoom as we go on a journey with Sangharakshita as our “mythophanic psychopomp” and explore how imagination shapes the spiritual path and the way we see the world.

Usually at our in-person Tuesday evenings, we invite donations to help us with running our events.  If you would like to donate directly to our bank account, please use the following details.  Regular members may want to consider making a regular monthly payment, but one off donations are welcome too.

BSB 313140
Account 12113931
Account name: Adelaide Triratna

The Imagination

Rose mandala in the time of covid.
Leeanne Crisp 2020

Tuesday 19th May 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we will start our evening meeting with meditation and then after the tea break, Ing will be exploring The Imagination.

What is imagination, what feeds it, how may it enrich our spiritual lives?

‘There is an age-old idea that the human imagination contains a kind of wisdom, a vision of wholeness – the process of becoming whole – which we ignore at our peril. It offers an integrating force, an entrance to the spiritual, and a path which we can all tread as we aim to live emotionally richer and more harmonious lives.’ Ananda, 2004

Faith and Imagination

Tuesday 12th May 6.45pm
Online via Zoom: Meeting ID 
Direct Link

Next Tuesday we will start our evening meeting with meditation and then after the tea break, Rich will be talking about the place of Faith and Imagination in the Buddhist Tradition.

Faith, or Shraddha, covers the devotional or feeling aspect of spiritual life. Its the emotional response you have to the embodiment of Enlightenment – the ultimate in us responding to what is ultimate in the universe.

What Sangharakhita refers to as the ‘Imaginal Faculty’ can take us beyond our current experience, giving us access to the transcendental, or at least a glimmer of it – to enter the higher visionary levels of experience, and to perceive truths that are beyond the realm of space and time.

Join us on Tuesday to explore the practice of engaging the imagination in service of our spiritual progress.