Winter News from Sudarshanaloka
Rain is falling and myth is percolating as we get ready for the arrival of men whose footprints will not be seen leaving the tiger’s cave… Our preparations for the Men’s Ordination Retreat this September include Dhiraprabha and Tessa vacating the Community Cabins for use by the Ordination team. Tessa will take the opportunity for a solitary retreat in Amida while Dhiraprabha heads down the hill with Jetsun to ‘Sudhatu’, the new little hub at the bottom of the valley where Akasamati now resides.
We’ve been blessed with a rather beautiful winter which has allowed us to get a lot done. We have dug garden beds and new holes for the Amida and Community long drops, created new drainage systems for the Lower Retreat Centre and spruced up the solitary cabins. A diesel heater has been installed in our ‘Huffice’ (our office at the top of the ‘puffa’ track), which is felt as a warm blessing during all our various zoom meetings and email marathon sessions.
We rejoice in the success of the retreats so far this winter, when Sudarshanaloka can be at its most evocative: morning frost on the grass, crisp air and bright midday sun, cozy fireside evenings and clear night skies. Our central heating system works! And has transformed the Lower Retreat House, Library and Shrine Room. Do look at the programme on our Events page. We particularly welcome Sangha to join our upcoming Volunteers Retreat from 30th October to 7th November. This is a flexible and free retreat- let us know and you can drop in for any part of the week.
Sudarshanaloka’s big news of late has been the arrival and settling in of Darshanasiddhi and Shraddharocani in their new roles as Land Manager and Retreat Host, respectively. It hasn’t taken them long to feel at home in Mandaladvara, which now has a new kitchen and floor and a fresh coat of paint. The resident community feels renewed as well, with an enjoyable flow of communication and communal life already established.
Over the past months, the Sudarshanaloka Sangha has also been enriched by Guin, who arrived off the bus in Thames in January for the Under 35s Young Buddhist retreat and stayed on for more than three months in the Community Cabins, becoming a mitra during this time. She has now returned to England but we hope to see her here again.
Here are Guin's words: "I have been very fortunate to have spent over 3 months volunteering at Sudarshanaloka, and now sadly my time living in the community cabins is drawing to an end. We nicknamed ourselves sattā sukhi (well beings) and this feels very apt; everyday we put the precepts into action as we take care of each other and enjoy putting in effort to nourish our community. As well as the mahi we do for the retreat centre and the land we roast nuts on the fire, chop kindling, or prepare meals for one another. It's been an extremely rich spiritual time for me and the conditions help allow that - meditating together in the shrine room most mornings, dharma chats by the fire, and going on retreat. I feel incredibly grateful for this opportunity to live in such a sustainable way with a beautiful community in the middle of the luscious rainforest."