The annex build here at Vajraloka has gained momentum with an improvement in the weather. The foundations are now in place, ready to start building the walls next week.
As well as more toilet facilities another improvement retreatants at Vajraloka will be pleased to hear about is that we are creating more single rooms by splitting two twin rooms into four singles. Work has started on this too.
As some of you may know Vajraloka has started an upgrade to our Annex. This will provide more toilet and shower facilities, which for those of you who have been to Vajraloka will know is much needed.
Here are a couple of photos of the first weeks work, a good start considering rain has stopped work quite a bit. Fingers crossed for better weather.
Hi everyone.
Just a short(ish) newsletter to keep you up to speed with Vajraloka world before the centre closes to retreats and begins the new annex project building works.
Retreat news.
This year’s retreats so far have been a great success and many have been full or nearly full. This has been good for the finances but much, much more importantly good for what we can offer and what many can enjoy. This is the main reason Vajraloka exists, after all.
Our ‘Emptiness and the Heart Sutra’ retreat is currently running and ‘Embodying Love’ begins on 24th May and there are still some places free, I hear. Balajit, who used to live here, and Rijumitra will be leading this retreat, and it’s always a joy see them in action.
By September we hope that the bulk of the annex will be complete, but as with all building projects we can’t be precise. Retreats will nevertheless start up again in early September but the ‘Simply Being’ retreat is full. However, our ‘In the Seen only the Seen’ retreat has spaces and starts on 20th September.
Annexe Project update.
And so onto the annex project. The very capable Jinapalita (who has arrived back to Vajraloka after a long retreat in company of Vessantara and others) will be the guy on the ground overseeing the works. We wish him our support and good wishes in such a task. We will, of course, try to take ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ pics to share with you all. The very good news is that your generosity has helped us to raise a fund of nearly £90,000 towards the cost. Initially we felt that a target of about £85000 would cover the project. However one of Jinapalita’s reflections whilst on this retreat was the idea of converting rooms B and C into four single rooms. This would be a very wise move at this point, while we are building the annex. With this in mind the Vajraloka team and Trustees have decided to keep the fund raising appeal alive until after the project is complete. We will of course keep you up to date with the progress and hopefully when you visit us next you’ll see the results. There should be quite a few more single rooms, and of course more shower and toilet facilities.
Other news.
Water leaks Vajraloka recently had yet another water leak from the old pipes that are gradually failing. We have therefore decided to get replacement piping which, as it is around a mile to the mains, will we think cost around £7,000 to replace. But it is an essential task and we hope to be getting on with the work during the next two months or so.
Programme 2020 Most of you will have had an email recently asking whether you want to receive a program brochure by post or would like a PDF version via email. Once collated we will ensure those of you who’d still like the brochure in your hand will receive it and that the PDF is available via email and online. This will save Vajraloka lots of money and will also be better for our environment. We have already received many lovely responses from you. Thanks so much.
Team news. Tejananda is off to lead some retreats in the USA this summer. Prajnapriya is leading a Buddhafield North meditation retreat in June (which I – Padmadasa – am on too). Jinapalita is mainly chilling out at Vajraloka, (well overseeing the Annex Project isn’t really quite as luxurious as chilling!). The rest of the team are having some well-earned break time, and also some Vajraloka at home time.
That’s all for now Folks
Have a great summer and all our love The Vajraloka Team
Newsletter by Padmadasa
Love
Sometimes the words from someone really makes one stop and see things more clearly. The other day I was listening to Martin Luther King’s sermon “Why I Oppose the Vietnam War” which he gave in 1967 shortly before his assassination. King underscores the sermon of the importance of love and he says
“When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.”
I have been editing the talks from the recent retreat Tejananda and I led on the Brahmaviharas and the Tonglen practices and Dr King’s words resonated with what these practices are about. The act of love is the key, as he says, that unlocks the door that leads to ultimate reality. It is in the act of love that we stop separating from what is actually happening and come into an intimate connection with life. Perhaps, taking it a bit further, love is the actual nature of ultimate reality.
As I said I have been editing the talks from the recent Awakening Heart and Divine Abodes Retreat. I am doing this to turn them into an ebooklet available to download with links to the led meditations from the Retreat. This is a new way of getting what we do out there and hopefully will lead to other ebooklets on other Retreat themes. I’ll keep you informed of progress.
After Spring like weather earlier in the week the weather turned back towards winter but that didn’t stop a team trip into Snowdonia in search of Dragons on Dinas Emrys. The weather was a mixture of rain and snow with a very occasional hint of sun and a dragon was found and befriended.
Here’s a link to the details of the legend which has hints of Padmasambhava about it.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/craflwyn-and-beddgelert/features/a-tale-of-two-dragons
First Cut of the Year.
1st April and the first cut of the Vajraloka lawns. The winter has been relatively mild after the cold and snow of the last year when we had to walk people out from two of the retreats because the road was blocked with snow. Spring and early summer are a lovely time to come on retreat at Vajraloka. The bluebells in the dell area now emerging from the ground for their beautiful display in a month or so’s time and the birds are beginning to really sing the change of season in.
From the beginning of June we will be closed for three months to facilitate the Building of the new Shower Annexe
but we still have places on a number of our retreats between now and then.
As some of you may know Vajraloka is planning an upgrade to our Annex. This will provide more toilet and shower facilities, which for those of you who have been to Vajraloka will know is much needed.
We have been raising funds for this project which we expect to be in the region of £80000, and through our supporters generosity we have raised almost three quarters of this target.
The centre is closed over the summer for the work to proceed and once completed it will offer, literally a great deal of relief!
If you can offer Vajraloka help to reach our final target this will be very much appreciated by the team and all who come to stay with us on retreat for the many years to come.
You can either use the my donate link on this site or feel free to contact us to arrange a bank or pay-pal payment. Cheques can be made out to FWBO Corwen.
Gift aid is most welcome if you are in a position to do so and we can forward a form for this if necessary.
Once again thanks for all your support, financially and all that good will from so many of you.
The Vajraloka team
The daffodils began blossoming here at Vajraloka last week bringing Spring colours.
All of the retreats and retreat descriptions for 2019 are now up on the site – check the Calendar page and click to read the descriptions of retreats you’re interested in. You can also book from the page of each individual retreat.
The printed programme will be available soon – at the moment there is a temporary link on the calendar page which you can use to download the PDF of the full programme. (We’ll shortly have one up that does away with the adverts.)
Hope to see you here at Vajraloka during the coming months!
From the team,
Tejananda, Rijumitra, Jinapalita, Saccavicaya and Prajnapriya
