Retreats

Twice a year we host retreats that focus on one of the essential elements of ordination training, one each in the Eastern and Western regions. The retreats offer an opportunity to live in a practice community through engagement in meditation, spiritual friendship, study and discussion, ritual and work.

We have a program of eight ordination training retreats, offered in a repeating multi-year cycle:

These retreats aim to explore a particular element of the training in depth and detail. The form of the retreats will vary. Some of them involve quite a bit of group study and personal reflection. Other retreats are more meditative, while others have more of a flavor of faith and devotion. You will also find that all of the retreats will include reference to all the elements of ordination training, with one of them predominating.

Thorough preparation will make the retreat more rewarding for you and for all participants, with topics and readings announced well in advance.
The regional retreats are important events that bring together men from all over the United States and Canada. The members of the Ordination Team consisting of Public and Private Preceptors will attend.

While these retreats are an essential component of ordination training and serve the purpose of deepening understanding of the Triratna Buddhist Order, they are also intended to support practice and application of principles learnt in one’s life and local situation. Naturally, there is only so much one can imbibe on a retreat. The bulk of the one’s individual training in a particular theme will happen outside of more formal retreat settings.

The Triratna Buddhist Community and the Order have been active in North America since the early 1980’s, and our Centers and Order Members are dispersed over a large geographical area. This presents somewhat of a challenge compared to the situation in the UK and other areas where there are many more centers and resources available for people who are training for ordination.

Mitras are welcome to take advantage of the long-established retreat centers and other resources in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and India. In fact, it is strongly recommended that Mitras do retreats at Padmaloka or other centers in the UK that focus on training for ordination.

For those people whose practice is based primarily in North America there are a number of retreats and activities that can provide the support needed to be ordained into the tradition of the Triratna Buddhist Order.