In the early 90s, Sangharakshita gave the Going for Refuge and Prostration practice for those preparing for Ordination. This practice - emerging from the clear blue sky - is a rich way to open into the world of imagination, symbol and meaning - a dimension of our being that is so often obscured by the habits and responsibilities of our normal lives.

The metta bhavana practice, one of the foundation practices in the FWBO, is part of a larger set of meditations known as the Brahma Viharas.
On this intensive meditation retreat you will be introduced to each of these meditations known as the Four Immeasurables or 'sublime abodes' - metta, mudita, karuna and upekkha - each with its own particular mood.
Together they form a valuable set that helps us develop the altruistic dimension of our practice.
Your metta bhavana practice will never be the same again.

Twenty years ago Sangharakshita shared with the Order his own process of understanding what it means to be a Buddhist. In “The History of My Going for Refuge”, a profound meditation on what Buddhism meant to him, he speaks of his journey of getting to the universality of what it is that makes one a Buddhist.
On this retreat we will explore this question, and Sangharakshita's response to set up a new Buddhist Order, neither monk nor lay, in which you are ordained at the point your 'effective going for refuge' is witnessed.

The progressive mode of conditionality is one of Sangharakshita's distinct emphases, drawn from the little known Upanisa Sutta. Here the Buddha teaches a path that moves us out of suffering to faith, then joy, then calm, then bliss and ever more creative states of mind.

On this weekend we will learn how we can make these spiral links part of our everyday lives.