2011 ARCHIVE - Windhorse Men's Weekend Camping Retreat

Here's a personal report from Vidyavajra about the inaugural Windhorse Men's Weekend Camping Retreat, held from the 8-10th July 2011.

'I’ve not been camping in many a year, and I must admit I’d assumed my days of loafing on ground sheets and under wet canvas were long past.  So, when Arthapriya asked whether I’d come on the first Windhorse Men’s Weekend Camping Retreat, my ‘Yes’ felt slightly hesitant. How would my older body cope with being in too close a proximity to cold, damp and unyielding ground? Would I be pining for central heating, a mattress and a relaxed coffee in Café Nero, before the sun rose on the first day?

By the time the weekend arrived, Jnanasalin and I, were equipped with a tent, two inflatable mattresses. a pump, an LED light, and rucksacks filled with a variety of clothes to match anything a slightly dodgy weather forecast might throw at us. We also found our supposedly four-person tent, must have been made for emaciated midgets, as it only accommodated us two comfortably. The inflatable mattress instructions warned against over inflation lest it burst, but neglected to say under-inflation would make deep sleep impossible, as every move you made, made you feel like you were slumbering aboard a bouncy castle. After overcoming such initial teething problems, everything was fine, if not fun.

The retreat was held on land adjacent to Sacakka’s house in Thorncett St Peter in Norfolk. Aryapala and the Buddhafield East Team, had set us up very well, with a newly constructed compost loo, a basic piped water system, a shrine tent, a kitchen, and a hot shower. There was even a sauna inside an old caravan, that a few intrepid souls ventured into during the fading light of sunset. The weekend’s weather in fact turned out to be warm and humid. What rain there was, was overnight, or light and short in duration. The only torrential downpour being just minutes before we were about to depart on Sunday

The broad theme for the weekend was ‘communication.’ So, apart from meditating and performing Puja together, we told each other our life-stories in smaller groups, condensed into half-hour slots, over the two days. The rest of the time the communication was more informal, spent hanging out around the campfire, eating, singing, walking, and playing games together. It was enjoyable to spend a weekend outdoors. It was also quite unusual, and a rare pleasure, to have so much relaxed informal time together with over thirty chaps you work with, drawn from both Warehouse, Offices and the Evolution shops. Hopefully an experience that will be repeated in the future.' 

2011 ARCHIVE - Dharma Day - July 15th

'From his greater lamp a lesser lamp we light within us.'

Dharma Day falling on a Friday allowed us to celebrate it during our usual weekly Right Livelihood period. Arthapriya gave an introductory talk, emphasizing its true value and significance, concluding with a lengthy, and moving account from the Samutta Nikaya, about the moment when the Buddha first successfully communicated his insight to Kaundinya. 

The Shrine before the Puja

After this Kavyasiddhi led us in a period where we personally recollected a moment when the Buddha's teaching had greatly impacted upon us. We then paired up, and shared what that experience had been to someone else. The morning finished with a simple Threefold Puja, led by Vidyavajra, during which we could express our reverence and gratitude to the Buddha, This was further heightened by a reading from The Udana, and the chanting of the Conditionality Verses. After the penultimate verse :-

'Reverencing the Buddha, we offer candles

To Him, who is the light,we offer light

From his greater lamp a lesser lamp we light within us The lamp of Bodhi shining within our hearts'

After the Puja

we chanted the Shakyamuni Mantra whilst making our own symbolic offering of a candle to the shrine. Once the words of the final verse faded away like a drift of incense, Vidyavajra recited those penultimate words once more, as a reminder of the real meaning and significance of this day

'From his greater lamp a lesser lamp we light within us.'

On Work As Practise - Katannuta & Satyagandhi

ON WORKING TO TRANSFORM
DIFFICULTIES & CONFLICTS

Both Katannuta and Satyagandhi used to work in our Accounts department. When Satyagandhi arrived, it was Katannuta's job to train her, this unexpectedly proved fraught with difficulties and conflicts, which somehow they needed to find a way of resolving. The following dialogue gives you an idea of the stages through which this process unfolded.

K - 'When Satyagandhi arrived I'd already been working in a large team and my job now was to train her. I had strong ideas about how this "ought" to be, but I didn't find it easy. I was both training her in the task but also being her buddy in a more general supportive role. We had to work very closely together because it was a complicated job and involved poring over the same bits of paper, using the same computer, discussing how things could be done. I was very exacting and clear in my teaching manner and kept giving the same instructions again and again'

S - 'My ego resented the fact that she thought I didn't know what I was doing after she'd told me the first time,(laughs) when we talked about what was happening we realised there was a clash of egos. We were both very opinionated, and we mirrored each other in this. What we saw in the other person were aspects of ourselves that probably weren't the most skillful aspects. once we recognised that we could deal with it.'

K - 'Despite our opinionatedness we actually got on very well, we were affectionate and cared  about each other a lot, yet there was this funny kind of rub.....  They were rather petty things we'd argue about but at the same time we tried hard to develop a friendship. We'd meet up for lunches and spend time together outside work; we even went away together for a weekend..... After a while, we realised that the issues were in reality more about the process of our communication. For instance, there was a way in which I'd say things which would lead Satyaghandhi into thinking I was telling her what she "ought" to think, even what she was thinking or feeling.'

S - 'I don't think we ever went home at the end of the day without dealing with such an issue. We might have an hour or two cooling-off-period, but Katannuta was particularly good at knowing when we needed to carry on talking....and when we needed to stop and come back to it later'

K - 'Yes, I'd say"We're having other argument, biff-baff-biff-baff, and it feels horrible!"

S - 'Whereas I'd say, "No, we're just having a discussion!" (mutual laughter) 'It was helpful to me to become more sensitive about when there is more going on for me and it's not just a friendly discussion any more. There's a pushiness that comes in, a desire to really push my point home in a way that's not very caring towards the other person.  So I came to learn to recognise that more'

K - 'After a couple of months Satyagandhi knew the ropes of the job and I had to do a lot of letting go so that she could just get on with it, for instance decide her own colour coding rather than follow mine. I didn't find that very easy, I have been called by my friends a control freak, so it really wasn't easy'

S - 'I was competent in the task, which I think made it easier to let go, but also Katannuta changed jobs so that took some of the intensity out of the situation. It was all in the open. In a way it was so embarrassing that we just had to do something about it'

K - 'I shared things I felt embarrassed about or ashamed of and wanted to change. I talked with the others in our team, or other friends who knew me well, or even straight to Satyaghandhi. I'd want to tell them because it helped my mental states become more "real" for me, particularly the uglier ones that I'd rather not have to admit to. Sharing my feelings of regret and shame about how I was behaving helped me to remember what I wanted to be like, and to be more committed to changing my negative states of mind. It also gave people the opportunity to ask me how I was getting on in my attempts to change, to help me when I was slipping, and to congratulate me when I was doing well. 

'A lot of the sorting-out between Satyaghadhi and me had this confessional element to them. There wasn't a sense of blame:"You did this or that." It was much more "This is what I brought to the situation and I'm sorry about it." That's how we were able to contain it in the team without it being a disaster. We both aspired to go beyond our limitations and were prepared to work at this. We also laughed at each other and ourselves.'

S - 'Throughout our time working together a lot of trust built up between us because we were able to admit to our own stuff. We could recognise that we were both practising the Dharma. I discovered quite early on that Katannuta has this great field of energy around her when she's in a bad mood that you can feel you can't get through. But I learned that if I were game enough to go through it, put my hands on her shoulders, or give her a hug, it all melted.'

K - 'Having someone who had the courage to reach right through my defences was huge for me.'

S- 'Forgiveness was easy for both of us because we both wanted to change and give each other the opportunity to do that. We have a similar type of energy. Neither of us felt good when we had these clashes. The way we moved beyond conflict was to take each other more into account in how we did things. We developed a sense of flexibility around each other, letting the other person have more what they wanted. Of course, if we started to do the same job together again we'd probably still argue, but it would be on a different basis.'

K - 'We learned to be much more aware of how we were putting ourselves across in relation to each other, but it also generalised out into how we related to other people. If someone is saying you're telling them what to do in a way they don't like, it makes you think about your communication with others as well. especially if the effect I'm having is not at all what I intend to by my choice of speech and language. We had a sharp learning curve in how we put ourselves across and how that affected each other.' ****

When asked if they'd consider working together again they both said - 'Oh yes'

K - 'We have a strong friendship now that would contain a conflict and resolve it.'


S - 'There's nothing wrong with conflict; it's how you resolve it that matters' ****

****  

All text in quotations have been taken from Padmasuri's book - Transforming Work, an experiment in Right Livelihood. Published by Windhorse Publications 2003. 

2002 ARCHIVE - Settling In

These are a few photos taken during our first year settling in to our new warehouse and offices.

Jonathan Hollands (Abhayamati)

Mark Liebenrood (Akashapriya)

Micheal Attwood (Jayarava)

Jenny Leutner

Heather Frost (f) with Katanutta(b)

Maitridevi

Sarah Preston (Mokshavani)

Padmaghosha on Reception

(b) Sanghadaka
(f) Patrick Anderson

Peter Cohen (Prajnapriya)

Sanghajivani

Santaka

Tejadarshan

Vidyananda

Vilasavara

2002 Women's Accounts Team
(l-r) Katanutta - Jenny Leutner - Heather Frost - Eva Ray - Amarashraddha
Dyotana - Mokshavani - Akashavajri - Maitridevi

2000? ARCHIVE - Trade Show - Salesmen at work

Here are a few photos of some of our salesmen a work on our Trade Show stand.

Vasubandhu

Ben Brewer (Jnanadhara)

Mark Lannen (Abhayanaga)

2005 ARCHIVE - Saddhayu's Ordination

Usually people have their Public Ordinations within the context of a long Ordination Course in Spain, or at one of Triratna's UK based retreat centres. Saddhayu's Private Ordination, where he was given his name by his Private Precepter Mokshananda, was held during a retreat for Spanish speakers at Ghuyaloka in Spain. He then flew back to the UK for his Public Ordination here at Windhorse. This was an unprecedented event in the history of Windhorse:evolution, and of great significance. Taking place, as it did, in the middle of our warehouse beneath the Stupa, the central spiritual focal point for the whole business. A Public Ordination formerly welcomes an individual into the Triratna Buddhist Order, in this case directly in front of his friends and 'kalyana mitras' (his spiritual mentors). The ordinands new name is publicly announced for the first time, verses of acceptance and vows in relation to ordination are recited. They then receive a 'Kesa'(a strip of cloth signifying being part of the Order) from a Public Precepter, in this instance from Padmavajra. By this simple act did Saddhayu (whose name means 'a life of faith') join the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

The Ordination platform

Saddhayu with his 'Kalyana Mitras'
(l) Jnanaketu & (r) Vilasavajra

Saddhayu making the three traditional offerings
( a flower, candle and incense) 

Saddhayu reciting his vows and verses of acceptance 

Being ritually cleansed

before receiving his Kesa

Saddhayu with some Spanish speaking friends

With thanks to Saddhayu for providing these photographs of his Ordination,
that was obviously of such personal significance to him.