Lily Colonna
Aryaloka Buddhist Center is a retreat center founded in 1985 as part of Triratna Buddhist Community (TBC). It is located in the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire and is surrounded by the Piscassic River. The founder, Manjuvajra, relocated to Boston from the UK and taught Buddhism and meditation classes there before purchasing Aryaloka and establishing it as a retreat center, living community, and Right Livelihood project. The purchase helped maintain the momentum of the expanding Buddhist community in New England. Studies at Aryaloka explore the Buddha’s Threefold Way of Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom, and Mahayana and Vajrayana texts; as well as ritual, mythology, the arts, yoga, tai-chi, hiking, snow-shoeing, veganism, and non-violence. They have hosted many Triratna teachers, including its founder, Urgyen Sangharakshita. The center is managed by many employees and some volunteers. Connections made at Aryaloka have led to the formation of Triratna groups in Portsmouth, Portland, Lubec, Boston, and New York City.
The first members of Aryaloka lived in the domes in the lower rooms, led retreats, and worked in the woodshops. The barn (Akashaloka) was renovated to be used as living space, after which the domes were used for retreats. In 2014, a stupa was built on the grounds in remembrance of Sangharakshita’s teacher, Dhardo Rinpoche, whose remains have also been spread amongst stupas in New Zealand, England, Germany, Spain, and Wales. Akashaloka now offers bedrooms, a small meditation hall, a kitchen, and a lounge. The main building also includes bedrooms and a kitchen, as well as a larger meditation hall and lounge, a multi-purpose room, a reference library, and a bookstore.
Triratna (Sanskrit for Three Jewels) is an international collection of Buddhist communities, businesses, projects, and centers. It was founded by the Venerable Urgyen Sangharakshita (1925-2018) and was initially called The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. Sangharakshita was a monk in India for 20 years and studied with teachers of different traditions before moving west and founding the TBC in London in 1967. The movement aimed to bring Buddhism to the West in an “approachable, inspiring, and engaging” manner. Members of Triratna believe the defining act of a Buddhist to be going for refuge to the Three Jewels: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. They do so through traditional practices like meditation, study, and ritual, as well as through other outlets, such as friendship and the arts.
There are about 2,500 members of the TBC worldwide. Ordination can be requested by anyone. It requires participation in the ordination training course, which consists of retreats and structures led by Order members and typically takes multiple years to complete. Ordinations are performed during ordination retreats by a senior Order member called a Preceptor. Triratna Order members are neither lay nor monastic; they are not ordained into a specific tradition and have differing lifestyles. Members meet weekly in spiritual workshops called chapters and discuss their challenges and insights in the Dharma practice, as well as offer assistance to one another. There are also regional meetings over the first weekend of every month for members to participate in collective Dharma practice, and three-week long international Conventions every two years. These meetings are intended to boost communication and encourage kindness and friendship. Most members have regular jobs, but some work in Right Livelihood businesses or at their Triratna center.
Some practitioners at Aryaloka and other TBC centers have the title of mitra, which is Sanskrit for friend. According to Aryaloka’s website, “Becoming a mitra is an expression of connectedness to the ideal of spiritual community. It represents an individual’s commitment to going deeper with their practice.” This title is reflective of the importance of spiritual friendship in TBC. One must be able to make three declarations if they intend on becoming a mitra:
- I feel that I am a Buddhist.
- I am trying to practice the Five Precepts.
- I feel that the Triratna Buddhist Community is the main context in which I want to deepen my practice.
Becoming a mitra is celebrated with a ceremony, after which one can study the Dharma Training Course for Mitras and attend special workshops and retreats at any Triratna center.
Aryaloka’s Ethical Guidelines are based on the Five Precepts and are listed as follows:
- I undertake the training principle of abstention from harming living beings. With deeds of loving-kindness, I purify my body.
- I undertake the training principle of abstention from taking the not given. With open-handed generosity, I purify my body.
- I undertake the training principle of abstention from sexual misconduct. With stillness, simplicity and contentment, I purify my body.
- I undertake the training principle of abstention from false speech. With truthful communication, I purify my speech.
- I undertake the training principle of abstention from intoxication. With mindfulness clear and radiant, I purify my mind.
Triratna has faced controversy in more recent years surrounding Sangharakshita’s sexual relations with other subordinate community members, some of which were under 21, the legal age of consent at the time. The Adhisthana Kula, a group of senior members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, was formed in 2017 to address these and other past controversies. They issued a report in 2020 outlining the findings from their investigation of Sangharakshita’s behavior and its impact, the progress made and the introduction of restorative processes, and an apology on behalf of the members, as well as Sangharakshita’s statement published in 2016.
“I being its founder, Triratna sometimes bears the mark not of the Dharma but of my own particular personality. That personality is a complex one and in certain respects I did not act in accordance with what my position in the movement demanded or even as a true Buddhist. I am thinking in particular of the times when I have hurt, harmed or upset fellow Buddhists, whether within Triratna or out of it.
These thoughts have borne all the more upon me in the course of the last week, when I was in hospital with pneumonia. As I was well aware pneumonia can be fatal to a man of my age and I knew that I could die, even though I did not feel that I was dying, despite being very ill.
I would therefore like to express my deep regret for all the occasions on which I have hurt, harmed or upset fellow Buddhists, and ask for their forgiveness.”
-Urgyen Sangharakshita, 2016
Works Cited
Aryaloka Buddhist Center official website, https://aryaloka.org/
The Buddhist Centre, https://thebuddhistcentre.com/