171: Suvajra's Seasonal - No 1, Summer (Part 1)

A new set of Buddhist Voices from The Buddhist Centre Online gets started with the first in a regular series featuring Suvajra, one of the most experienced members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, as we trace his life and practice taking each of the four seasons as our starting point.

We begin by touching on Suvajra's current life at Adhisthana Retreat Centre in the UK, caring for his teacher Urgyen Sangharakshita, the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. And having set the scene in Herefordshire, 2014, it's time to consider our first season...

Today we go back to the Summer of '69 and meet the young Suvajra as he first discovers the Dharma and realises that he has always been a Buddhist. This is a fascinating account of the early Buddhist scene in Britain in the 1960s and '70s and, specifically, in Scotland. We also hear about Suvajra's first visit to the US and subsequent exposure to Buddhist meditation and practice via Christmas Humphreys' books. And we catch a glimpse of his early encounters with the great Tibetan texts that were to have a profound influence on his later life.

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