Dear Friends
In Lama Dashon’s last newsletter, he described how we are using the five certainties as a model for discussing changes we are making to our activity as a sangha. This includes relating to the Hermitage as the Sacred Space - the sangha’s spiritual home, a place that is an important source of adhishtana, and as such, somewhere we take as a shared responsibility to care for and empower with our own practice.
The Hermitage team has undergone a fair amount of change in recent months and as part of our process of vision renewal, discussed in the last newsletter, we need to focus our attention on the short, medium and long-term vision in this area.
We can think of our responsibility to the Hermitage as a sacred Space in terms of Dharmic activity, maintenance and development of the Hermitage site itself, and care for those who live, practice and meet there.
When we embrace this as a collective responsibility, as an expression of spiritual practice in itself, our practice empowers the adhisthana to flow!
Focusing on the Hermitage as the long-term centre of our sangha practice mandala gives us clarity around the changes we think are needed to support the other areas of vision renewal.
As the Hermitage is primarily the home for Lama Shenpen and Lama Tara, we will continue to support them as they live and focus their practice and teaching activity there.
The Hermitage team
Going forwards we don’t expect there to be a ‘permanent’ or long-term residential community but rather all members of the sangha are encouraged to contribute towards spending time and focussing their practice individually and as part of groups at the Hermitage.
Our presence and practice can be seen as keeping vigil. Taking care of the place supports us in a deeper relationship with this sacred space.
Local sangha member Tamsin has recently joined us as Hermitage Manager. She lives nearby and works 4 days a week. The role of Hermitage Manager is primarily focused on supporting individuals and groups who come for retreat, including working with those taking on stewardship roles to tend to the day-to-day running of the place.
The Hermitage Manager will be supported by a skilled Maintenance Manager, working 2 days a week, taking care of the site buildings, grounds and larger projects. Mebar’s husband Mike is taking on this role later in the autumn.
As well as Tamsin, there is a local presence of committed senior students, including Lama Dashon, Pati, Eli, Mebar and others who are considered integral to the Hermitage team.
The aim is for the Hermitage team and local community to encourage and support sangha members in deepening their practice in our sacred space. We will be sharing more in the coming weeks about developments at the Hermitage and opportunities for practice and retreat.
So, what does this all mean?
As one of the three touchstones from the last newsletter, Abundant opportunities for practice means to link into a wide range of ways of spending time at the Hermitage:
Stewardship
Sangha members are warmly invited to apply to live and practise at the Hermitage for up to a year in semi-retreat, as custodians or stewards of the sacred space, with the aim to focus on holding the vigil through their practice, and as part of the Hermitage team, to support others who also see the Awakened Heart Sangha and Hermitage as their spiritual home.
Longer or shorter periods may be considered in discussion with the Hermitage manager.
Group retreat
As part of the vision renewal, we are aiming for practice groups to use the Hermitage as a venue for retreats and events. Each group will be responsible for making the event happen with support from the Events and Hermitage teams, rather than the other way around. The advantage of using the Hermitage in this way, is that we can gather in a place that is empowering for both our sangha and our individual practice.
Solitary retreat
The cabin built for Lama Dashon’s recent 2 year retreat is available for those who are ready for longer solitary retreat - we currently have a number of retreatants booked for over a year in advance. The retreats are aimed to last typically for three to six months.
Solitary retreat in a group environment
We are considering the idea of setting aside certain times of the year where members can practise at the Hermitage in solitary retreat, where others will be in retreat at the same time. This would allow retreatants to support each other, joining in with group practice once or twice a day, perhaps joining pujas, and the rest of the time in their own retreat practice.
This will allow people to come for solitary retreat at times that are less busy than usual, for retreats that can last anywhere from a long weekend to a month.
All of these are different ways of relating to the Hermitage, and the mandala of Awakening.
They will require a certain amount of support from the Hermitage manager, but members are expected to take more responsibility for making their retreat time a central part of their practice with the Awakened Heart Sangha.
Future site development
We have planning permission for two more retreat cabins and a large meditation hall. We are discussing how to manage all of this if we don’t have a resident community to oversee the changes. We will also need to see what kind of engagement we can call upon from the Sangha as a whole before making decisions on any future development.
Warm wishes
Mebar