Regular events

Dharma Monday

Friendship in the Spiritual Life: The Buddha and Sangharakshita as spiritual friends

We all need friends, at least we all need to feel a sense of connection with others. 'Kalyana mitrata', spiritual friendship, is a distinctive emphasis in the Triratna Buddhist movement, a really important part of our spiritual lives.

Ananda was the Buddha's closest companion and friend, and was familiar with all of his teachings (the Dharma). When he declared that he'd reflected and concluded that 'kalyana mitrata' was half the spiritual life, the Buddha replied: "Say not so Ananda, say not so. 'Kalyana mitrata' is the whole of the spiritual life."

Sangharakshita, who was the founder of Triratna, said "For most of us [in the West] the central problem of the spiritual life is to find emotional equivalents for our intellectual understanding [of the Dharma]." The practice of spiritual friendship is one of the key ways of engaging our emotions.

There are certain conditions which make it more likely for spiritual friendship to arise. These conditions relate to both the personal, and the wider context, the collective, in our case the community of people practising the Dharma. This series of talks explores what this means in Triratna, and how it helps our spiritual lives.

The Buddha and Sangharakshita as spiritual friends
In the final talk in the series, Purna will talk about the Buddha as the original exemplar of spiritual friendship and Purna's relationship with Bhante Sangharakshita. A Flemish poet once observed that “the supreme poetry has no other purpose than to keep open the highways which lead from what we are seeing to what we are not seeing”. In a similar manner we could see kalyana mitrata as having no other purpose than to open and keep open the path to whatever it is that transcends our current limitations. Transforming self-centeredness is not always a comfortable journey but no other journey will satisfy the hearts deepest longing.

Dharma night is suitable for those who would like to learn more about Buddhism. It is also a popular night for regular friends to drop in and practice together. If you are a beginner but can't get to/or have just started one of our meditation classes, you are still welcome to come and join in.

The usual program for the evening is a talk or discussion on some aspect of Buddhism, tea break, then group meditation to end the evening.

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