Commemorating Bhante Sangharakshita's Death Anniversary

A practice morning for Order Members and Mitras to remember Bhante Sangharakshita near the anniversary of his death. The morning will include meditation and ritual – and we are very lucky to have Suvajra join us as our guest speaker.

Dharmacari Suvajra, a close friend, disciple, and attendant to Bhante in his later years, will be joining us to share his reminiscences of his time spent with his teacher. Keturaja (who was ordained by Suvajra) will be interviewing Suvajra and drawing out the many intimate, insightful and amusing stories of his encounters with Sangharakshita. Suvajra is a great story-teller and engaging teacher, with his years of practice and wealth of experience across the worldwide Triratna Community.

Suvajra grew up in Dundee and his teenage years were marked by a love affair with astronomy! He still retains a strong interest in scientific exploration. Suvajra got involved with the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order in Glasgow in the mid 1970s and soon joined the Order. In the early 1980s he moved to Manchester where he was a founding member of the Manchester Buddhist Centre. He was involved with several of the early three month ordination retreats in Tuscany, Italy and he was one of the first order members Bhante entrusted with carrying out ordinations on his behalf in India. In the late '80s he joined the fledgling ordination team at Padmaloka and helped establish its ordination training program. He was one of the first Public Preceptors and has privately ordained many of the men in the order. In the 1990s he moved to India and took a leading role in the ordination process for men in India. While there he followed up his strong interest and connection with Tibetan Buddhism and its practices. He got to know several revered lamas living in Nepal and Northern India. He wrote a book about Bhante’s revered teacher and friend Dhardo Rimpoche (which he is now updating). More recently he returned to the UK due to health issues. In Bhante’s later years Suvajra was a close attendant, caring for his teacher right up to his last days.