Kulaprabha

I travelled out to the ordination retreat at Akashavana at the beginning of June. I was so very, very pleased to be there on the first occasion of its use as our Order/Ordination retreat centre. It’s going to be such an asset to us. Myself and seven other preceptors went out for a two week period in the middle of the three month-long retreat. I was there to ordain Enid Park from Glasgow. She is now Saranajaya which means “She whose Victory comes from the Refuges” or “She who wins Liberation through the Refuges”. Here she is standing behind Parami, her public preceptor.

It was a delight to ordain her. We’ve known each other ever since I led her first Dharma course at the Glasgow Buddhist Centre. I particularly enjoyed the early mornings and evenings she and I spent up in the ordination kuti going through her sadhana practice. One evening we came from the kuti and sat on some rocks watching the initially delicately coloured clouds and then blazing scarlet of the sunset. Fantastic. The local thunder and lightning storms over the mountain behind the retreat centre were also spectacular. And the rain would pour down torrentially.

I had recovered enough from the sciatica (see previous post) to be able to explore the walking tracks on our Akashavana land and to head up over the terraces and into the forest and see what I found! I was hoping to find some fossils. I did find some fossil shells. Other people claimed to have found fossils of dinosaurs. They are found in that region of Spain and I must admit they did look like dinosaur teeth. But I’m not quite convinced yet… perhaps I’m just envious… yes, I am!

One afternoon I found what I dubbed Yellow Rock Shelter which was twenty feet or so of overhanging rock with a partially enclosed and sheltered rocky shelf beneath it. It was obviously used by animals – wild goats and something else. North-facing and very secluded. And Saranajaya took me down took to visit the Grey Rock Vajra cave which I’d heard about from Vajradevi. It’s an intriguing spot if you are interested in geology…. the cave itself being the remains of a much more extensive anticline which has collapsed or been eroded (a long time ago) leaving lines of almost vertical limestone folding, like ribs jutting up from the ground, which you walk over to get to the cave. I’m not a geologist by any means but it looked to me as if the whole range of cliffs in and around Akashavana is part of a similar long-lost arch of limestone rock with various deformations and synclines within the overarching main anticline. I did enjoy trying to make sense of the landscape in that way. I also much delighted in all the wild flowers, the birds and birdsong, the rising scent of lavender, rosemary and thyme as you brushed past them in the woods … it was a delight for all one’s senses. No need to add that it is a wonderful spot to meditate in. I’ll be back there in September to lead a retreat focussing on the Six Element meditation practice.

This first link will take you to my Flickr account to see some photos taken after the public ordinations.

And this second link will let you see some other photos of scenery and people from the same retreat.

The main Akashavana website is here.