GIVING THE FOUR GIFTS

I come to you with four gifts
The first gift is a lotus flower.
Do you understand?
My second gift is a golden net.
Can you recognize it?
My third gift is a shepherds’ round dance.
Do your feet know how to dance?
My fourth gift is a garden planted in a wilderness.
Could you work there?
I come to you with four gifts
Dare you accept them?

“PASS THE PARCEL”

Sangharakshita wrote this poem back in 1975, when the FWBO (Triratna) had barely begun. He gave us these four gifts 50 years ago, and we still have them. Join us on Triratna Day to imaginatively ‘unwrap’ them and pass them on.

The lotus – tools for personal development
The Golden Net – a vision of human existence
The Shepherd’s Round Dance – the nucleus of a new society
A garden in the wilderness – blueprint for a new world

We will hear an interview with Sangharakshita, given toward the end of his life. There’ll be space to reflect, talk, meditate and do puja. To spend time together in spiritual friendship.

Please bring lunch to share.

Hope to see you there!

Sthiradipa and Vimalavajri