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?

We will be exploring Sangharakshita’s poetic description of our movement’s founding principles, and asking ourselves what these gifts mean to us today.

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.

PROGRAMME

9.30   Doors open
10.00 Meditation
11.00  Talk: The lotus flower and the golden net
11.30  Break
12.00  Conversation café
13.00 Bring & share lunch
14.00 Talk: The shepherd’s round dance and the garden in the wilderness
14.30 Small groups and plenary
15.30 Break
16.00 Sevenfold Puja and four gifts ritual
17.00 End