Alokasetu is a virtual community that supports ordination training for women in the US and Canada. The word “Alokasetu” is Sanskrit for “Bridge of Light.” Many may fondly recognize it as the name given to our early fundraising efforts for women’s ordination training. 

 

With the growth of our community and project scope, the name has come to stand for a new, bigger vision. In the Alokasetu community, we offer training retreats, mentorship, and support to women mitras who wish to enter the Triratna Buddhist Order. We aim to create conditions to deepen their Going for Refuge – to have it witnessed and acknowledged through their ordination. 

 

Ordination training is fundamentally a training in confidence. Confidence in the Order, which is based on Sangharakshita’s vision, and confidence in the Buddha Dharma and one’s ability to follow it effectively. Spiritual practice is individual, and individual circumstances vary, so a flexible approach to training is taken.

 

We offer two long retreats annually, usually at our two primary Triratna Retreat Centers: Dharmadhara Meditation Center in California and Aryaloka Buddhist Center in New Hampshire. We are also committed to offering one or two online retreats each year. 

 

The Triratna Buddhist Community is a worldwide movement of people who engage with the Buddha’s teachings in the conditions of the modern world. Neither monastic nor lay, we are simply Buddhists. We practice at our varying stages of commitment and understanding, living the ethical standards of the Dharma to the best of our ability.

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