Triratna Nederland is part of TRIRATNA, a Buddhist movement started by Urgyen Sangharakshita (1925-2018) in 1967 in Great Britain, now spread over the whole world.

1972

Vajrayogini (died 2010) was the very first Dutch ordermember. In December 1972 she organised the first Triratna (which was then called Friends of the Western Buddhist Order/FWBO) retreat in Rotterdam from the Institute where she worked as a trainer. Vajradaka and Gotami (two British ordermembers) led this retreat and for Vajragita (died 2014) it was the first time she participated in a Triratna retreat.

1975

Sangharakshita himself visited The Netherlands a number of times. The story goes that on one retreat the participants were so quarrelsome that at a certain point Bhante had had enough and withdrew, leaving the running of the retreat to the ordermembers present. In 1975 Bhante led a retreat in Groesbeek, a town near Nijmegen. For this retreat Bhante came over to The Netherlands from the UK together with Vajradaka and Mangala. There were also a number of people participating in this retreat who were later ordained, amongst them were Vajrayogini, Vajragita, Dhammarati and Devapriya (died 2012).

Some two to three retreats were held each year in places such as Domburg (Zeeland), Hijkersmilde (Drenthe), Rhenen (Gelderland), Ulvenhout (North Brabant) and later Opende (Groningen). The first Mitra ceremony in the Netherlands was in 1978, when Vajragita became a Mitra. Vajragita had the habit of welcoming ordermembers, who would come from the UK to lead retreats, really well. She often took them to the Kröller-Müller museum in the Veluwe or treated them to a concert or other cultural event. For her this was a very important opportunity for contact with the Order that did not yet exist in Holland.

From 1980 to 1983/1984 meditation classes were held in the building of a community in De Bilt where a number of people who were involved with Triratna lived together. They all became mitras and, together with others, were very important for the development of Triratna in Holland. From 1982 to 1984 they organised the retreats while Vajragita was in the UK.

In the period from 1979 to 1984 Khemasiri, Bodhimitra, Gunabhadri and Vimalabandhu get involved. They all leave for the UK. In 1984 Vajragita returns from the UK and starts to live in Utrecht. From 1987 to 1994 her flat is the Buddhist Centre. From time to time other venues are rented to hold courses as well.

The tradition of retreats continues like a red thread over the years.

In 1989 Bodhimitra returns from the UK. He first lives in Delft and then moves to Germany in 1991. In 1990 Khemasiri returns from the UK and shares the flat in Utrecht with Vajragita. In 1992 Gunabhadri follows and lives, to start with, in Utrecht. In 1993 Khemasiri takes over the chairmanship of the Centre. In 1994/1995 the Centre has a place of its own for a while in Utrecht. After this the Centre moves to Amsterdam.

In 1993 Gunabhadri moved to Amsterdam and a year later Sadara followed. At the beginning of 1995 ‘Kusalamala’, a community for women (with Khemasiri and Vajragita) in Amsterdam-North, was founded. It existed until 2002.

In 1994 we started with regular activities in Amsterdam. The first place we gave courses at was in the Valckenierstraat. Later we rented a place in the Tuinstraat.

2002

The beginning, or re-start, of regular activities in Arnhem (from 2003 Arnhem Buddhist Centre), followed by activities on Ameland, in Groningen and in West-Graftdijk. (…)