The Cool Cave and the Cremation Ground: Love and Transformation 2027

The Cool Cave and the Cremation Ground: Love and Transformation is a Buddhist spiritual retreat led by Satyakavi at Taraloka Retreat Centre in Bettisfield, Wales. It belongs to the Triratna Buddhist Community's retreat programme and is offered to Triratna Regulars, people who already take part in Triratna's centres and activities.

The title names two places that Buddhist imagery has long set side by side. One is the cool cave, a place of quiet, shelter and coolness. The other is the cremation ground, where impermanence cannot be avoided. The retreat takes love and transformation as its theme, held between those two images.

The Leader

Satyakavi leads this retreat and is a regular teacher at Taraloka. Satyakavi also leads Sounding the Inner Voice, co-leads Mystery of Mantra with Maitrisiddhi, and leads the Taraloka Arts Residency. Across those retreats a thread runs through voice, mantra and the arts as ways of practising. This retreat's own focus is love and transformation, and it is the one to look at if that theme draws you.

The Setting

Taraloka Retreat Centre is in Bettisfield, a rural part of north Wales near the English border. The centre is a Buddhist retreat centre, and its programme runs through the year, from introductory weekends to longer retreats for people with established practice. This retreat is one of the longer ones in the 2027 calendar and runs across the end of February into the beginning of March.

Before You Go

This retreat is for Triratna Regulars. If you are newer to Buddhism or to Triratna, the centre also runs introductory weekends, such as its Kindness and Mindfulness weekends, and retreats open to all. If you are unsure which retreat suits you, the centre's retreat calendar sorts events by who they are for, including introductory, open, regulars, mitra and order retreats.

Spaces were still available when this description was written. Because the retreat is held at a residential centre, it is worth checking current availability before you plan your travel.