Realising your potential through awareness

Suzanne McNamara catches up with Suvarnadhi, the chairperson of the trust that runs the Auckland Buddhist Centre.

Words: Suzanne McNamara

Photography: Blink Ltd

The Auckland Buddhist Centre has moved to a permanent home in Uptown. The 2500-year-old tradition of teachings and practices has helped to transform many lives, with attendees able to participate in a supportive community cultivating greater wisdom, compassion and mindfulness amid their daily lives.

I meet Suvarnadhi outside a nondescript industrial unit on Normanby Rd. Once a former workshop, then a martial arts gym, it will soon be the newly renovated Auckland Buddhist Centre. We edge in and watch the builders at work. Suvarnadhi gestures to where the bespoke space will house a main meditation room with a shrine, a kitchen, upstairs meeting rooms and a shop stocking essentials such as books on Buddhism, candles, mats, stools and cushions for meditating. It is scheduled to open in mid July.

It has been a big move from their notable corner in Grey Lynn, their home of 33 years. The decaying state of the building meant either an expensive renovation that was beyond their reach, or selling up the valuable land and making a move.

They chose the latter and found the ideal place in Uptown that Suvarnadhi says was perfect due to its central location for their community.

We grab a coffee at the cafe across the road and while I half expect Suvarnadhi to order green tea to support her glowing complexion, she's all in for a coffee. There is nothing monastic about Suvarnadhi, instead she wears ordinary clothes and is friendly and open. She explains their tradition doesn't do monks and nuns. I'm curious about what has brought her to the point of being ordained and taking a Sanskrit name.

Suvarnadhi says she was looking for something more in life when she walked past the Auckland Buddhist Centre in Grey Lynn 16 years ago. Was it an instant click then?

"Yes, but I came up against parts of me that were resistant to practising or going along to the centre or whatever it was. I found being in groups difficult; that's a common one."

The centre offers an introductory programme that newcomers curious to find out more can join any Monday night (currently it is hosted in a temporary spot until the renovations are finished). Suvarnadhi took a more irregular approach to begin with, attending a Buddhist ritual and signing up for a week-long 'urban retreat', meeting each morning before work. That led to community nights where the inspiring talk became a weekly highlight. Then she began a regular practice, she says "even in the smallest of ways". 

"Then someone got me into a meditation on loving kindness and invited me to try doing all the stages on myself that involved bringing lots of kindness to myself. I became a different person almost immediately."

Suvarnadhi says this led her to have a more positive outlook. "I felt much more confident in the world and I related to other people with more ease. And I just remember saying to one of the Order members, "I want more, how do I do more of this?"

More study followed, which she maintains wasn't arduous. "What we offer is like a pathway of varying degrees of commitment if you want it, but not in a monastic way. Our tradition doesn't have monks or nuns. There are people like myself who have decided to get ordained, which means they're kind of orienting their whole life around a Buddhist practice."

When she was eventually ordained, Suvarnadhi's case was unusual in that she had two women name her. Usually, it's just one person and even better, the Triratna Buddhist tradition of which the centre is part, allows women to ordain women. This is unusual in the Buddhist world. Her name in Sanskrit means 'she whose wisdom is like gold'. It fits well because, she says "you have to mine in the earth for gold and in a way I've had to dig deep for it". 

While there are plenty of secular choices for meditation and mindfulness these days, Suvarnadhi says the Buddhist Centre offers a whole pathway. "You're going to find a community of people to practice with, wisdom teachings and ethical guidelines that are there to help us make choices that lead to greater satisfaction and connection and happiness in the world."

She points out guidelines are not rules because nothing is black and white. "You've got to navigate complexity, that's the nature of life and it's good to have other people around to talk with, particularly when you're struggling with your practice. They may be a bit further along than you and may be able to say 'try this." 

Suvarnadhi sums up what meditation and an enquiry into Buddhism might bring. "The possibility of seeing things more clearly, being much more equanimous with what's going on in the world, and a growing sense of contentment, joy, empathy and connection."

Auckland Buddhist Centre 

45B Normanby Rd

Mt Eden

Phone: 027 223 0382

Website: aucklandbuddhistcentre.org 

Instagram: auckland_buddhist_centre