Alchemy

The third film in Great Ocean – Sangharakshita and Friends, Alchemy explores the transformations of the 1970s, when vision, community, and friendship began to fuse into a new Buddhist culture. From New Zealand living rooms to Norfolk cottages, fire-damaged London buildings to Scottish retreats, Sangharakshita’s friendships — with Vajrakumara, Subhuti, and many others — became catalysts for experiments in living, teaching, and creating together. Through struggle, imagination, and laughter, the film reveals how raw materials of ordinary life were turned into something luminous: a sangha finding its form. 1970-1988