Retreat into a Buddhist way of life

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Durban, South Africa -- Arriving at The Buddhist Retreat Centre just outside Ixopo on Friday afternoon, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. My partner and I had signed up for a retreat titled “Your Life in Ten Pictures”. We weren’t looking to “find ourselves” or expecting to experience anything life-changing as the clichés go, but we were curious.

Too many late nights and too much convenience food had led us to a point where we needed to tune out from reality for a while. If I said that was what we found at the retreat I would be lying. We found a way to completely tune into reality, and that was exactly what was needed.

We arrived just in time for supper. We had heard about the retreat first through friends raving about the food.

Both vegetarians, there are few places we can go out to eat where there is more on the menu for us to choose from than a side order of chips, a green salad, a margarita pizza or a chickpea burger – if you are lucky.

Tastes

So the prospect of exploring new tastes was one of the main reasons we went, and the retreat did not disappoint. All the dishes are prepared from scratch using the finest vegetables, all grown on site, served with freshly baked bread.

They have even published their own cook book with recipes created in the kitchen. The recipe books, Quiet Food and The Cake that Buddha Ate, are top sellers around the country.

Book early if you want to go to one of the cooking classes held over some weekends as they sell out fast.

For me, the main feature of the centre was the spectacular view. It sits on a ridge at the head of the Umkomaas River system.

In the early mornings you see “mist rivers” running through the valleys. And there is no shortage of benches hidden away in little pockets of nature for you to quietly reflect and take it all in.

Wondering around this serene setting as the sun sets is something close to magical. The golden light surrounds you as you meander along cobbled stone paths. You would be forgiven if you thought you had stumbled upon Rivendell.

After dinner we had an introductory talk about what to expect. Here they told us that we would be participating in meditation practise three times a day with talks and activities in-between.

They also made mention of “noble silence”. The retreat asks you to not talk at all from after evening meditation until after breakfast the next day. This may sound strange at first, and it is hard to get the hang of it in the beginning, but the rewards are worth it. You do not

realise how often you pass an unnecessary comment until you are consciously trying not to say anything.

Eating in silence in a room full of people is an interesting experience. My fruit salad tasted amazing, I excitedly looked forward to each piece of fruit, the pineapple, melon, grape and strawberry. How was it different from any fruit salad I had had before? I don’t know, but I am sure that concentrating on the taste of each flavour in silence had something to do with it.

Meditation was a major focus on this retreat, and it is there to help you bring your mind into the present. We are so busy thinking about the past or worrying about the future that we miss what is going on around us right now. When I spoke about completely tuning into reality, this is what I was speaking about.I felt so refreshed and clear-headed afterwards.

Owners Louis and Chrisi van Loon are often at the retreat. Louis sometimes leads the weekend and he did this one.

He is a soft-spoken, charismatic man with a seemingly never-ending supply of knowledge. One of the other guests told me that she often comes to the retreat, and she makes sure to book the weekends that Louis runs.

Chrisi said the retreat used to be one of KwaZulu-Natal’s best-kept secrets, as they normally only had guests from other parts of the country, but they were starting to see more and more Durbanites make the less than two-hour drive to Ixopo – a drive that I hope to take again very soon. - The Mercury

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Buddhist retreat set for Saturday and Sunday at Edwards Riverwalk

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Vail, CO (USA) -- Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi will lead a weekend retreat on some beloved verses widely read by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.

The Dhammapada is part of the Pali Canon and captures the philosophical and practical essence of the Buddha's teachings. Attendees will contemplate how these simple, yet profoundly deep, verses demonstrate the power of the human mind in shaping their lives and happiness. The retreat will consist of commentary on this text, meditation sessions, time for questions and answers and prayer.

The event is by donation. All are welcome, but space is limited. Chairs are available, but bring your own cushion if you want to sit on the floor. RSVP to Ben Gaylord at 970-390-9299 and sign up online at www.bodhimarga.org.

Priyadarshi is the president of The Prajnopaya Institute and Foundation, a worldwide humanitarian organization. He is the founding director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, www.thecenter.mit.edu.

He was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his spiritual mentor, and has received instruction and training under many great Buddhist teachers. He teaches around the world, in the spirit of the nonsectarian Rime tradition, in Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Japan and Mexico.

If you go ...

What: Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi leads weekend retreat focused on the Dhammapada.
Where: Riverwalk Hall in Edwards.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to noon Sunday.
Cost: By donation.
More information: RSVP to Ben Gaylord at 970-390-9299, or sign up online at www.bodhimarga.org.

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Tales from a Buddhist meditation retreat

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Reverend Dhammaruchi William B. Edwards is the founder of the Vipassana Buddhist Church/Center for Buddhist Development in Jefferson City.

Jefferson City, MO (USA) -- Meditation is the core teaching of the Buddha to address the Four Noble Truths of Suffering. There are two basic types of meditative practice in Buddhism: concentration meditation (Samatha) and mindfulness meditation (Vipassana).

Concentration meditation is the common meditation practice, which is characteristic of many different religious and non-religious traditions. Mindfulness meditation is the meditation which is unique to the Buddhist tradition.

For that reason, there are three teachings (suttas) which we focus on at the Vipassana Buddhist Church/Center for Buddhist Development in relation to meditation: "Mindful of the Breath Teaching," "Mindfulness of the Body Teaching," and "the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Teaching." These three teachings function together like a system.

We have our yearly meditation retreat at the Vipassana Buddhist Church/Center for Buddhist Development the first weekend after New Year’s Day. This year we had our retreat on Jan. 4, 5 and 6.

The first day of the retreat, Friday, began at 7 p.m. and lasted until 9 p.m. The evening began with a discussion on the purpose and goal of concentration meditation, also known as serenity meditation; and mindfulness meditation, also known as insight meditation. The goal of concentration is to attain deeper and deeper levels of concentration, known as the Jhanas, until the state of Samadhi is attained. Samadhi is such a deep focus of concentration that neither perception nor non-perception can be detected.

The goal of mindfulness meditation is to attain freedom from the rounds of rebirth. The way this is accomplished is to perceive through the body and mind all sense data with its Three Marks of Existence (or Three Dharma Seals) — suffering, impermanence and non-self. This eventually leads to the Four Stages of Sainthood, the last of which is the state of Nirvana. Nirvana is true enlightenment, the complete and total absence of suffering, sometimes referred to as true happiness. When someone attains the state of Nirvana they are forever freed from the cycle of rebirth.

We ended the first day of the retreat with "metta," which means "loving-kindness." Metta is sometimes referred to as a third form of Buddhist Meditation (However, in my own personal opinion, I think metta falls under the category of concentration meditation.)

We do metta as a guided meditation. Metta is one of the four feelings of good will called the "Brahma Viharas" (literally: heavenly abodes). Those four are: "loving-kindness," "compassion," "sympathetic joy" — the opposite of jealousy — and "equanimity." Our practice of metta at our Buddhist center incorporates all of these Brahma Viharas.

So everyone got comfortable on their cushion, and the guided meditation on metta began: "Picture yourself here in this room on this cushion. Go to yourself with this great metta, this great loving-kindness, and offer it to yourself. And say to yourself, 'May I be peaceful, may I be happy, may I be content. May no harm come to me. May I be relieved of suffering. May I not be deprived of my fortune duly acquired. All have karma as their own.'"

Then after offering metta to ourselves, we offer it to our parents. Then we offer it to our children. Then we offer it to our siblings, friends, co-workers, enemies, neutral persons, all beings on earth and all beings throughout the universe.

Then once again we picture ourselves and we gather up all of that metta we offered and we offer it to ourselves. So we begin and end with ourselves; you have to have loving-kindness for yourself before you can truly have it for others.

On Saturday, the second day of the retreat, we began at 9 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. The day included walking meditation, which consists of a slow, mindful circumambulating walk with a focus on the lifting, moving and placing of the feet.  At noon we had a potluck lunch with a discussion on Buddhist meditation and other Buddhist concepts. We continued our sitting meditation with Samatha and Vipassana practice for the rest of the day and, of course, ended the day with the guided meditation on metta.

On the last day, Sunday, the retreat began at 9 a.m. and ended at noon. We continued our sitting meditation, paused at 10 a.m. for a stretching break and a discussion about suffering, impermanence and non-self. We practiced Vipassana sitting meditation for the rest of the day and ended with metta, followed by a reading of the Ten Benefits of mindfulness of the body meditation from the Kayagata Sati Sutta.

We had a good attendance this year, and everyone commented that they thoroughly enjoyed this year’s meditation retreat.

Please visit our website at www.vipassanabuddhistchurch.org for our schedule.

May all beings be peaceful and happy!

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Congregational Of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association Retreat to be held for the first time in UK

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Birmingham, UK -- Every year the Congregation of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association holds a ten days Buddhist teaching and retreat event in a different European country. The aim is to teach and encourage the practice of Buddhist philosophy to international Buddhist fellowships of all age ranges and sexes.

More than a hundred Buddhist monks and nuns from all over the world will be present to deliver Dharma talks to about one thousand participants.

This year the UK gets to hold the 24th Anniversary of Vietnamese European Congregation Unified Buddhist Association retreat of the first time. 

The  Venerable Thich Phuoc Hue, who  is a President of Midland Buddhist Association is responsible for hosting the event. The 10 days of European Buddhist retreat will be held on 27th July 2012 to 5th August 2012.

Important dignitaries from Birmingham who will be attending the event includes The Lord of Mayor, Chair of Governor’s Miss D McllMurray, Business Manager’s Ms S Birmingham, Head Teacher’s Ms Roan and Site Manager’s Mr John Edward.

If you go:

What: Congregational Of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association Retreat 1st Time in UK

Venue: Hillcrest School, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3AE.

When: 27th July 2012 to 5th August 2012

For more information, please contact:

Ms Hue Le, Tel: 07714021713.
Email: huele24@yahoo.com.

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David Duchovny goes on Buddhist retreat, ends up cleaning tables

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New York, USA -- David Duchovny recently paid a lot of money to go on a Buddhist meditation retreat at a monastery in New York, and while many would think that you spend all of your time there meditating and relaxing, Duchovny said that they put him to work as soon as he got there.

<< David Duchovny says he would go back to the retreat

Duchovny revealed that he ended up spending more time busing tables, working in the gardens and shoveling horse manure more than meditating.  He said;

"I just went on a retreat to a zen monastery in upstate New York. It's a type of Buddhism and meditation is a big part of it. I'm a beginner, I've only been meditating for a little while. You pay a fee to go for this weekend and what I didn't know is that even though you pay a fee they put you to work immediately.”

“You go there and first you bus some tables after you eat and they had me working in the garden everyday for an hour-and-a-half. It was fun, I was shoveling horse shit out there. You pay money and then you shovel horse [expletive]!"

David went on to talk about the actual meditation process which included being wacked with a stick, and finding ways to sit cross legged for 45 minutes without your legs going numb.  He said;

"You're meditating quite a lot, 45 minutes maybe three or four times a day... and it's a very strict kind of monastery, they don't want you moving at all while you're meditating. You're sitting cross-legged or sitting on your heels. Your feet go numb... but I figured out a way to cheat and to move.”

“There's a guy who walks around with a stick and he's banging it and you can ask him to hit you on the shoulders with the stick and it's supposed to hit a pressure point and relieve some sort of stress, so I as he walks by, you're supposed to (bow). This means, 'Please hit me'.”

“I'd hear him come around and hear him whacking people and when he comes I'll be able to adjust a little, that's all I'm thinking about [because] I'm so uncomfortable. So when he comes round I [bow] and he hits me once here (right shoulder) and he hits me there (left shoulder) and then you do this [bow] which means, 'Thank you for hitting me', so I got to adjust."

Even though the retreat was not exactly what David thought it would be, he said that he would return.

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