May – June Newsletter 2010

Family Meditation:

(includes short Buddhist philosophy talk)

Every Monday:  From 9.00am – 11.00 am.

All welcome

Recommended donation $5 per session

Adult Meditation

(includes short Buddhist philosophy talk)

Every Monday:  From 9.00am – 11.00 am.

All welcome

Recommended donation $5 per session.

Buddhist study and Meditation:

(We welcome beginners interested in Buddhism and long term practitioners)

Every Thursday from 5.30pm – 8.00pm.

All welcome

Recommended donation $5 per session.

Pilgrimage to Nepal and India:

“Finding the Buddha within” by following in the footsteps of Shakyamuni Buddha along his path to enlightenment.

Early September 2011.

For more information call Choeying on: 0408 257 071.

All Welcome

cost – TBA

and Tibet2Timbuk2.
 

Saturday, June 26, 2010
Z Pac Theatre Zepher St. Hervey Bay 

5pm – 6.20pm:
‘The Sun Behind the Clouds
…..Tibet’s struggle for freedom’ Movie
$7 a ticket

7pm – 9:30pm:
Concert
$20 a ticket

$25 for both;
Tickets available from Aura Dental, Torquay Rd
and Go Natural Foods, the Esplanade from 19th May.

Limited seating!

Clear seeing ( vipassana  Dukkha (suffering)

A striking example of Vipashyana was provided by a student of mine in her early twenties who had been meditating for some time. Since her late teens, she had been a devotee of “raves” dance parties held at enormous warehouses in our area, attended by literally thousands of young people. Well known bands are engaged, the music is loud, alcohol and drugs are sometimes consumed, and dancing goes onto until dawn. The atmosphere is usually “mellow” and fun, and young folks are drawn back to the parties again and again. My student was attending a rave one Saturday night and . . .  for no apparent reason, wanted to feel the cool, the space, and the silence of the night.

She left the huge wharehouse, where the party was happening and walked across an adjacent field onto a hillock beyond. Turning around, she looked at the building, throbbing with music and blazing with light, packed as it was with several thousand “ravers.”

Suddenly without warning, it was as if her eyes were open for the first time and she “saw” the party . . . so she reported . . . in all its naked reality.

She saw the tremendous desperation of the people inside, their loneliness and their hunger, how they had all become predators, preying upon one another, in a fruitless search for happiness. It was an endless game in which she too, was involved.

Overcome by sorrow and hoplessness of the situation, she broke down and wept. She came to talk to me because as she said, this experience had shown her something not only about “raves’ but life in general, about the many things people do out of their own suffering. She saw her experience as a direct result of meditation practice and her commitment to her spiritual path.

Her experience had made her realise, again for the first time, that her meditation was the one anchor in her life and that the spiritual journey she had undertaken was about having her eyes open, in perhaps shocking and painful ways, to the underpinnings of the seemingly normal everyday world.

Weekend Retreat is: Healing Relationships

All of us really need and desire harmonious relationships. Our very well being depends on having healthy relations with others . . .  and yet it seems to elude most of us . . . most of the time . . . Why?

Mostly because we don’t have deep understanding of each other and instead tend to think we know more about the other person then we actually do.  We get into a habit of making up stories about the other thinking we are somehow clairvoyant and know what the other person is thinking without ever checking . . . and this is the recipe for disharmony.

“We don’t know what we ourselves are thinking most of the time so how can we possibly know what our partner, child or anyone else is thinking for that matter?”

Meditation helps us to recognise our thinking patterns by clearing the mind enough to see what is really going on in our minds. We are not always aware that most of the time we “shoot from the hip” which is again can be fraught with destructive outcomes for ourselves and others.

Calm Abiding Meditation teaches us to “let go” of our thoughts to have the space to be able to think more clearly and therefore with more wisdom. When we touch our inner wisdom we touch a very powerful part of us that is very mindful and clear and can avoid falling into such traps.

These and many more concepts will be part of the philosophy that walks hand in hand with your meditation practice guiding you along a path to your inner wisdom and compassion towards yourself and others.

To truly benefit from meditation one needs to have an open mind to new ways of thinking and being by hearing the teachings in concert with practising meditation on these concepts . . .  so your own inner wisdom can guide you as to what is valid and what is not . . .

So if you are interested in having more peace and calm  in your life and shining the light on your heart for more love and understanding in your relationships you are invited to the next Calm Abiding Course & Weekend Retreat at our beautiful Sanctuary.

Dates & Times
Beginning on the 1^st May and finishing on the weekend of the 22^nd and 23^rd May

8.00am – 2.00pm Saturday 1^st May
5.30pm – 8.00pm Wednesday 5^th May
8.00am – 2.00pm Saturday 8^th May
5.30pm – 8.00pm Wednesday 12^th May
8.00am – 2.00pm Saturday 15^th May
5.30pm – 8.00pm Wednesday 19^th May
Concluding with the . . .
7.00am – 6.00pm Saturday 22^nd May & Sunday 23^rd  May Weekend Retreat

PRICE:
The Full Course: $70 (pensioners 10% disc) includes course materials . Please click on download course material on our website for your meditation Sadhana (manual)  

WHAT TO BRING: 

•  A notebook and pen.
• A plate to share for lunch every Sunday including the Weekend retreat days of Saturday and Sunday so we enjoy our meals together in the sacred  and  peaceful space of the  “ Sanctuary Tea Gardens” 
• A water bottle (to avoid spillage we don’t encourage cups and glasses in the temple) 

IMPORTANT: 
Wear baggy, cool clothes. Tight clothes (even stretchy shorts and jeans) cut off circulation and create obstacles to your meditation.
 

Some comments from the last Calm Abiding Course . . . 

Feedback March Meditation Course

Thank you Buddha for obtaining the wisdom
For the special gift of love and peace
I thank Buddha and every being that has
Passed this wisdom down from generation to
Generation for 2600 years to enable me
To receive this special gift.

by Dante

_____________________________________________________________________

 Hi Choeying, 

I want to let you know how my world changed through attending the ‘Calm Abiding Meditation’ course. 

For as long as I can remember I have been looking for someone or something to protect me and watch over me, but also allow me to be myself, without lasting success and many disappointments along the way. 

Listening to your teachings and practicing ‘Calm Abiding Meditation’ I finally understood that gaining inner freedom is a ‘Do-it-Yourself’ process. 

You created an atmosphere of trust that allowed participants to let go of our reservations and face ourselves. 

I want to thank you for your kind but firm guidance, your courage to take on the responsibility as a teacher, and for being REAL. 

Thank you for getting me started on my journey. 

XOXO Hike
_____________________________________________________________________

The Dash Poem

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend
he reffered to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning to the end 

he noted first came her date of birth
and spoke the following date with tears
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between them years

for that dash represented all the time
that she spent alive on earth
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth

for it matters not how much we own
the cars the house the cash
what matters how we live and love
and how we spend our dash 

so think about this long and hard
are there things youd like to change
for you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged

if we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real
and always try to understand
the way other people feel

and be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before 

if we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while 

so when your eulogy is being read
with your lifes actions to rehash
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your dash 

by Linda Ellis

_____________________________________________________________________

Please click here to download course meditation material.

REGISTER HERE

March Newsletter 2010

After surviving the ordeal of treatment for the second time I later found another lump.

Things were not looking good for me being able to enjoy a long life. My partner looked at me with so much love and compassion in his eyes as he asked, “Where would like to go or what you would like to do before you die . . .I will do whatever and go wherever you like? 

I was so touched by his loving kindness and replied, “I am very happy where I am at the moment but I would like to hold the hands of His Holiness the Dalai Lama before I die!” 

I later decided to go to India on a spiritual pilgrimage and become ordained as a Buddhist nun. On my return I had the great fortune of attending the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama while in Sydney. 

I could not believe my luck when I found myself staying in the same hotel as His Holiness and having the good fortune to meet him in the lobby. 

It was the most surreal moment of my life when he greeted me by lovingly placing my hands between his. . . making my dying wish come true.  I was spellbound being in the presence of such a holy man. I was awe struck by the tangible power of his compassion. 

In this profound moment I realised how compassion was SO much more powerful then anger and war. I tasted the possibility of compassion being the solution to all wars and could see clearly how His Holiness can stay resolute in choosing compassion over war with the Chinese Government. I pray the Chinese Government have the good karma to be in his presence to feel this powerful compassion to be able to let go of their fears enough to at least sit down and engage in peace talks with His Holiness.

At the time his hands embraced mine I remember thinking, “Now I truly can die happily!” 

It seems, up until this moment at least I still have the good karma to still be enjoying this precious life I have been given. I couldn’t have had this life in the first place without my parents and I am so grateful to them for giving birth to me. 

Facing death is a true blessing as it helps us to deeply understand how important it is to live and love well. It helps us to see clearly that this precious life can be taken from us without any notice. In fact most deaths are like that. 

 My journey helped me to understand on a very deep level many things that on reflection I only understood intellectually when teaching on impermanence for many years.

I am so grateful for getting cancer as it taught me to not take life for granted.

But it is, “Meditation” that keeps this memory alive in me and shows me ways to enhance my life in ways I never imagined. 

I would like to share with others just a few of the many insights meditation has shown me.

This life [that could be so short] needs to be lived mindfully, in the present moment, in order to be called a well lived life. 

That every moment we are not mindful by dwelling in the past or the future is the very moment we are robbed of truly living our life. 

How we constantly live in the past and the future and miss the present.

How in the present moment there are miracles all around us that we cannot see because we are not there. 

Cancer woke me up to how short and precious this life is and how important it is to not miss it.

Meditation clearly shows me how stress causes dis-ease and how meditation can cure mental and physical illnesses. It helps me to not to forget and lose this great gift I was given of being able to practice being present.  It reminds me how important it is to have peace and calm in my life Meditation has shown me that, “Pain is inevitable – Suffering is optional?” 

I am truly blessed and am ever grateful to my teachers who have so generously shared with me the precious gift of knowing how to meditate in a way that has bought me so much happiness and peace in my life and allowed me to see the many miracles that are all around me if I can just stay in the present moment – If I can just learn to sit and be with myself and dwell in the bliss of simply sitting with myself.

But most of all it reminds me how grateful I am to have such a wonderful tool in my life to help me stay calm, peaceful and free of suffering. 

I am so blessed to be able to share this precious gift with others by facilitating Calm Abiding Meditation Courses and Weekend Retreats at the Oddiyana Dharma Sanctuary

Now my dying wish is… 

“May all beings find the gift of meditation to find true happiness and be free from suffering!”

Choeying Dolma
(resident teacher) 

For more information on finding peace and calm in your life plus learning meditation please register ONLINE for the next meditation course starting at the end of February; please click here .