Siddharthas Intent Europe has opened a new City Centre in Berlin.
It is located in the heart of Berlin and will be a centre for meditation, study, art, translation and other Rime activities.
All visitors are whole heartedly welcome.
Address: Güntzelstrasse 42, Gardenhouse, 3rd floor, 10789 Berlin, Germany
Email: arne.schelling@gmx.de for practice details
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche teaching on Jamyang Khyentse Wango's lifestory at SI Germany’s new centre
SIA Northern Rivers group enjoyed it’s 3rd annual Vipashyana retreat in Rosebank, in the beautiful Byron Bay hinterland, late September 2011. This year we decided to shorten the course from 10 days to 5 days in the hopes of allowing more people to attend. This strategy worked out well and we doubled our numbers to 28 with people coming from far and wide. Our resident teacher Jakob Leschly guided us with his usual panache and humour, wonderful food was provided by our ever attentive hosts and we were fortunate to have 2 great yoga teachers, Nicky and Donna from our Melbourne Sangha who gave us a much needed daily workout. Sessions were a mixture of sitting, walking and tea drinking and when the sun was shining we were able to make use of the tranquil gardens. This all provided a very conducive atmosphere for meditation and contemplation.
Please see the 2012 SIA program for this years planned Vipashyana retreats in Adelaide, Blue Mountains and Northern NSW at SI Australia calendar download
Retreat participants September 2011
Helping others according to their need is the true expression of compassion and I am always encouraged when people take practical steps like this to put such positive motivation in action…
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
An amateur (from the Latin word for lover) is defined as someone approaching a subject with an open mind and financially disinterested manner, meaning amateurs (like Charles Darwin) do it for love…
Therapists and teachers from many traditions agree that underlying all fears is the fear of death, and that a willingness to examine this inescapable fact can help to free us from unnecessary suffering. The time of dying is rich in spiritual possibilities. This can be enhanced, through the Buddhist emphasis in care for the dying, on qualities of simplicity, kindness, humour, warmth, openness and stability.
During her work with the AIDS Council of NSW, long time Buddhist practitioner Judy Arpana designed and implemented care programs to support people through this transitional process. A counsellor for many years to clients with life-limiting illnesses, their relatives and carers, Judy has been invited to hold training seminars for doctors, nurses, social and pastoral care workers, educators, staff and volunteers in aged care facilities and hospices in Australia, the UK, NZ, Ireland and Europe.
At the invitation of Siddhartha’s Intent Australia, for one weekend a month during winter 2011 Judy delivered a six-day series of seminars for dharma practitioners. This was with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s wish that participants would go on to serve their local communities in the capacity of dharma mitra, or spiritual friend at the end of life. The program’s aim was to train a group of volunteers to respond effectively to requests from the general public and sangha members for visitors with a Buddhist-based approach to those approaching death.
The interactive seminars used meditations and practices of mindfulness to explore the concepts of fearless receptivity, unconditional acceptance, quiet confidence, and authentic presence. The importance of providing a stable environment for the dying person and their relatives – of remaining peaceful, respectful and calm. As it progressed, the program familiarised participants with the physiology and psychology of the dying process, and shared exercises on working with unfinished business, forgiveness, bearing witness, being fully present and offering the gift of compassionate listening.
With time in between each weekend for practice and reflection, the course addressed practical issues involved with the grieving process, organ donation, supporting bereaved families and communicating openly about death and dying using simple, everyday language. Participants learned the difference between help and service, wrote personal motivation and dedication prayers and reflected on their own spiritual journey in preparation for accompanying others on theirs.
Consciously experiencing life’s continuum of mini-deaths made the non-duality of life and death increasingly apparent, and we learned that healing is always possible, even while dying. That facing our own death by putting our legal, family and funeral matters in order serves us well for being with another dying person. The parallels between the way we live life and the way we die deepened our appreciation of the necessity for maintaining a daily spiritual practice as a preparation for death. As happens in group dynamics, while material was covered and skills developed, there were also beneficial side effects of learning from each other and teaming up in pairs to work into the community.
While insights from the course continue to unfold in our lives, Judy prepares for her annual North India pilgrim’s tour with Karma Rinpoche to attend the Dalai Lama’s teachings and present her workshop Facing Death, Embracing Life at Deer Park Institute. Here in Australia several Dharma Mitra volunteers are already responding to local requests…
Judy is teaching at Deer Park India later this year. Click here for details.
Dharma Mitra Training Winter 2011 Photo Nikki Keefe
TV-online for Latinos
Buddha’s Amigo is a free online TV channel that discusses and brings closer the Buddha’s wisdom to the Spanish speaker community. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche gave us the name for the program on November of 2010, when we started our first program and we are under his guidance and inspiration. Directed by Lobsang Tonden, today Buddha’s Amigo has a growing number of followers in many countries like the USA, México, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Chile among others. Following Rinpoche’s advice, we are starting a plan to make the project grow, we are going to implement a studio and add some more days and topics. One of its particular features is the way to approach to Buddha’s teachings by relating them very closely with the daily issues and worries of the latinos. You can follow us every Sunday at 9:00pm (central time US and Mexico) on: www.lagartijapop.com
“I think this project of Buddha´s Amigo is a quite good idea. If you have time, energy and means, you should really put emphasis on it and make Buddhadharma accessible to the Mexican thinking, without bringing to much of the culture into it, Tibetan culture, etc. Take the essence of the Dharma and of course, depending on the time and the situation, you have to make it more accessible and entertaining to the people. If you just read a sutra for hours and hours people will fall asleep. I have a good feeling about Buddha´s Amigo, it has a very good potential to reach people. It should be a non-sectarian project and you should speak about different topics of common interest”
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Rinpoche is wearing a traditional Mexican mask of lapis lazuli given to him by his Mexican students
To purchase Tsering Art School 2012 Calendar
click here
