Updated BRC Newsflash - August 2021
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The Buddhist Retreat Centre |
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Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
For people of all religions |
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BRC Newsflash: August 2021 Dear Retreatants, For some exciting news, please refer to the attachments:
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Calming The Storm WithinWe trust that you and your families and communities are safe, as we emerge from these challenging and turbulent times. As I head towards my 86th year, I reflect on how fortunate I was to have discovered the Buddha’s teachings early on in my life. These teachings have enabled me to calm the many storms I have encountered - both within myself and in the world around me. I discovered at an early age that there is one central, stabilising element in my life: it is our breath that accompanies every thought and action in our lives. Indeed, it is principally through our breath that we stay alive, our heart beats, and our body functions optimally. Therefore, when we settle ourselves in that calm and clear environment of just breathing and let go of all other concerns and thoughts, we inject an element of groundedness and sanity into whatever situation we find ourselves. This, in itself, does not necessarily resolve any emotional or mental problems we may have, but it equips us to deal with them more effectively. The Buddha therefore considered that a capacity to establish calmness and clarity in our thoughts and emotions to be a fundamental task we should set ourselves. That is why the various programs and retreats offered at the BRC explore the many ways through which Mindfulness can be practised - on and off the meditation cushion and in every real-life situation we encounter. Ixopo is quiet and the Centre is open. Please consider joining a workshop as a touchstone to entrench Mindfulness in its many facets in our lives. May you have many Mindful moments in your life as we negotiate these troubled times. |
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Stupa sunrise |
Image: Andrew Brown | |
The Eight Worldly Conditions
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| Meditation hall | Image: Andrew Brown | |
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Instead we maintain a sense of mindful equanimity, acknowledging the pleasure or pain, gain or loss, praise or blame, fame or shame, but remain keenly aware that whatever the conditions, they are neither stable nor reliable but are fleeting and subject to change. Drawing on them for sustenance then inevitably leads to suffering when they change. A wiser response is maintaining a sense of mindful equanimity in relation to whatever condition arises. Pleasure and gain can be material, emotional, or mental. We find pleasure in our sense experiences of sights, sounds, tastes, aromas, textures, in our youth and health, and when we gain some or other desired object, possession or income. We enjoy emotions of joy, happiness, harmony, co-operation, and we find mental pleasure in discovery, creativity, learning and understanding. Conversely, pain and loss can similarly be material, emotional, or mental. We feel pain or discomfort when we have unpleasant sense experiences, when we age and are in ill-health, and when we lose some cherished object, possession or income. We feel troubled by sadness, fear, anger, loneliness, and we experience mental pain in confusion, forgetfulness, and misunderstanding. We love it when we are praised – we feel appreciated; and we experience pain when we are blamed – we feel rejected. We seek honour and fame – to be known, seen, to shine in the limelight – imagining that this would bring great pleasure. Yet so often we see how much havoc fame can wreak in peoples’ lives. And we dread shame – for fear of being cast out of the social group we are a part of and depend on for our survival. So often we see praise turn into blame and honour turn into shame. It seems to be a human trait to seek to find the ‘culprit’ and cast them out – the scapegoat syndrome. |
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| Labyrinth by night | Image: Andrew Brown | |
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In all of these, the real source of the pleasure or pain has to do with our sense of self – with our evaluation of our worth as a separate, individual person in comparison with others in our social world which generally tends to encourage and reinforce the pursuit of pleasure, gain, praise and fame and to eschew pain, loss, blame and shame. When we dwell in awareness and see conditions as just that – conditions that arise and pass, that are ever-changing, that are neither certain nor reliable, we can begin to loosen our dependence on those conditions for our sense of wellbeing. This is the value in attending closely to our responses to these conditions so that we can see where we are bound to an identity that we ourselves have constructed out of a desire to be some defined identity. Then we can begin to let it go and simply merge with the life that we are and taste the peace and freedom that come in its wake. As Ajahn Chah put it: "Do everything with a mind that lets go We have rescheduled three retreats:
To all those who kindly rolled over their deposits when retreats were cancelled due to adjusted level 4 restrictions and the unrest - THANK YOU! We are indebted to you. The BRC is a non-profit organisation that relies solely on income from accommodation to pay our staff wages and to meet our monthly running expenses. Without income, the Centre faces a fragile future. Stay safe and kind, With affection, Louis |
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Now And Zen: Reboot, Recharge And Retreat In IxopoThere is no better place to reboot and get in touch with nature than in the beautiful, tranquil spaces of the BRC. We have a selection of retreats for July and August to support you. All health protocols and Covid-19 regulations are in place - with social distancing, sanitizing and masks - for your safety and well-being. |
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| Reclining Buddha | Image: Angela Buckland | |
There are still a few spaces left on the following July retreat:Moving Meditation: Cultivating The Four Energies Of Tai Chi Brett Vallis | Weekend | 30 July-1 August |
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| Valley vista | Image: Mark Kornberger | |
Conducted Retreats
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| From Plentiful and The Cake the Buddha Ate |
Images: Angela Shaw | |
We Are What We EatWhen we compiled Quiet Food; A Recipe For Sanity 16 years ago, it was based on the principle of bringing enjoyment, health and sanity back into cooking and eating. Our “Slow Food - Quiet Food” manifesto was a response to the fast-food fodder that masquerades as culinary art and suggested that we should take time to honour our most basic, primal need: feeding our bodies. By cooking a meal lovingly and eating it slowly - sometimes in silence as we do at the BRC - almost reverently - one makes something ordinary extraordinary. Our cooks Prudence and Lungi always manage to hit the high notes at every meal. If you can’t attend one of our retreats, you can in your own home - with our recipe books - get the flavour of the place. We are able to courier the books to your door. Please email: . if you would like to order our recipe books: The Cake The Buddha Ate, Plentiful and Quiet Food. |
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| Lovingly cooked meals to be savoured | Image: Angela Shaw | |
About the BRCPerched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for thirty-nine years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquillity. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life. The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world. CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa, recently. The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-one years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and .productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation by showcasing their crafts in the shop. The Woza Moya Crafters are local women who receive ongoing training and support to enable them to create these unique and charming best sellers. Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects. We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails, support and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home. Chrisi Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc. |
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Saying Yes To Life: How we can live wholeheartedly in the midst of a challenging world
