The Buddhist Retreat Centre |
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Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
For people of all religions |
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BRC Newsflash: June 2022 Dear Retreatants, |
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Golden glow of the lantern-lit Buddha rupa | Image: Tsunma Tsondru | |
AutumnIn a sub-continent noted for the short, sharp transitions between seasons you have to be quick to spot the signs. Often they are absences. Just when did those aerobatic scavengers, the yellow-billed kites, stop patrolling the roads of KwaZulu-Natal and fly north? You can only tell they’ve gone because the pied crows, tumbling clowns of the skies, have confidently reasserted their presence. In this part of the world autumn can also be a bit confusing, contra-indicated by the festivals, religious and otherwise, held at this time of the year. The Christian feast of Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (overlaying an earlier pagan spring festival) loses much of its seasonal symbolism in the southern hemisphere when life itself is in retreat. Even the names of the months obfuscate, derived from Greek and Roman mythology, they mirror spring up north. March is named after Mars, the Roman God of War, and was originally the first month of the year, the traditional time for the resumption of hostilities. April is Aphrodite's month, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, while May belongs to Maia, a Roman goddess of spring. In South Africa a better reflection of seasonal change is to be found in the Zulu calendar, a lunar calendar, the months dated from the appearance of a new moon. Consequently the months are 28 days long and there are 13 in a year. We are nearing the full moon of the twelfth month running from the new moon of May into June, the month is known as uNhlangula or uNhlangulana, derived from the verb hlangula – to drive off, brush off, scatter. The name refers to the winds blowing the leaves from the trees. There a several English translations. In Zulu References (1923) Carl Faye renders it as ‘The Moon when the trees are bare, having shed their leaves.’ In Clement Doke and Benjamin Vilakazi’s Zulu-English Dictionary (1958) it becomes ‘the windy, dusty month’; in his 1905 dictionary Alfred Bryant provided this idiosyncratic but delightful interpretation: ‘the little-rubbish-sweeping-moon.’ (For further illumination see Adrian Koopman’s indispensable book, Zulu Names). |
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Lighting the way | Image: Lisa de Venter | |
As the natural world hits the pause button, whatever the hemisphere, autumn is a good time for reflection. A time to gather in the harvest, to bring out the blankets. Light the fires. Stay close. A season, as the 13th century Zen master Dogen put it, to “take the backward step and turn the light inward.” The fast approaching full moon of uNhlangula heralds Wesak, the most important day on the Buddhist calendar, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha nearly 2500 years ago. A moveable feast, Wesak is traditionally held on the full moon - or the nearest weekend - of the lunar month of Vesakha which in Asian countries is coincidental with May. This year Wesak falls on Monday May 16 and will be marked by a retreat at the Buddhist Retreat Centre – Under the Full Moon of May - on the weekend preceding The retreat is held with the gentle bridle of Noble Silence, a permission if you like, to ‘turn the light inward’ and simply sit with the season. A bridle briefly relaxed for a period of discussion, and conversation over celebratory tea and cake after the Saturday evening Wesak ceremony and the candle-lit circumambulation of the Buddha statue. Of course contemplative practice doesn’t have to be season related. As an old Zen poem says The spring flowers, the autumn moon Clutter. Rubbish. Time for a little housekeeping. Perhaps a little leaf sweeping. Happy Wesak. Stephen Coan |
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Turn the light inward | Image: Kim Ward | |
Now And Zen: Reboot, Recharge And RetreatThere is no better place than the BRC to rejuvenate the body and mind with nature, meditation and movement to guide you into presence and stillness. 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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Contemplation | Image: Kim Ward | |
There are still a few spaces left on the following May retreats:indicates retreats held in Noble Silence Beginner's Mind, Quiet Mind: Meditation Instruction And Practice For Meaningful Daily LivingTsunma Tsondru | 5 days | 15-20 May It is important for us to take time out from the incessant demands and fast pace of daily life. The BRC gives us a space to step off the wheel and the time to come home to the quiet, strong refuge which lies at our centre. Cultivating the natural state of peace and ease that lies there reveals our true nature - which enables us not to just help ourselves, but to help the world of which we are a part. Then daily living becomes meaningful. This mid-week retreat will bring out our Beginner’s Mind through the practice of meditation. Releasing Ourselves From Old Stories: Stepping From The Past Into An Abundant Future By Drawing On The Ancient Hawaiian Practice Of Ho’oponoponoDominique Garnett | Weekend | 20-22 May Stories and story-telling are what make us human. We have stories about health, wellness and well-being. Often, we are informed by the should, could and would of life. These stories, or programs, inform our view of the world - whether it is a world-view and story of scarcity or one of abundance. Sometimes these stories, or the programs from the past can entrap and restrict us from living a full life. How have other people’s stories of the world in health and wellness, scarcity and abundance - informed your own? This retreat is an invitation to look at our own personal stories as part of a much larger story of world, health and well-being; to look at the programs that run automatically and prevent us from living freely and being in the present moment. Through learning and practising Ho’oponopono we can learn how to release ourselves from restrictive stories. Systems Constellations: Healing Trauma Through Restoring Strengths And CreativityVasintha Pather | 2 days | 24-26 May Systems Constellations, including Family Constellations and Organisational Constellations, is a powerful therapeutic process that seeks to reveal hidden familial or collective dynamics impacting current experiences and relationships. Often a system may be out of balance due to exclusions, historical trauma or energetic entanglements that cause disorder or dysfunction. When these hidden dynamics - which may be trans-generational - are revealed, it may offer pathways to acceptance, healing and healthier functioning. The effects of trauma can become powerful forces that weaken a system’s health. As balance is restored those patterns that bring new creative life and energy must therefore be strengthened. ourselves. The Heart And Art Of Awakening - Part 1: Shift Your Life Through Presence And ArtJohn Homewood and Michelle McClunan | Weekend | 27 May-29 May Would you like to connect more deeply with Life? Join two of South Africa’s top transformational facilitators, John Homewood and Michelle McClunan, on a powerful, transformational experience that will awaken, shift and nourish you. This retreat will integrate powerful spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Flow with different creative art processes, to help you to clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, joy-filled, peaceful and abundant life. The creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required. Through wisdom teachings, guided visualisations, meditations, time spent in nature, heart-opening music and a variety of experientially creative processes, you will be led gently into your inner landscape, where you will rediscover your own deep wisdom and reason for being here, on this planet, right now. PLEASE NOTE: This retreat is further extended to include Monday and Tuesday 30 and 31 May: The Heart And Art Of Awakening Part 2 - Going Deeper The Heart And Art Of Awakening - Part 2: Going DeeperJohn Homewood and Michelle McClunan | 2 days | 29-31 May Join two of South Africa’s top transformational facilitators, John Homewood and Michelle McClunan on a powerful, transformational experience that will awaken, shift and nourish you. You will be provided with valuable tools to help you navigate our quickly changing world. This is a follow-on from the weekend’s retreat for those wishing to deepen the process of Awakening and aligning with Presence and Flow. It will be structured in a way to allow newcomers to attend - so all welcome!
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Autumn carpet | Image: Brendon Hatcher | |
Conducted Retreats June 2022indicates retreats held in Noble Silence The Sacred Feminine : Empowering The Feminine With yoga, Meditation And Your Astrological MoonMargarita Celeste and Michelle Strybis | Weekend | 3-5 June An Introduction To Mindfulness Based Living: "Knowing The Present"Kerri Martinaglia and Chrissi Preuss | Weekend | 10-12 June The Poetry In MindfulnessLinda Kaoma | 3 days | 12 June-15 June Cultivating Mind-Heart Resonance Through Emotional Intelligence And MindfulnessShanil Haricharan | Weekend | 2 days | 17 June-19 June Iyengar Yoga: Nudging The Body Into Shape And HealthJudy Farah | Weekend | 24-26 June Iyengar Yoga: Deepening Your PracticeJudy Farah | 5 days accommodation | 26 June-01 July A Personal Self RetreatPeople often yearn for an opportunity to recalibrate their lives and to spend some time in quiet reflection among like-minded people. The BRC provides such a refuge - where silence is a precious commodity. Treat yourself to a personal retreat where you can wake up to bird song, walk in the morning mist, rake the sand garden and enjoy the Sound Circle in the bamboo grove. Liz Witherspoon, meditation teacher and yoga instructor, will be in situ from 1 May to offer daily sessions of mindfulness and gentle yoga |
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Sit with the season |
Image: Kim Ward | |
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 forty two 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. Recently, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife granted the BRC “Private Nature Reserve” for the conservation of the rare Blue Swallow and Mistbelt Grassland. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-two 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 and sponsoring their trainers and consultants. We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home. We are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre this year: new beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, a garden bench, clothing and Dana for our staff - and so much more.Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work in Ixopo with monthly and Paid Up Yogi contributions and donations, with gifts, or with skills and time. And, of course, everyone who comes to the Centre keeps us open and viable. We are deeply grateful for your generosity towards us; it encourages us to continue Louis’ beautiful vision and legacy for the future. Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a registered non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects. Chrisi Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc. |
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