Updated BRC Newsflash - November-December 2024
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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: November-December 2024 Dear Friends, |
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| Buddha's sunset | Image: Andrew Brown | |
Releasing The Old Embracing The NewAs the year comes to a close, we find ourselves reflecting on the past while embracing the future. In Buddhist practice, this transition can be an opportunity for mindfulness and introspection. To embrace the end of the year and look forward, we must recognize that everything is transient and acknowledge both the joys and the challenges. This awareness can foster a sense of acceptance and gratitude. With Metta Chrisi |
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| Meditators on the path | Image: Fiona Brittion | |
Dropping The BucketIt wasn’t long into the recent retreat ‘The Moon in the Water’ that we began to realise its title was wrong. The retreat was all about a bucket. The bucket was full of water reflecting the moon. The bucket was dropped, it broke. No moon, no water. Chiyono (1223-1298) dropped the bucket sometime in the mid-thirteenth century. She would go on to become the first female Zen master in Japan and found several convents. In her early twenties Chiyono was a servant in a Zen Buddhist convent. In the evenings she would peek through the curtains of the zendo at the nuns practising zazen (sitting meditation) and the desire grew in her to do the same. She approached a young nun and pleaded: ‘Please tell me the essential principles of practising zazen.’ The nun replied: ‘Your practice is simply to serve the nuns of this temple as well as possible, without giving any thought to physical hardship of uttering a word of complaint. This your zazen.’ Chiyono was taken aback at this harsh response. We are told ‘her grieving was endless’. But Chiyono continued to peep through the curtains and one evening she saw not only nuns but lay people, ‘laymen as well as laywomen, both old and young … immersed in their practice of zazen.’ Emboldened by what she saw Chiyono spoke to an elderly nun, one known to be kindly, telling her of her desire to practice zazen and ‘attain the way of the Buddha.’ The nun answered: ‘This is wonderful, my dear! In fact, what is there to attain? In Buddhism there is no distinction between a man and a woman, between a lay person and a renunciant … There is only this – each person must hold fast to his or her aspiration and proceed along the way of the Bodhisattva. There is no higher way than this.’ Chiyono began practising zazen. One of her jobs was to draw water from the well using a bucket held together by bamboo ropes. But the bamboo was rotting, and Chiyono occupied much of her time on running repairs to keep the bucket from falling apart |
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In repose |
Image: Andrew Brown | |
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A year after her encounter with the old nun, taking advantage of a cloudless night when a full moon was shining, Chiyono ‘went to draw some water from the well. As she did, the bottom of her bucket suddenly gave way, and the reflection of the moon vanished with the water. When she saw this she instantly she instantly attained great realization.’ This is how she described that moment: With this and that I tried to keep the bucket together, Commenting on this story Merle Kodo Boyd (1944-2022), incidentally the first African-American woman to receive Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism, writes that on first hearing this poem she was ‘seized by the words, “With this and that I tried to keep the bucket together …”’ and goes on to describe ‘the constant tension’ involved in ‘keeping the bucket together’ and understanding ‘that the intent of practice was to relax my grip on the old bucket, but conditioning runs deep and the sense of personal identity is strong. Hearing the words “with this and that” I felt the exhaustion of years of vigilance, all protecting my idea of myself. I felt the exhaustion of being my own obstacle.’ Boyd points out that we live between the first two lines and the second two lines of the poem. ‘Knowing how to “keep things together” is a valuable skill. It was knowing how to care for things that led Chiyono to continually patch the bucket. When it fell apart, she made excellent use of that circumstance as well. Our liberation deepens with the refinement of our capacity for flexibility and discernment. ‘The one who is liberated must be allowed to disappear like the water and the moon. Moving between patched bucket and bottomless bucket, I can exercise my freedom to keep things together or let things come apart, according to the circumstances. I have come to trust the true freedom of living where the moon does not dwell.’ With Metta, Stephen Coan |
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| Effortless joy | Image: Andrew Brown | |
Conducted Retreats November-December 2024☸ indicates retreats held in noble silence The White Stork Displays Its Wing - A Beginner’s Introduction To Yang Style Tai ChiPaul Dorrian | Weekend | 22-24 November Natural Grace, Effortless JoyCharisse Louw | Weekend | 29 November-1 December Getting To Know The Birds At The BRC: 160 Birds Of A FeatherSteve Davis | Weekend | 6-8 December Shibuie - When Beauty Happens Accidentally: Sumie And Raku – Japanese Brush Painting And CeramicsIngrid Adams, Sharon Paterson, Bernard Chatikobo and Chris Rooke | 4 days | 12-16 December Ingrid will teach the classical Japanese brush painting techniques - Sumie - as these are applied to traditional subjects, such as landscape, bamboo and flower studies - as well as contemporary subjects. We will use the genuine, traditional materials: solid pine-soot ink, a hollowed-out slate to liquefy it, a deer-hair bamboo-stemmed brush and absorbent mulberry paper. Tools will be provided. Sharon will offer the Raku and explore various glazing and firing techniques. Each retreatant will receive a bisque-fired tea bowl to sumie-decorate and glaze. The kiln will be fired up, after which we will watch the magic as the bowls emerge triumphantly from the scorching heat! Chris will offer sunrise qigong and Bernard will lead forest walks and introduce 'forest bathing' with traditional Mbira music for healing and harmony. Going With The Flow: Integrating Meditation And Mindfulness Into Our Daily LifeBruce van Dongen | Weekend | 20-22 December As the year draws to a close, gift yourself the opportunity to embrace the December holiday season with a mindful grounding. Join Bruce on a journey of self-discovery in exploring the roots of mindful awareness through Kundalini yoga. Immerse yourself in transformative practices that seamlessly blend into the beauty of nature, with outdoor sessions whenever possible. Engage in meditation, chanting and the gentle resonance of the gong and crystal bowls for healing relaxation. Take time to rejuvenate as you prepare to welcome the new year ahead.
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| Lantern-lit circumabulation of the Buddha Rupa | Image: Tsunma Tsondru | |
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-four 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. 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-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 are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre in the form of PUY and Monthly contributions, new beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, a new refrigerator, microwave oven, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, garden benches, pillows, towels and linen, geyser insulation blankets, clothing and Dana for our staff, an inverter and beautiful antique scrolls and Imari platters and ceramics, framed prints and Thankas, new tablecloths and serviettes, a brand new Magimix, signage for our forest paths - 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, to everyone who comes to the Centre - you keep us open and viable - and to our teachers who keep the Dharma wheels turning. 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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