BRC Newsflash - February 2025
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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: February 2025 Dear Friends, |
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| Stupa sunrise | Image: Andrew Brown | |
Change Your Mind – A Mindfulness RetreatIn the wake of Ajahn Sucitto's visit in 2024 and on his recommendation, we invited his colleague, friend and esteemed teacher, Ajahn Jutindharo, to offer teachings this year in February. Ajahn Jutindharo has been a monk in the Ajahn Chah lineage for 35 years and is the abbot of Hartridge Buddhist Monastery in Devon, England, since 2007. I am appealing to our Sangha friends to attend these precious Teachings to keep the Dharma flourishing and invite you to consider joining Ajahn’s transformative Mindfulness Retreat from 13-18 February. Ajahn’s retreat will offer a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which our practice can support and nourish us in our daily lives. Ajahn Jutindharo's approach centers on the awareness of our own bodies, utilizing practices that focus on body awareness and breath. He encourages an open attitude of kindness and curiosity, helping us to trust in that which is already alive, awake, and free within us. Through this retreat, we will learn to connect with these wholesome sources, providing us with a wider range of tools to deepen our understanding and to address challenges we face. With Metta, Chrisi and The BRC Team |
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| Mindfulness |
Image: Nick Halliday | |
Laughing, CryingLate afternoon in the meditation hall, the last blades of sunlight slide across the wood-tiled floor. When leading a weekend retreat, I usually begin the sitting session before supper on Saturday by reading aloud a passage from A Match to the Heart by Gretel Ehrlich, an American writer who had the misfortune to be struck by lightning twice. The book is the story of her long recovery during which she went to stay with friends living on the Californian coast. Here’s the passage: ‘Sometimes I walked the hills overlooking the ocean to get away from the drone of surf. I walked slowly and relished the return of migrating and mating songbirds. I wanted to walk when I could and it occurred to me that stillness doesn’t mean not moving - seated meditation is only a reminder of a quality of mind in which one is wakeful, lively, spirited, humorous, not acting out of desperation.’ |
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| In meditation | Image: Thalente Khomo | |
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What I find interesting is the way she speaks of sitting meditation being a reminder of well, just being alive, a spur to attending to what is alive in and around you, in a way that is inclusive, not exclusive. Active not passive. In one of her talks the late Maurine Stuart, an American Zen teacher, speaks in the context of sitting in a group, one meeting on a regular basis, but what she has to say can also apply to those who have come together for a weekend at the Buddhist Retreat Centre. ‘The atmosphere is created here by all of us. With our sincere attitude, we strengthen one another. We sit down here and share a sense of trust. Somebody said, “But what if I cry in the zendo?” Then cry. You’re in wonderful company. We all understand this feeling. “What if I laugh?” Laugh. You’re in wonderful company. It may lighten all our hearts. We’re not here to judge you, to say that’s bad, you don’t do that in the zendo. We trust one another.’ Sitting meditation: simply breathing in, breathing out, and paying attention, is meditation in its refined form. But you don’t leave it behind on the cushion. It doesn’t end there. You take it with you, as you pay attention to the whole of your life. Laughing, crying. Three rings of the bell and the afternoon sitting comes to an end. You bow, stand up, take off your robe, fold it, and place it on the cushion. You bow once more and walk across the cool wood to the door. There are a few minutes before supper to linger and watch the sun setting over the valley. An old Zen story. A monk asked, ‘What is the practice hall?’ The Master said, ‘From the practice hall you have come. To the practice hall you will go. Everything, everywhere, is the practice hall. There is no other place.’ Stephen Coan |
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Sounding the body to well-being |
Image: Andrew Brown | |
There are still a few spaces left on the following January retreats:
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| Blue swallows diving for their nest | Image: Andrew Brown | |
Conducted Retreats February 2025☸ indicates retreats held in noble silence Sounding The Body To Well-Being: Integrating Mindfulness, Yoga And Therapeutic Sound: A loosely structured retreat with the support of guided daily practicesDespina Forbes | Weekend | 7-9 February
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| Healing qigong | Image:Andrew Brown | |
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, 20 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 and Kitchen Mixer, 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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