BRC NewsFlash - September 2017
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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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Dear Retreatant BRC Newsflash: September 2017
The new calendar from October 2017 to September 2018 is on our website for those who have opted not to receive the printed brochure. |
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| View of reclining Buddha & surrounds from the labyrinth | Image: Chantell Flores | |
"Buddha Paths Are Everywhere. I Vow To Walk Them All"The Centre is admired, even internationally, for highlighting the many avenues that are available to us to investigate and apply the Buddha’s teachings, the Dharma. As it is said in one of the Mahayana undertakings: Buddha paths are everywhere. I vow to walk them all. This takes us from just studying them and dithering about whether we are going to be a Christian, Hindu, Taoist or Buddhist - to discover, through close study and practise of all of them, one’s spiritual home in just, or primarily, one of them. In my late 20’s, when I was searching for my spiritual home, I thought it was smart to give equal value to all religious traditions and teachings, and select the bits that, cobbled together, would constitute one’s philosophy. But I soon realised that that would be a religious ego trip. It would amount to yet another religion - called VanLoonism. Maybe, if I could throw in a couple of miracles, real or fake, it would attract multitudes of followers and devotees. Fancy that! No - for a religion to become relevant in one’s life, one needs to be able - and willing - to test it in real-life situations. Because that is where, in the end, it has to prove itself. This will take us away from merely believing what a religion and its prophets tell us, to testing it in our own life. That is what the Buddha did. He too was exposed to a multitude of philosophies, yogic disciplines, faiths and beliefs - all them jockeying each other to be taken seriously. Don’t believe any one of them, he said, until you have tested them thoroughly and proved them to be true. |
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| Beak and Tail | Image: Andrew Brown | |
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At the BRC, we have tried to continue this tradition of exploring the Dharma in such multiple ways since its founding almost 40 years ago. The BRC has always acknowledged that there is more to Buddhism than the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, whilst acknowledging that these, over the past 26 centuries have given rise to, or been incorporated into, a vast number of associated philosophies, religions and sciences, from Existentialism to Phenomenology and Quantum Physics. What I have found so impressive is that the modern thinkers in these fields have been so willing, even proud, to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Buddha as having been the first one to identify the issues they are now unravelling, helped by their atom smashers, giant telescopes and electronic microscopes. How is it that the Buddha uncovered all this, sitting quietly, in the shade of a tree? As has become a tradition at the BRC, the retreats conducted there in the recent past ranged from introductory workshops on Buddhist thought and practice to more in-depth analyses of certain intriguing aspects of the teachings, such as the karma and rebirth. We covered these subjects from various perspectives, from the early traditions of Buddhism as found in the collected teachings of Theravada Buddhism and the later developments in Buddhist thought, as we find in the ancient manuals of Mahayana, Tantra and Zen. |
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| Images: Angela Shaw | ||
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Most Buddhist meditation centres in the western world follow the eastern model of restricting their practice to such a particular form of Buddhism. As you must have noticed by studying our programs of retreats over the years, I have not followed suit, believing that these eastern variations of Buddhism arose gradually, as the Buddha’s teachings matured in those cultures, assimilating the characteristic mood and features of those cultures as they moved across the eastern world. I am not sure that we can claim that such a characteristic western version of Buddhist practice has yet emerged. But we can see the beginnings of it, as mentioned earlier. Until that happens on a larger scale and has proved its relevance, I feel the BRC should hang loose in the Dharma and allow our Centre to be moulded by all these Buddhisms. Retreatants then have the opportunity to learn what each is about. By giving them all a chance, they will show what they are about. We can then leave it to our visitors to choose a practice that works for them. Otherwise they can keep hanging loose. I am still doing that. We have centres in this country that are exclusively Zen or Theravada or Vajrayana. For those who are still undecided, there is always the BRC where they can experience a taste of what, fundamentally Buddhism is about, and then decide - if they feel they need to - whether they want to follow any of those traditional eastern models. As has proved so useful over the years, the BRC acknowledges that there is more to Buddhist practice than sitting on a cushion and watching your breath. Sooner or later, you need to get up and re-join a moving, dynamic world with all its challenges and opportunities. For this you have to be keen and ready to get a handle on how our mind and emotions work and how well we are physically. Louis |
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| Image: Angela Shaw | ||
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There are still a few spaces left on: |
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Forthcoming Retreats: 1 to 29 September, 2017In September, embrace the first days of Spring by spending some time restoring yourself on health retreats which will help to re-energise and re-vitalise your body and your mind. Experience a taste of the practice of Mindfulness, developing moment-by-moment non-judgemental awareness or embrace “Beginner’s Meditation”. Learn to move from habit thinking to genius living with Graeme Butchart who wrote the “Genius Programme”, and embrace life with courage and trust as you “open the heart and still the mind”. Or opt for a ‘soulful’ Self-Retreat where you can take time out to rake the sand gardens, welcome the Blue Swallows home, walk the indigenous forest trails, listen to the windchimes or meditate in the Zen garden with the mossy Buddha. The Genius Programme: From Habit Thinking To Genius LivingThe Genius Programme introduces liberating tools that rebirth our intuitive and creative thinking and our emotional understanding. It is about finding and re-inventing you! Health Retreat: Discover Your Best SelfRestore and refocus with daily massages, complementary therapies, mindfulness and movement classes, wholesome and healthy meals and daily consultations with Dr Kaz in the tranquil and nurturing environment of the BRC. Meditation For BeginnersLearn the basics of meditation to help transform the mind so that one’s life and experiences can become more meaningful. A Taste Of Mindfulness: On Being Here-NowMindfulness enables one to relate with equanimity to whatever is unfolding before us and to work more creatively with the stresses of daily living. Open The Heart And Still The Mind: Embrace Life With Courage And TrustThis Spring theme of new beginnings will help to inspire and encourage fearlessness in the face of change and uncertainty. Body Sensing: Feed Me Green: The Art Of Harmony, Balance And FlowBody Sensing is a somatic (mind-body) healing therapy that uses the body’s innate wisdom to release tension and negative feelings. ‘Spring’ Into A Self-RetreatEnjoy a quiet time away in the beautiful setting of the BRC with chi kung and meditation, some walks and communing with nature. |
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Silent Auction and Raffle
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Visiting International Teachers at the BRC
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Bhikkhu Sukhacitto and Janet Surrey conduct An Introduction To Insight Dialogue from 12-17 December.Bhikkhu Sukhacitto is an ordained monk since 1990 and an Insight Dialogue Teacher. He has lived at various monasteries in the West, including Dhammapala Monastery in Switzerland for six years and at Amaravati Monastery, UK, for 4 years. Janet Surrey, PhD, is an Insight Dialogue Teacher. She teaches Insight Dialogue retreats worldwide and leads a monthly practice group in Boston, USA. She has studied with a number of Vipassana teachers for over 25 years. She is a practising clinical psychologist and founding scholar of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at the Wellesley Centres for Women. She is on the faculty and board of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. |
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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 thirty-seven 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. In 1989, the BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status by President Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer and indigenous forests. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, sixteen years ago. It continues to support the organisation in a variety of ways by contributing Dana, sponsoring their trainers, visitors and Directors' accommodation, and showcasing their wonderful crafts in our shop. Thank you for the amazing gifts and abundance that have flowed to the BRC over these last six months in the form of beautiful thankas, woven carpets, curtains, ornaments, Tibetan artefacts and furniture for the refurbishment in the Lodge, PUY contributions and other donations, trees, herbs and plants, and books for our library. We have been so touched by your gifts and appreciative letters, emails, support and friendship. Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc. |
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| www.brcixopo.co.za | 039 834 1863 | 087 809 1687 | 082 579 3037 | 031 2095995 |
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