. . . doggone!

On October 27, after eight months of slow decline from cancer. On Mila’s last night on earth, he didn’t want to be inside, and it was too cold to sit out with him for long. We looked at one another through the glass door. There’s nothing quite like the love that grows between a pet and hispersons.

Our Mila, it seems, had quite a constituency! Several people wrote about what he taught them when they were here in retreat, others offered to come and sit with him and share their special gifts. To the 90 of you who wrote, your caring words from around the globe moved us. We miss our boy.

. . . transitions, preparations
We’re not missing the tyranny of Mila’s pain pill schedule though! Flights have been booked, lists made. We are getting organized . . . first of all to leave here, next to go there. It turns out to be much more complicated to take off for four months than it was 40 years ago! If the schedule holds, we will have the week between Christmas and New Year’s to pack, and think of everything ELSE! Maybe even time to get excited about the challenges and opportunities of living in Nelson, New Zealand for a brief time.
We’ve had a busy fall, with continuing Chenreizig practice, evening teachings on Happiness, Wholeness and Holiness (about how realization of anatta develops into a glimpse of sunyata) and an inspiring workshop with Venerable Sonam Senge called Exploring Mandala, which effortlessly wove together symbols and methods eastern and western, and summed them up with the empowerment of Vajra Yogini.   AH!!

Changes are happening in the local community here as some discover where their deeper allegiances are (and aren’t) and others test this streaming of Dharma, to see if delight in surfing is stronger than desire for the safety of form. The basic working assumptions for this community are a wonderful support for these changes . . . as long as everyone remembers to apply them.
1. All patthujjhana are mad (therefore things will get messed up.)
2. All beings have Buddhanature (and it is our responsibility to look for that,
rather than for what is wrong.)
3. “Success” lies in our ability to be honest with one another and to work
in an open, supportive fashion that is more about the integrity of the process
with which we do things, than with the accomplishment of whatever we
are trying to do.

Patthujjhana: Usually translated as “worldy beings,” this Pali word literally means “sticky lumps of dough.”

In the next few weeks we will anchor our collective selves in the annual seasonal rituals. The kid-friendly Very Short Meditation of Deva Dana (Radiant Generosity) always brings a grin and a tear and ‘dharmanizes’ the jolly, bearded samsaric icon. Then, a week later, on New Year’s Eve day, we will join together at the 11th Beginning Anew Ceremony.. .

and the on-going dance

with reports from Alison Sawyer, Keith Shaw and Josephine Grant in the Creek,
John Wellwood in the City and the Fundraising Group:

Recently local Roberts Creek practitioners have been exploring the question of what do we need to awaken, both as individuals and as a community? Through the process of working with this question, and meeting our aspiration to continue exploring as a group, comes “A Study of the Senses”: a series of experiential student-led workshops and sharings, to take place while Bonni and Matthew are away.
In Vancouver, a small group of Bonni’s students has started to meditate together once a week. “Like a long overdue glass of water for the thirsty,” said one participant.
Fundraising for the Retreat House is going very well. So far, dharma students who have contacted us have pledged two thirds of the goal amount. Some of you have told us that you intend to make a donation for 2012, but haven’t yet specified an amount. If you are planning to donate, would you let Kathleen Thacker (kathleen10000@yahoo.com) know
your intention, as we are hoping to have all of the pledges in place by the end of this year.
On behalf of the fundraising group, thank you for your generosity. May you be well and happy in 2012.

…10 years of Dharma at Cheryl Ann Park Road This house, complete with thigh-high weeds, carpenter ants and baby-poop yellow walls, became the start of something wonderful in June 2002. We were (and are!) amazed at the energy that materialized to make this happen, and grateful that we happened to be in the way when it rolled over us. Anniversaries invite reflection and evaluation, though, as well as celebration, don’t they?

. . . Summer Retreats 2012
A new approach for retreats is the first experiment. Summer Retreats began a few years ago in response to requests from those whose jobs make the Deep Retreat period at the beginning of the year impossible. But summer is a very extroverted time on the Sunshine Coast . . . much noisier, less conducive to certain kinds of practice. In the early years, our summer programs (Bodhisattva Boot Camp with its Apprenticeship Program and its successor, Recreation for the Heart and Mind) as well as occasional non-residential retreats worked successfully with this ebullient energy.
The retreat info and application form are on a separate pdf, included in the e-mail that brought you this newsletter. We always appreciate comments, questions and constructive complaints.

. . . looking ahead to 2013
In the tenth anniversary year of the passing of Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, we are planning to celebrate all the gifts he gave us. Well, as many of them as is possible in a measly year!
While his invigorating approach to traditional Buddhadharma infuses this place,there haven’t been many opportunities to study and practice all the methods and subjects that are part of his unique legacy. Holistic Clearing Meditation, Womb Clearance Practice, Exploration of Prior Forms and Transcendentalling will form the basis of retreat work. These practices were offered in sequence at The Dharma Centre of Canada in 1986 (or thereabouts) and to our knowledge, have never been presented in sequence since.
Tarot, Jungian archetype, esoteric Christianity and Sufism will form the introduction to Western Mysteries exploration. Scientific study as a basis for contemplative work is a big part of the plan . . . although we will venture into areas of science that are fresh and new. And if good fortune smiles on us, we’ll find some warm water gleaming with bright fishies (and lurking reef sharks) to snorkel with.

. . . and after that, what? the cave?
Or three years of training for the dedicated ones? No question about being tired (old age sucks!) but re-tired? What do you think we should do next?

Teachers appear only in response to beings’ drive to awaken. In Buddhadharma, students have the power; they create the relationship through their willingness to keep showing up, to have the conversation, accept instruction, do the work, serve and support. Through these actions, students learn to be open and honest and vulnerable and to accept the openness and authenticity and vulnerability of their most precious spiritual friend.
None of this is easy. No one “decides” this one or that one is (or is not) my Teacher; for such a unique relationship to be possible implies prior karmic interaction. Teachers can chill us out, fill us up, excite our aspiration, and yes, catalyze our worst fears and most petty and persistently hidden negative mind states. For those with eyes to see (cleared of mad projection) Teachers are space windows, demonstrating the vastness of awakened possibility.
For some, the awareness of that relationship is blindingly obvious at first meeting; for others, awareness grows through time and test after test. It takes so much love to have no agenda; to rest with the challenge of things as they are.
Idealization is an agenda. So is critique. Looking at your Teacher as a mirror can show you who you really are: not ego-enhancing, but fundamentally, potently present/absent.
Students experience their Teacher through the screens, filters and blinds of conditioned notions of how this person should be, and what such a relationship should be like. Fergeddaboudit! When the expectations fall away, there is onlylove, only union. There is no greater intimacy possible.

Since pure awareness of nowness is the real buddha,
In openness and contentment I found the Lama in my heart.
When we realize this unending natural mind is the very nature of the Lama,
There is no need for attached, grasping or weeping prayers or artificial
complaints.
By simply relaxing in this uncontrived, open and natural state,
We obtain the blessing of aimless self-liberation of whatever arises.
— His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

the world is my cloister!

. . . treasures
John Wellwood, Kathleen Thacker, Brandon Schwinn, Josephine Grant, Alison
Lindsay, Luinda Bleakley, Carrie Sasaratt, Keith Shaw, Sarju Sooch, Brian Menzies,
Janet Cotgrave, Lyne Lantaigne, Sandy Quinn, Carlie Sanford, Grace Bazinet, Iain
Verigin, David Rose. These friends help with the garden, cook for meditators,
raise funds, organize and support public teaching events, take care of the dog, the
recycling, the shrine, the library and the housework. They study and practice the
Teaching. Grateful for the magnificence of individuals discovering community.
Opening hearts.

. . . yesterday
Since our last report in June it’s been busy, busy busy.
Classes and practice sessions. New meditators
starting their journey. Forum explorations with the
Core Group. Community potluck. Australian visitors.
New connections. Long lost friends re-appearing.
Summer Retreat. Vajrakilaya with His Holiness Sakya
Trizin. Teaching in Boise. Mila’s surgery. Matthew’s
big project. New energy for the library. Grateful for
the magnificence of living Dharma. Ordinary mind.

. . . tomorrow
Thanks to the flexibility of our New Zealand friends, headed by Katherine Mitchell,
Bridget Musters, Jane Hobday and Ramona Clark, Bonni will head off to Nelson on
December 31. Matthew will remain with Mila for as long as needed, and join the
New Zealand exploration when he can. After a lot of pondering, this seemed the
solution that offers the best to the most. Jenny Hellyer has stepped up to manage
the Wangakea Retreat and we hope some North Americans will find their way to
NZ’s South Island to join us. Here’s the formal announcement:

ENERGY RIDES THE WINDS

an exploration of Anapanasati, meditation on breathing
with Bonni Ross
at the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre
April 6 to May 6, 2012
This subtle and profound practice is potent for everyone. It is said to be the
contemplation Gautama was engaged in as the experience of full enlightenment
dawned, totally transforming him into Buddha. Since breathing defines our
corporeal aliveness, as long as we are breathing, we can practice. This is good
news; no special equipment or circumstances required!

We begin by developing one-pointedness of mind, the foundation of skillful
meditation. This leads us quickly into a process of purification — releasing the
blocks and distortions of our energy body and defensive patterns and tension from
the physical form. We begin to develop the ability to rest more durably in
wholesome states of mind and to directly experience the interplay of mind and
breath. As the focussed field of our awareness naturally expands, we discover, as
all those who have explored the mystical path before us have done, the great
Truths that transcend culture, belief and understanding rooted in intellect alone.

We will augment formal meditation with gentle methods to support our bodies’
transformation and to facilitate the healing of negative emotional reactivity.

Participants should be in relatively good physical and emotional health.

As usual, you are welcome to start at the beginning and stay as long as you can.
However, preference will be given to those able to commit to the whole retreat.
To register email: retreatcentre@wangapeka.org
Grateful for the magnificence of opportunity to practice. Bliss of universe
unfolding.

. . . from the fundraising group
your generosity makes the difference
Last year we launched our first fundraising campaign to support Sunshine
Coast Retreat House. From around the world students and friends of Bonni and
Matthew responded with tremendous generosity. The support you offered has
helped us to start building a foundation of financial stability that will nurture the
growth of teaching programs and retreat opportunities.

To everyone who made this commitment, we offer our deepest gratitude.
Encouraged and energized by your positive response in 2011, we invite you to
become part of an annual program of financial support for Sunshine Coast Retreat
House. We are finalizing plans for a 2012 appeal and will be in touch very soon.

. . . from the core group (via Keith Shaw and Carrie Sasaratt)
busy lives, what’s important?

There is a group of 10 or so students that has coalesced over the past few years into what is loosely called the core group. (Like the centre of an apple!) What we
re and what we are becoming is a dynamic distillation of practice and community
building in relation to each other, the lama and the broader community. Since the
spring, we’ve had some focused gatherings or “forums” with Bonni to begin to
explore ways to accept responsibility and express service, to welcome newcomers
to teachings and practice, and to begin to recognize an ethical framework rooted in
the ground of dharma.

An emergent theme for us is to remain in a state of question: if the universe is
continually coming together and falling apart, how can we, as a dharma
community, do this too without having to re-invent the wheel (or at least
continually pump it back up?) How do we remain a group of principally committed
students yet keep the circle open, alive and connected to the flow of new energy?

Since our September forum meeting with Bonni, the group is working towards
building a schedule to encourage ongoing, as well as new participation. In the past
there has been a tendency as a group to fizzle out while the Lama ventured off to
teach abroad. Discussions about this have brought up the simple plan to have a
schedule continue while she is away, so that we can at least in part rely on the
calendar, as well as on ourselves, to come together to practice and serve. It’s also
become clear that we want to socialize together more often. Hopefully this will
translate into cups of coffee and regular potlucks! Finally, we are excited about
Sarju’s return from the Himalayas and look forward to some lively show and tell.

So much more could be said about the rich and complex flavour of this core
group’s work with Bonni; however, we’ll leave it open for further interpretation . . .

the world is my cloister!

. . . a slow, sweet goodbye
Mila, at age 15, has been diagnosed with cancer. He’s also got pretty nasty
osteoarthritis in his shoulders, hips and back. We’re fortunate to have a very
understanding veterinarian, who is happy to support us in providing palliative care
for as long as Mila lives.
True to his nature, Mila continues to manifest his sweet, goofy self. Although he
moves much more slowly (sometimes surprised when some part doesn’t want to
move at all) his outlook is optimistic, relentlessly mooching (those Lab genes) and
playful. But our life right now is a series of “lasts” . . . last car ride, last running
free in Cliff Gilker Park, last big bound down the long stairs to the Gulf Road
beach. It’s almost unbearably sad; and there’s also so much love, and daily
dances of joy.

. . . New Zealand
Our inklings continue to tell us that we will be in New Zealand for six months,
beginning in November/December 2011, returning to Roberts Creek in May 2012.
All depends on Mila . . . and we are very grateful for the flexibility of our friends in
Nelson, who understand.
There will definitely be a retreat with Bonni at Wangapeka, April 6 to May 6
2012 . . . it would be lovely to see many of you join us there and then!

. . . awakening in community
Here’s an offering from our local community, as it comes to grips with problems
and opportunities. We have participated in one day-long Forum together to
explore issues (communications, membership, energy . . .financial, emotional and
physical, ethics and programming) that need to be looked into deeply enough to
resolve into policies, and another is planned this month to take the conversation
further. In September, we will Forum once again to craft plans for what will
happen here during Bonni and Matthew’s stay in New Zealand. This comes from
Alison Lindsay, with input from everybody:
We meet. We sit. We breathe
each other.
We listen. We laugh. We vow
together.
We aspire. We fail. We inspire
each other.
To Teacher, Dharma, Sangha we bow
together.
We are sangha in process of becoming.

. . . in gratitude
“The fundraising campaign launched last fall to support the 2011 operation of the
Sunshine Coast Retreat House has reached its goal, and then some. Through the
boundless generosity of people from all over the world we have managed to raise
nearly $16,000. To everyone who pledged their support we offer the deepest bow
of gratitude.
“As a first foray into the realm of fundraising, this process was a big learning curve
for everyone in the Coast community. We got some things right and learned plenty
from our mistakes. Our thanks for your patience as we acquired knowledge and
moved forward.”
– The Sunshine Coast Retreat House fundraising group

. . . spring blahs?
Who knew that winter and spring would be so similar, and go on so long? We
don’t have much to complain about when we compare with disastrous floods,
earthquakes, wild fires and tornadoes elsewhere. We are grateful that our
elements just having a long sulk rather than a full-on tantrum. But. We still find
ourselves in need of occasional distraction, and would like to share a sampling of
the bounty our friends near and far and have sent us:

http://media.skysurvey.org/interactive360/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/main/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9t2fm__K0&feature=player_embedded

http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySey8kbOiO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=jJrzIdDUfT4&vq=medium

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4603

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/13/beautiful-out-of-pha.html

http://www.langorigami.com/

http://edge.org

And, local student Sarju Sooch (who came as a summer apprentice in 2008 and
stayed to become a vital member of the community) is offering a wonderful deal
on an small group adventure in his native India this summer . . . please check out
his website: http://www.journeytohimalayas.com

. . . our wider world
A student here has suggested we host a Namgyal Jamboree, bringing together all
the teachers inspired and trained by Namgyal Rinpoche and their students. What
a wonderful thought! While this might not be the best place for it, we share this in
the hope that a whispered notion might spread and gain power. See you all
somewhere, in 2013, the 10th anniversary of Rinpoche’s passing? Cool!
the world is my cloister!

Matthew’s father, Frank Eades, died on January 6. At home in Queensland,
Australia, after many years of painful illness and struggle, Frank had all three of
his children with him for a week of transition in December, rallied briefly and then
suddenly let go. A blessing. With Edna, his wife of 60+ years, his daughters Sue
and Janet, their partners and children we join in contemplating the mystery of
jatimarana — birth/death — and support Frank’s on-going journey with our prayers
and good wishes. Please add yours, if you feel drawn to do so.

. . . economics, community and gratitude
Sunshine Coast Retreat House would not have survived the past year without the
incredible (spontaneous, unasked-for) generosity of the local student community.
Before we knew that our income was about to shrink from a sustainable, steady
flow to a fickle trickle, we were offered funds which have helped us keep afloat for
2010.

We acknowledge that we are not alone with uncertainty, and that many of those
who stepped up did so in spite of their own financial challenges. This small
community reached out recently to all of you in our international network for help
in supporting our oasis of sanity and goodness. Here is an update, written by John
Wellwood on behalf of the fundraising committee:

Thank-you, thank-you to all supporters of the Sunshine Coast Retreat House far and wide! In
the short period of time since our first email appeal we have received pledges for $10,000!
The local community of meditators is new to the world of fundraising and are learning as we
go. We’re greatly encouraged by the generosity expressed so far, but we are still shy of the
$15,000 needed to help cover operating expenses for 2011.
If you have been considering making a contribution, John Wellwood would be happy to
speak with you about the details. You can reach him at: john.wellwood@telus.net
(604-681-8343).

To everyone in this global community of students, retreatants and friends who have so
generously offered support for the Retreat House, again we offer our deepest thanks.
We are continually delighted by all the support that flows, materially, and in so
many other ways. Our intention that this place be an expression of dana to the
world, and the lifespring of a community of generosity, is manifesting beautifully
and organically. Deep bows to all who have, and continue, to give. We know you
will, in whatever way you can.

. . . changing patterns
Shaking things up! Sometimes this feels good; sometimes it’s nasty. This is our
ninth year and there’s an annual flow which has evolved that occasionally feels like
(gulp!) a routine. We’ve received an earthquake from New Zealand that is going
to change the pattern here, at least for late this year and next year, 2012. Since
this also coincides with Bonni’s 65th birthday year, we’re taking it on as a
celebration and an opportunity to refresh, rather than retire.

A small group of students in Nelson NZ has invited Bonni and Matthew to spend six
months there. They have arranged a house and have extended an open invitation
to Bonni to teach or use the time to write. Since there is already a Wangapeka
retreat scheduled for April/May 2012, it is likely that they will trade winter for
summer and leave Canada before the end of 2011.

This will shift the emphasis of programming on the Sunshine Coast to the summer
months, which has already been happening to some degree as Deep Retreat in the
winter months fills up earlier and earlier each year.

. . . do you need a change?
Our aging canine will not do well with international travel and quarantine.
Therefore, the New Zealand opportunity will depend on finding a companion for
our companion . . . someone who is comfortable with the facts of doggy life, who
can care for Mila should his health deteriorate. He is presently in excellent health,
very energetic, if somewhat stiff in the hindquarters, and a splendidly goofy and
enjoyable presence. He likes routine with respect to meals and walks and he
needs a person who is not fooled when he claims to be starving to death! If you
would like to live with Mila in a beautiful part of Canada, where the winter months
are quiet and the weather is benign . . . let us know right away.

. . .sofa so good
Here’s a community report from the current “sofa” (that’s a rotating “chair” with
three or four seats) written by Janet Cotgrave, with input from everybody:
The Retreat House sangha continues to hold both “talking meetings” where we make plans,
organize and delegate tasks, and “listening meetings” where we pass around a talking stick
and listen as our group resolve unfolds and coalesces. These listening meetings can have a
magical flavour as the stick goes around. The first time around we may see each other as
individuals, each with our distinct concerns, desires and passions. The second time round a
few common threads of interest and yearning arise. And the third time around we hear our
group spirit emerge and manifest with its own qualities and identity. And so we continue the
dance…
Two primary aspirations have arisen out of a recent listening meeting:
o A desire to explore the teachings together, rather than just passively receive them, and
to find in this process a new deeper way of being together. It was said that getting to know
each other better is a Dharma teaching in itself. This desire for exploration has informed our
suggestion for a possible format of the winter teachings.
o A desire to explore ways of integrating committed practice with everyday life and
relationship. This is both a theme/topic in itself that we would like to explore as well as a
context for the specific questions that we would like to bring to each teaching topic.
We are deeply grateful to Bonni for both encouraging and allowing us to find our process
and form.

. . . evolution
“In the beginning there is only Dharma,” said HH the 14th Dalai Lama to a small
group gathering in Victoria in the early 1990’s. “The study and practice of Dharma
is the first priority. After many, many years of this, perhaps the beginning of an
understanding of Sangha will manifest. Then, with long and consistent
examination of Sangha, perhaps, with diligence, a glimpse of Buddha!”

The rapid maturing in the local group opens up many new possibilities, and the
collective combination of diligent attention to detail and creativity is a deliciously
rare thing! This winter and spring we will experiment with new teaching and
dialoguing formats that we all feel will allow the work to be more direct and
personal, which in turn will deepen and broaden the potential for realization.
Historically, teachers have stood in ivory towers, at the top of pyramids and
outside the circles, giving orders (or direction, depending on their personal style.)
This autocratic approach has its validity, particularly when there is something new
to be learned, or when there is an emergency. People like hierarchy . . . even
those who say they don’t, if they are honest, feel more comfortable when they
know where their rebellion fits into the pecking order! The limitation is that
hierarchy breeds dependence and imitation and a feeling quality in the community
culture of ‘power-over’ rather than ‘power-from,’ or ‘power shared.’

Laissez-faire teaching is another skillful approach . . . watch and see what people
WANT to do and then support through overview, polite suggestion and
compassionate trouble-shooting when the ripening of unintended consequences
sends everything sideways! In this method, everyone has a chance to learn that
we are all wiser and stupider than we believe ourselves to be. The downside is
that preference-driven choices are fundamentally boring . . . unless “doing your
own thing” leads to the question “who is it who decides?” When egos climb the
flagpole to be saluted, the focussed ones learn to smile and get on with the dance!

Genuinely democratic interaction is a deeper challenge which expresses itself,
paradoxically, most clearly in Karl Marx’s dictum “From each according to ability;
to each according to need.” Living systems are not level playing fields. Everyone
has talents, challenges, blind spots and Buddhanature. Our fundamental discipline
in dharma democracy is to look for the wisdom mind in all beings (including, but
not exclusively, in our teachers, where one would hope it would be more obvious,
despite our projections.) Then our interaction evolves into a celebration, despite
interpersonal difficulties, and active compassion, because of them. However, true
democracy demands full participation, and as communities grow, assuring this
becomes more difficult.

. . . advancing through retreating
Summer retreats are emerging as a necessary part of our program so that as
many as possible have the opportunity of practicing here. This is even more
important in 2011, because if the NZ plan becomes a reality, there will not be a
three-month Deep Retreat under Bonni’s guidance here in 2012.

We are considering the possibility of three months of self-directed retreat in the
Deep Retreat time frame in 2012 for students who have practiced here before, but
that will depend on sorting out a support system for those meditators.
If you wish to practice here this summer, let us know as soon as you can.
Tentative dates are June 18 to August 18. E-mail retreathouse@dccnet.com to
book space.

The sofa will present the idea of a summer group retreat (camping? kayaking?
Tzoonie Narrows Wilderness Resort? to the core
community members soon. Let us know if you’d like to hear more about that if
they decide to proceed.

. . . winter blah remedies
Inspiration, adventure, a splash of amazement, dash of joy, heartwarmth: here’re
some links to one or some or all of those.

http://www.ted.com/talks/carolyn_porco_flies_us_to_saturn.html

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/largest-cave/peter-photography

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/10/water-sculpture-movi.html

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/foli_excellent_short_film_on_rhythmic_life_in_baro_village_in_guinea/

and two movies: The Fall, and Mr. Nobody

the world is my cloister!

. . . evolving community
Over the years, you’ve read the names of those whose help makes offering the
Teaching in this unique way possible. For the past two years, a quiet evolution
occurred, as a functioning dharma group has coalesced around the Retreat House.
It’s time our wider community begins to hear from, and about, this experiment in
Dharma community . . . this account was written by Luinda Bleackley, with input
from everyone involved:

The first year was characterized by us noticing that there seemed to be an ‘us:’ regular
attendance by a regular group of people; positive statements about what we were
individually receiving; unfocused desire to be helpful to Retreat House in some way, with
explorations of what we could do; desire for ‘more.’ This desire for more discussion, more
dharma talks, more practice and others to share and explore with has been an impetus to
move us along.

We’d tried various strategies when Bonni went away to teach internationally and it was
puzzling that our group always seemed to fizzle out. How come? What would sustain our
group practice with the teacher away? What did we have to do differently to get nourished
in Bonni’s absence? No-one was on the spot for commitment. A kind of ‘oh-if-I-don’t-come
tonight, others with be there’ attitude. It has taken repeated attempts and repeated
statements of dedication for the trust to develop over time. The trust that we will show up to
participate; the trust that something good will happen; the trust that we can self-correct as
we go along. Instead of abandoning the process, nurturing the process.

As most of us were fairly new to the Dharma, Bonni nudged us along by letting us know that
perhaps we could ask for teachings. Ask for teachings? Next thing you know we’re sitting
in someone’s kitchen, wondering out loud what we’re supposed to ask for. And how do we
run this kitchen meeting? Is it a business meeting with an agenda, a chair person and a time
keeper? Is it a meditation, where we sit together for a while, and then respectfully pass
around a talking stick? This past year has been full of exploration, challenges, stumbles and
the satisfaction of challenges met.

We’re feeling our way forward. We’re experimenting with a rotating leadership team of
3-4 people for 3-4 months. It is up to the ‘sofa’ (chair has only one seat, sofa has 3 seats)
to decide meeting times and place, plan agendas, and notice what important items are
developing that we need to address. Some embrace being on the sofa, others have to be
encouraged. It has been a great equalizer. Instead of one or two becoming super-tuned to
the functioning of the dharma group, everyone is getting a taste of what to pay attention to.
There’s increasing skill with practical details of meeting and communication management.
And there’s developing skill to notice that something needs to be addressed. There is an
experimental feel to the whole process. Lots of good will fueling it. Bonni suggested we
read THE WAY OF COUNCIL. That helped us slow down our conversations to the point
where everyone actually got listened to.

We now have some meetings that are ‘listening meetings’ where we pose a question and
then pass around the talking stick and practice open-hearted listening. This is great for
getting at deeper, slower thoughts. We also found out that if right at the end of a listening
meeting we rush to take care of some planning details, we break the trust that was just
created. So, we discovered it is not a format to use when trying to plan activities.
So now we also have ‘talking meetings’ that are more traditional with flip charts, brain
storming, note takers, e-mail distributors, and chair person. And as we were trying to
contain the potent intentional-energy quality, we noticed we also want to get to know each
other. So we have made time for strictly social meetings where we get to know each other
over food or tea. Out of this has come a deepening caring for each other and a confidence
that we can do things together. Here’s some individual thoughts about our process of
coming together:

‘It has been inspiring and confidence building to see this energy flower within the
community of practice and then shared with the broader community. Aspiration for this
energy to continue is palpable and real, witnessed in both the willingness to sit on cushions
and to roll up sleeves for whatever task is at hand.’

‘I have had the chance to experience the arising and the falling away of dharma
groups, and got a very small taste of the energy that attends emergence and dissolution.
This group of students expresses a different kind energy for me that I might call a gentle
resolve. It’s a dance. The collective is honoured, as is clarity and the need, at times, for
independent action. There is a mutual regard for where each being is on their path — every
viewpoint is sought out, respected and accommodated. When I think of this mix I have a
wonder at the beauty of the balance and a keen aspiration to see it thrive.’

‘I had come to the retreat house only for a two month summer apprenticeship and
seeing the potency of Bonni’s teachings, I never really left. Bonni’s presence on the Coast is
something to be cherished and something to feel great gratitude about.’
‘By working more closely and frequently with one another I feel we’ve developed a
strong, healthy bond of deep trust and commitment. Keeping the precepts takes vigilance
and Dharma buddies are a source of inspiration. The most important thing is the higher
level of commitment I see unfolding in myself and others over the last year. ‘

‘For me, I am extremely grateful to have such a resource. It is so easy to take it all for
granted, but in reality it is such a precious jewel in my own mind. It is a peaceful refuge, a
source of hope and inspiration,an anchor in a sea of chaos, and a dharma university all
rolled into one. Let’s do what we can to sustain and nourish it.’

…concrete accomplishments
While nurturing their own process, this merry band has organized public teachings,
raised money to support the Retreat House and helped cook, build, clean and
garden. Whenever something needs doing, they step up! Which means you’ll be
hearing more and more from them, starting, it seems, now:

Coastal to Global: Greetings!

It is slowly dawning on us that the Retreat House is not just for the local residents here on]the Sunshine Coast. In fact, most of the people doing residential retreats come from all over
the world. With this realization that the Retreat House is not just “coastal” but global in its
service, we are planning a fund-raising campaign to support this invaluable Dharma
resource. Your support will be essential. Stay tuned. We’ll let you know soon how you can
help to support Sunshine Coast Retreat House.

. . . rolling on
Since our last news went out, we’ve had a wonderful 10 days of teaching and
empowerments with Venerable Sonam Senge and Sue Bell and another 8-week
Sunday morning meditation exploration led by Matthew. Bonni’s given regular
community teaching on Wednesday evenings (with group practice when she was in
Boise) and we’ve offered an introduction to the Tripitaka, with three day-long
teachings focussing on the Sutras, the Vinaya and the Abhidharma. The Summer
Personal Retreat period was well-attended, a Healing Star Group has come
together, committed to exploring this wonderful form of group practice for the
three months that Bonni is teaching in New Zealand and Australia. Four
committed students have taken Vajrayana Refuge Vows, and begun the practice of
Namgyal-flavoured Ngondro.

. . . looking ahead

AWAKENING DREAM
At Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre, South Island, NZ
September 24 to October 23, 2010

“When the Tathagatha . . . was not yet wholly awakened, but a being awakening, there came
five great dreams.” — Anguttara Nikaya
“. . . there is nothing more real than dream.” Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Exploring the symbolic language of dream requires a paradigm shift that opens us to a fresh
view of our waking experience.
Significant dreams feature in the lives of all great mystics, providing teaching, prophecy,
encouragement, insight and integration.
Supported by recent discoveries in brain science,
unfolding through creative activities,
deepening question arising from meditative investigation,
calming and grounding through movement,
enriched by sharing with one another in silence and sound –
we will dream ourselves awake . . .
or awaken in our dream.

This (mostly) silent retreat is for well-grounded meditators in reasonable physical and
emotional health who are motivated by the depth imperative to awaken for the benefit of all
beings. Contact: retreatcentre@wangapeka.org for information and registration.

The Auckland retreat will take place at Bella Rakha October 29 to November 2:

BOUNDLESS STATES OF HEALING

The Brahma Viharas (loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity) are
practiced to heal personal patterns of mind that are negative, to imprint wholesome supports
for awakening and to explore infinitely expansive states of consciousness. Positive states of
mind are far too important (and enjoyable) to depend only on spontaneous causes and
conditions to give rise to them! This retreat will introduce a variety of approaches to the
practice, and is suitable for meditators at all stages of development.
People should wear comfy clothes and bring BIG newsprint paper and crayons or pastels (not
paints.)

Contact Janet Eades: janete1@ihug.co.nz

Tasmainia

Contact Chani Grieve chanigrieve@gmail.com regarding the Tasmania program, which will
include four nights of public teaching and a weekend workshop on Death & Impermanence in
Hobart, followed by a 10-day retreat at Dorje Ling November 19 to 28:

HEALING THE WOUNDED HEART

We all carry evidence of our conditioning in our bodies, our emotional reactions/responses and
in our concepts and thinking patterns. Formal meditation work can be challenging, because it
can trigger mental, emotional and physical pain, and yet we recognize that we must heal and
purify these wounds if we are to awaken to the fullness of life.
This retreat will begin with a foundation in the profound practice of metta, or boundless loving
kindness. In addition, through dream work, group discussion, body work and creative
activities, we will release and transform energy which becomes distorted or blocked when
unwholesome conditioning causes rigidity in our bodies, feelings and minds.

DEEP RETREAT 2011
SUNSHINE COAST RETREAT HOUSE
Roberts Creek, BC

All three spaces are filled. There is also room for a server-meditator to assist with
a wide variety of household tasks, including cooking for meditators. If a service
person does not appear, there may be space for additional meditators, so please
let us know if you would like to be on the waiting list for the retreat, or if you are
curious about the server-meditator role. E-mail retreathouse@dccnet.com.

. . . visual treat
Visit http://www.keithshawphotography.com/retreat_house/
for recent glimpses of our space, through the keen eye of Keith Shaw.

Thank you, everyone! Deep Bows to all.
the world is my cloister!

Why is it necessary to go to all this effort to learn about meditation? If it is true that the force of Universe is moving all of us in the direction of awakening, why the emphasis on this seemingly artificial “practice”?

The answer is that the “individual” consciousness, associated with a particular body, and the story that develops with it, is subject to many distortions which have accumulated on its journey from beginingless time until now. These distortions have three root causes: intentions and actions arising from hatred; from greed, and from ignorance. Obviously, there are many variations on each of these three themes. If this were not the case, the awakened state would be fully realized, because this transcendence is the fabric upon which our lives are woven. It is only because we carry the screens, blinds and filters created by past unwholesome activity that we are not able to perceive this reality right now.

These negative roots in consciousness create a cycle of difficulties, or hindrances, both in meditation practice and in life. Knowledge and observation of how this cycle feeds upon itself is helpful in understanding how unwholesome patterning repeats itself, thus creating future negative experience. Through this sort of observation we can avoid being blindly caught up in the repetition, and gradually begin to break the chains of habit that perpetuate our suffering.

The first of these hindrances is wanting something to happen, for the meditator this often takes the form of desire for results. If one is happily expectant and open-minded, whatever arises is interesting, even if difficult. When one has ideas about what should be happening, or what one wants to happen, and those ideas do not actually manifest, then the second hindrance makes its presence known: frustration.

The Buddha’s definition of suffering was: not getting what you want (greed), and having too much of what you don’t want (hatred). One could add: being confused about which is which (ignorance)! This wanting/frustration collusion causes the consciousness to freeze, no movement is possible, and this gives rise to the third hindrance, mental and/or physical exhaustion or collapse. Following on this rather dull state of being, as the flow of Universe continues to work away at the blockage, and states of agitation or disturbance, physical and/or mental begin to arise — the fourth hindrance. This restlessness creates the opportunity for the fifth hindrance to manifest — skepticism.

Unlike the curious, questioning, wholesome mind that wonders and speculates and explores, with openness to whatever experiences arise, the skeptical doubter weighs all experience against a pre-determined set of criteria and refuses to put new data or concepts to the test of personal experience. And this feeds directly back into the first hindrance: wanting a particular result or experience. And off we go again . . .

These conditioned, negative states have a terrific hold on us! Their tenacity is the reason the first meditation practices — to develop calm, or tranquillity — centre around training the mind to concentrate on one simple object, such as a colour, a natural form or the breath. We spoke last week of the three-stage development of meditative concentration: effort to stabilize and strengthen, steady and intense focus with secondary sensory inputs unable to distract, and complete absorption, or union, with the object.

This state of absorption has specific stages and can be developed with effort and lots of practice. It is important to cultivate for the simple reason that, while absorption is present, those nasty hindrances are temporarily suspended. One has the sense, when emerging from a state of full absorption into normal, waking consciousness again, that for a time all one’s burdens have been lifted. There is a sense of what it might feel like to live in an awakened state!

The stages of absorption begin with the initial effort to focus on the object, remembering to return to it again and again when distractions interfere. Then involvement deepens so that less will-power is needed — there is a natural-feeling, magnetic attraction to the object. When this state is present, one begins to experience the loosening movements of the energy body, or fine material body that we spoke of last week. These loosenings can be extremely pleasurable, full-body experiences of bliss, can be localized tingling and twitching and can also be rather unpleasant manifestations such as diarrhea or vomiting or itching.

As the fine-material energies begin to circulate more freely, beginning to clear blocks in the system, a feeling of wholeness, or well-being establishes itself in consciousness and one feels extremely calm and balanced. Continued resting in this happy state of equanimity leads to the one-pointed, or unitive experience of full absorption.

The first practices that the Buddha gave to train meditators in the development of absorption were very simple discs, called kasinas in the ancient language. These would be sized by each meditator according to hand measurements (the fingers of one hand expanded, plus the four fingers of the other side-by-side) and created with great care and craft to be as perfect as possible using the natural materials that were available at the time.

The first discs were of different colours: blue, yellow, red and white. Each colour has a range of vibration that affects the human organism, regardless of culture, in a specific way. Cool colours (the blue-green range) tend to soothe and slow down, warm colours (red to yellow) tend to activate or speed up — on the physical, metabolic level. To effect the organism in this direct, visceral way also changes the state of consciousness: blue calms, yellow loosens, red strengthens, white purifies and integrates. Present-day teachers will often begin with a green disc practice for stability — an attribute that was more or less automatic for beings 2,500 years ago who spent most of their lives in forest or jungle, but is greatly lacking for city-conditioned westerners.

The next category of discs to be studied could be the elements of earth, water, fire and air; the building-blocks of form. Finally, two further practices, bounded space and light, would be added. These are extremely powerful, profound meditations best practiced in a protected, retreat situation under the guidance of an experienced and trusted mentor.

These ten meditations all develop by training the mind to focus, first on the hand-made outer, physical object. When that object can be seen with complete detail and clarity on the inner plane, the concentration is directed unwaveringly to the visualized object. Each of these practices has very specific inner signs that arise in an orderly fashion as concentration develops. The manifestation of these experiences indicates to both teacher and student that the practice is complete.

So, of the 40 practices taught by the Buddha, we have now covered ten! Next week we will go further with our study of tranquility meditations.

May all beings be well and happy! May the energy of our shared exploration benefit the awakening process of all beings!

First of all, I’d like to refresh your memory of the Jungian mandala of the four functions of the human being which we spoke about last week. Do you recall what they are? Sensing, evaluative, intellectual and intuitive.

Now, the fact that you have a physical body is rather obvious to you! And most adults have some sort of understanding that this physical body has an anatomical structure similar to other adult human bodies, but with built-in strengths and weaknesses that are quite individual, conditioned by genetics, accident and opportunity (or lack of opportunity) for development.

What is less obvious is that in addition to this material body, living beings also have a fine material body, sometimes called an energy field, or auric field. This energy body, which pervades the physical body, also extends outside the physical body about 18 to 24 inches. This measurement is for an ordinary person; the energy body of a fully awakened being would be vast in comparison, encompassing an entire city, for example. This energy body has been photographed, somewhat crudely, with Kirlian photography, and can be perceived by most people when they are in an exceptionally calm state, or have had some training in what to look for.

Like the physical body, the fine material body of a human being has an anatomical structure that is basic, and individual distortions, or blocks, that are a product of the many lifetimes of experiences of that streaming of consciousness. The anatomy of the fine material body corresponds more or less to the four functions, beginning with the most dense, or slow moving energy, the sensing body, or physical form; and then decreasing in density through the layering of emotional; mental; and intuitive, or spiritual, bodies.

Running throughout the energy body are pathways or channels through which energy moves. These pathways conjoin at nexus points, or energy centres, the principal ones of which are located at the crown of the head, throat, centre of the torso, navel, and at the base of the spine. Each energy centre is associated with one of the endocrine glands in the physical structure, and activation of the energy centres influences the body through the neuro-endocrine system, and vice versa.

This entire anatomical structure, involving all four functions, is the “local” environment or territory of meditation practice. However, it is important to remember that one’s “individual” reality is always being influenced by the larger environment — the people around you, the political and economic and social conditions of the country you live in, the subtle effects of climate and weather, the movement of planets and the whole, vast, interconnected reality that is Universe itself. We are never separate from all these (and many, many more) influences — some of them carried from the distant past — the vast majority of which we are entirely unconscious of.

Now come back to earth again! When one reads the various meditation texts of all ages, the first discussion in them invariably concerns itself with the cultivation of a virtuous, or ethical life. The reason for this is very simple: certain types of behaviour are proven to cause agitation in consciousness. In order for meditative concentration to stabilize and deepen successfully, the consciousness must become very calm. Agitation created by living in a fashion that causes harm to oneself and/or other beings works against the development of these calm states.

A life based on the principle of non-harming would include refraining from killing, stealing, lying, sensual indulgences of various kinds and using any substances that cause the mind’s perception, analytic and reaction functions to be clouded or distorted. Most religions rely on an array of formal prohibitions to ensure correct behaviour. In Buddhadharma there are various levels of training precepts — a basic three for all who formally commit themselves to working within this framework, five for most lay people, eight for those with the type of ordination which I hold, ten for newly-ordained, celibate, nuns and monks and up to several hundred for those who become fully ordained. These precepts are presented as a study, rather than a list of “thou shalt nots” in order to encourage practitioners to keep trying without guilt, and to deepen their appreciation of the subtleties of action, speech and thought that the training principles address.

To live a wholesome life presupposes an understanding that there is a law of cause and effect — that one’s present experience, pleasant or unpleasant, is a direct result of one’s past wholesome or unwholesome motivation and behaviour. Therefore, it is important that one’s present actions, words and thoughts are thought of as seeds which will (or will not) produce future experience supportive of spiritual development.

For those who would like to explore these, and other fundamental ideas of Buddhadharma, I recommend reading a book entitled WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT by Walpole Rahula. Then, if you have questions about the philosophical milieu in which these practices were taught, you can bring them to class.

Last week I mentioned that two main divisions exist. Does anyone recall what they were? Tranquillity, or calming, meditations and insight, or direct experience. We’ll begin by considering the territory of tranquillity practices, with the understanding that the development of calm is essential in order for insight to arise.

Tranquillity meditations involve the development and deepening of states of concentration. Now this word immediately causes many Westerners to show signs of tension — something about how we are conditioned in school, perhaps, that equates concentration with tight muscles, furrowed brows and the appearance of great effort! Meditative concentration has a different quality — more of a relaxing into, absorbing into, the object of concentration, rather like a pussycat settling into a patch of sun for a long, intense, nap. We all have experienced this type of concentration when we are interested in something — a film or book, perhaps, that is so involving we forget who and where we are, becoming completely engrossed in the story. This ability to absorb into objects is trained, through meditation practice, to be used at will (rather than only spontaneously) and with objects conducive to the purification and development of consciousness, rather than those which provide, at best, escapist fantasy.

This quality of concentration begins with a certain application of effort, which strengthens and stabilizes the mind, and develops in steadiness and intensity to the point where the meditator is aware of other sensory inputs, but is not distracted from concentration by them. Finally the experience becomes unitive or holistic — no “meditator”, no “meditation object” — simply a flow of pure conscious experience in which subject and object have merged with Universe.

Next week we’ll speak about the states of absorption further, and begin our exploration of the practices themselves.

May the positive energy of this exploration be shared for the elimination of suffering throughout the universe and the speedy liberation of all beings!

To Overview (3)

What is meditation? It may interest you to know that in the ancient language of the culture where these practices were first developed, there wasn’t a word which exactly translates as “meditation”. This English word is our Western construct; the being who taught the system we are going to study over the next few months, Sakyamuni Buddha, used two words to describe the process: one which means “concentration” and another which means “mental development”. So here is a new idea for you. Meditation exercises involve training the “individual” mind to concentrate on particular objects in very specific ways, in order to strengthen and purify consciousness to the point where it is possible to awaken to, or perceive its union with, transcendent or “universal” consciousness.

To begin at one possible beginning, let’s examine the standard equipment that every human being has. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spoke of the human being as possessing four primary functions: sensing (the body), feeling (evaluation), thinking (intellect) and intuitive (spiritual). These four operate together, in dynamic equilibrium, and provide the human organism with a wide range of data which is assessed and utilized for survival. The sensing function lets data in through the doorways of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The feeling function makes very simple judgments about this data: yes, it’s acceptable, no, it’s not. The intellect provides us with a way to classify and analyze the data and create concepts about it and the intuitive knits the whole together and also acts as doorway for more information, on a more subtle level, to be received.

All of these functions are conditioned — their abilities enhanced or limited — by the experiences we encounter from the moment of conception in the womb, through our birth, and then by the quality of the environment we find ourselves in as children, adolescents and adults. This conditioning process continually creates our sense of “I” or ego, a unique, separate individual with particular talents and wholesome qualities, weaknesses, lacks and unwholesome qualities. Even though we know our bodies, feelings and thoughts were hugely different at earlier stages in our lives than they are now, we persist in thinking of ourselves as somehow possessing a fixed state of consciousness or being.

Meditation arises from the context, in most cultures, that this limited and conditioned ego consciousness is not the whole story. Here language becomes very slippery, and people’s concepts vary enormously as they attempt to describe another type of consciousness which is much vaster than the ego. Words such as God, enlightened, transcendent, universal are used. Meditation systems (and every exoteric religious expression has had its corresponding esoteric, spiritual work) all have the purpose of providing a bridge or connection between the ego mind and the depth mind. Meditation addresses the questions that arise when neither intellectual understanding nor religious faith is sufficient to explain the nature of universe and the place of the individual in it.

One of the observations that gives rise to such questions, a fact of life that every mature person will have taken in, consciously or unconsciously, is that everything changes. There is nothing that remains static indefinitely anywhere in the universe of observable phenomenon. In some cultures more than in others, great value is placed by the ego mind on establishing a sense of permanence and stability, which is equated with safety. Our culture has developed this priority to such a degree that many people live their whole lives without ever confronting the personal meaning of the fact that they are someday, some unknown day (perhaps tomorrow) going to die. It does not require a huge leap in understanding to see clearly that the tension between the universal quality of change and the cultural value of permanence creates an anxiety, a built-in tension or existential sense of anxiety in people.

Beginning at this point, that all existence shares this fundamentally unsatisfactory state, the Buddha progressed through deep realizations of the causal factor of this state, the cessation factor, and then composed an eight-point process or path which would lead those inclined to the realization of their essential union with transcendent consciousness, with the result that the cause of struggle would be eliminated. All the meditations that he adapted and crafted were for the purpose of bringing people to their own direct experience of these truths.

Now, meditation techniques, regardless of what culture or religious system creates them, can be divided into seven basic categories. There are practices based on breathing, on colour and/or form, on sound, on movement, on points within the body where energy pathways conjoin. There are practices that are devotional in nature, and finally, there is direct experience of the essence of mind, sometimes referred to as insight. The first six of these categories, and all the variety that their combining in different ways can produce, is for the purpose of the establishment and deepening of calm, or tranquillity, in consciousness. The seventh, insight, is a category which stands alone because it depends on the prior development of calm in order to arise.

Formal, disciplined meditation practice is important for individual unfoldment because it helps to stabilize and purify the mind. It also opens doorways to inner sensory experience and helps to remove blocks in the energy of the organism that inhibit clear functioning. But formal practice is most effective for liberation if it takes places within an environment where continual awareness of all the functions of the human being is maintained to the best of one’s ability. Awareness is everything! Some teachers will declare that meditation exercises are merely clever ways of making it interesting for students to pay attention!

The context, or way of life, in which meditation is practiced will determine its effectiveness. Sincere motivation for liberation from suffering, or union with the divine, is of paramount importance. The whole evolutionary push of universe is moving toward awakening, but there are many ways we can collude to slow this process down. The Buddha taught an eight-fold process which provides guidance for those wanting to experience for themselves the great liberation which he experienced. Three of these principles have to do with the quality of our actions, words and how we earn our living; two involve cultivating a complete, truthful knowledge of reality based on direct experience and the purity of intention or motivation to awaken. The final three relate to the training and development of the mind through meditation.

In his lifetime, the Buddha taught 40 different methods of meditation, some suitable for all people in all circumstances, some as specific tools to strengthen a particular quality of consciousness or to antidote some habitual unwholesome tendency. In the 2,500 years since his lifetime, these practices have been used effectively and reliably by many millions of people. Developing with the experience of these practitioners and adapting to different cultural and temporal contexts as the Teaching spread, the number of practices that are called “Buddhist” today number in the thousands — but they all stem from the basic plant which we will begin to study in detail next week.

May the benefit of this work be shared for the speedy liberation of all beings!

To Overview (2)

Two weeks ago we ended with a consideration of the word samma and you were invited to explore the implications of a totality perspective in your daily lives. If you gave this a try, you will know directly how difficult it is. Only when we begin to realize how much we think, speak and act without awareness of totality do we begin to develop as students of the path of liberation. We have to see how much our lives are dominated by partiality. This lovely word can mean two things: preference and incompleteness — really the same, when you stop to consider.

Tonight’s task is very big . . . to give an overview of The Eightfold Noble Path as the foundation for our life as practitioners. So we have to start with the first principle the Buddha taught, also the most difficult: totality view or totality understanding. We’ll spend a lot of time with this principle, because
all the rest flows from it. Samma ditthi means knowing the nature of reality as an awakened being would know it — directly, without concepts. But for us, who dwell so incompletely in the realm of concepts, we can try to use them skillfully, as the Buddha did.

Continue reading the PDF version.