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Retreat advice by Lama Zopa
Rinpoche-
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Extract from Lama
Zopa Rinpoche's Advice Book. Rinpoche sent the following letter to a
group of students who had been studying Buddhism for some years and were
about to undertake a nine-month retreat.
 Dear most precious one, you
who are not a seeker of liberation for yourself but a seeker of enlightenment
for all sentient beings.
I am extremely happy with what you are doing because you are practising the
heart of the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha (the lamrim), not
just what's "called" meditation or just only "one"
meditation technique from the path.
What you are doing is putting into practice and trying to actualise what
you have learned all these years. What you are doing is the real, ultimate
solution for world peace, not only global peace but also for all countless
universes, for all sentient beings. First one gets rid of one's own
delusions, so countless sentient beings don't receive harm from you, only
receive peace and happiness, and are liberated from the oceans of samsaric
sufferings caused by delusions and karma by your revealing the path to them
through your experience.
Doing retreat means you're making war with your inner enemy - delusions, to
conquer them, which have defeated you from beginningless samsaric rebirths,
from time without beginning. All other enemies (external enemies) cannot
last as long as that.
Therefore, it is extremely worthwhile spending time with your precious
human life to make war with the inner enemies, to defeat them, no matter
how difficult it is, no matter how many lifetimes or eons it takes.
Once defeated (including the seed of delusions) then that's it, they never
come back because there is no cause, because the imprint (seed) is
eliminated. Therefore, this is the one time to make war with Dharma
practice (the antidote to delusions), to destroy the delusions, even though
it may take many lifetimes, even eons. We have this just one time to work
on them with our Dharma practice.
With external enemies, even if you kill them, other beings become your
enemy, and that same being will become your enemy and harm you, again and
again, in other lives, without end! As long as you have the inner enemy,
delusions, the external enemy will never end. If one is in harmony with
other beings and offers service to them, all of them will offer benefit and
happiness to you. If one devotes oneself to a delusion, it will harm you
and will continue to cause suffering again and again in the future.
 Even if suras, asuras,
and all living beings rise up as an enemy toward me, they can't lead me
into the fire of the inexhaustible hell realm. Doing retreat is also a
blessing for the area in which you live, especially if you are meditating
on bodhichitta and also when you perform tantric practices.
Each of the eighty four thousand teachings taught by Buddha, every single word
of the Dharma, the whole Kangyur and Tengyur, including OM MANI PADME HUM
is to tame the mind, to take care of the mind. The mind enables us to
achieve enlightenment and to experience hell, to experience samsara and to
experience liberation, to experience peace and happiness in our daily lives
and problems in our daily lives.
Whatever you experienced in the past and whatever you are experiencing now
- forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects and memories, including
imagining the future - all of it comes from the mind. All the mountains
that you can see around here came from the mind, from karma; the colours
and forms, the shape of the rocks, and the mind which labels this and that
- all come from the mind.
For success, one needs morality, samaya, and a good heart. Perform your
practice with a good heart, and live your life with a good heart based on
developing guru devotion.
In the Six Session Guru
Yoga it says:
Please grant me blessings to see that achieving all the common and sublime
attainments is by correctly devoting to the virtuous friend. Give up even
one's own body and life to accomplish what only pleases you.
In the Fifty Verses of
Guru Devotion it says:
Do everything that pleases
the guru. Abandon all the things that displease him!
Why? By pleasing him or
her one will achieve the sublime transcendental wisdom of omniscience.
Please enjoy these offerings and the picture of Tara for long life. But
don't have a concept of a permanent life. Death can come any day, at any
moment.
There is also a photo of Mickey Mouse for you, with prayers for success in
your practice.
Any experiences, any development in the heart (or actual realization), even
a strong experience of lamrim, is a great development, a great progression
for the FPMT organisation.
With much love and prayers...
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New Autumn Programme-
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We are pleased to
announce that Jamyang's autumn programme is now available in print and
online, covering the various classes and activities taking place at the
centre between September and December 2009.
We are also very fortunate to welcome back Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin who will be offering a
generous visit in September consisting of: teachings on Developing a
Kind Heart and Lamrim, White Tara empowerment, Heruka
initiation and Vajrayogini initiation with commentary.
We will also be hosting very qualified Western teachers: Ven Sangye Khadro will teach on Applying the Wisdom
of Dependent Arising in our Daily Life; Robert Beer will continue a series of teachings and
slide shows on The Vajrayana Imagery; Ven. Amy Miller returns for a weekend course on the
topic: From Anger to Happiness - It's All in the Mind; Our regular
visitor Andy Weber will be leading two art workshops on Vajrayogini
and the Vajrayogini Mandala plus an Introduction to Tibetan Art
evening in November and December. And for those of you interested in
meditation, Alan Wallace will be leading a 7-day Shamatha
retreat in December.
The Family Days will continue this term to provide an
opportunity for both kids and parents to enjoy various activities that
include story-telling, singing, dancing, arts and crafts, and much
more.
Finally, don't miss the Buddha's Descent from Tushita celebration with Geshe
Tashi in November, a day of group practice and meditation with the
opportunity to take refuge and the eight Mahayana precepts.
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Watch His Holiness the
Dalai Lama in Lausanne online (4 & 5 of August)
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THIS MONTH AT JAMYANG
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Wednesday 12th of August, 7.30pm. Free event.
Ven. Nynge and Ven. Sumden will share some
of their retreat experience with us. Beginning in 1982, they
spent 23 years preparing for and completing approximately 12 years of
strict retreat following the tradition of Lama Tsong Khapa's
ear-whispered lineage, under the guidance of Lama Thubten Yeshe,
Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche and Kyabje Ribur Rinpoche. This included the nine
preliminary retreats, two 4 year great mantra retreats and other highest
yoga tantra approximation retreats. They have been students of Lama Zopa
and Lama Yeshe for 30 years and have spent their adult lives interpreting
and adapting this precious lineage into the context of western culture
and lifestyle.
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Director's column-
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 Hi
Everyone,
Life seems to have been extremely busy at Jamyang during July with lots
happening - last Tuesday was a happy/sad day celebrating the end of the
One-Year FBT Campus Course with Geshe Tashi (50 students graduating from the
course). Geshe-la's Wednesday night "Six Perfections" teachings
have been very well attended, lots of school visits, Family Days continuing
each month, Monday night classes going well, our Peace in the City day was
very successful, and Mike Murray has been busy in India obtaining both UK
and French visas for Khensur Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche and his
attendant. Plus further work on upgrading our heating system;
floor- boards in the main Gompa, Tara room and Cafe deck have been sanded
and resurfaced and are looking gorgeous now (hearty thanks to Miguel for
his painstaking hard work) and throughout all this, the Buddha statue in
the Courtyard still gleaming, glowing and watching over Jamyang!
 I'd
like to introduce a new member of our volunteer team - Sue Guthrie (a
fellow kiwi in fact). You'll find Sue, Monday - Friday, 10 am - 5 pm
in our bookshop. She answers all incoming phone calls and emails, and
takes care of all course and cell bookings and payments, and bookshop
matters and a multitude of other work.
The credit card machine is relocated in the bookshop, making it easier for
any payments you want to make. We hope Sue's role will enable us to
respond more efficiently to your admin needs in Jamyang.
Now of course, a HUGE thank you is due to Ven Barbara and John Bonell, as
they have been coming in for years, and we hope will continue to come for
many years in the future, volunteering their time helping with these admin
tasks. Jamyang would have fallen into an administrative heap without
the humour and cheerful help of both these good friends.
Heartfelt thanks to all those
who recited mantras for Lama Zopa Rinpoche's good health and long life
- 32,752 from Jamyang students, 3.3 million in total, so please
rejoice!.
Roger Wright (a Jamyang Trustee) and I are on a sub-committee of the new
Faiths Together In Lambeth, multi-faith group. The group is
organising an Interfaith Peace Picnic on 20th September (see below).
For those not planning to attend Khensur Rinpoche's Vajrayogini
commentary that day, please do join us for this fun and beneficial event!
Finally, what happened to the
English sun?! No karma eh....
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Interfaith picnic invitation-
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Jamyang is an active member
of Faiths Together in Lambeth, the group organising this year's Inter
Faith Peace Picnic to be held as part of London's Week of Peace
on Sunday 20 September, 3- 5 p.m at St. Matthew's Gardens, a few minutes
from Brixton Tube station.
We are inviting everyone in the community to come along and participate in
this event with the aim of making a visible statement of mutual respect and
cooperation among the faith communities in the Borough of Lambeth. The day
includes shared food and a cultural programme that each of the different
faiths has prepared.
For any enquires please contact Alan Gadd at: alangadd@yahoo.co.uk or Sally
at: sally@jamyang.co.uk
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FPMT centres offering
retreat facilities and retreats by Carolyn Gillet
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 Doing
a retreat enables us to withdraw from our everyday concerns, purify our
negativities, sharpen the mind, and strengthen the compassionate wish to
work for others.
'Retreat' literally means to retreat from one's ordinary day-to-day
concerns and view, and to give oneself the opportunity to focus on a
particular practice or teaching.
There is not one way of doing retreat, but it is as diverse as the
teachings are diverse, you don't even need to leave your house to do a
retreat (read Andy's suggestions below)! For example: you can do a
Lamrim retreat, a Shamatha retreat or a Tantric Deity retreat. You can do a
silent retreat, solitary retreat or a group retreat. Retreats can last 24
hours, a weekend, a week, a month, three months, a year, three years, etc.
In whichever way and whatever format you do a retreat, the main objective
is to have the external and internal conditions to advance in your
spiritual practice.
Ideally, a practitioner would do an intensive retreat at least once a year
for a week, a month or longer. The FPMT retreat centres offer everything
from intensive meditation on Tibetan Buddhist deity practices, group
retreats, solitary retreats, to a relaxing environment for reflection and
discovery.
Here are a few examples of what is on offer:
 Australia: at Chenrezig Institute there is the annual Mani Retreat to
recite 100,000,000 Mani mantras, starting 19 November 2009, for home and
group retreaters. Chenrezig Institute, looking onto sunrise on the Pacific,
sits in a regenerated natural habitat with an abundance of wildlife.
England: at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, the Summer Retreat - Step by
Step Guidance on the Path, by Geshe Tashi Tsering is 22-30 August 2009.
Jamyang is not a dedicated retreat centre but endeavours to make it as
comfortable as possible for people staying; we usually convert two rooms
into dormitories and can rent out four of the original cells in the Old
Courthouse.
Also at Jamyang: Shamata Retreat with Alan Wallace: 10-16 December 2009.
Vajrayogini Retreat with Geshe Tashi: 27 December 2009 (p.m.) to 23 January
2010.
 France: at Institut Vajrayogini, for the recent Mani Retreat, Lama
Zopa Rinpoche considered it was most beneficial for group retreats. The
setting is beautiful, away from shops, with ample space inside buildings,
camping facilities, and an exceptionally helpful team of staff and
volunteers.
India: at Root Institute, there are private retreat facilities in
peaceful rooms and retreat houses set in beautiful gardens full of flowers,
prayer flags, Buddha statues, stupas and prayer wheels - an
"oasis" from the dust and noise of Bodghaya.
Italy: at Instituto Lama Tzong Khapa has facilitiesfor long- and
short-term retreats. Located in the scenic Tuscan countryside, the
Institute is an ideal place for those wishing to make contact with or
deepen their connection with a spiritual path.
 Nepal: Kopan Monastery, the home of the FPMT, is holding its
Annual Lam Rim One Month Course, 15 November - 15 December 2009, with
retreat, 17-24 December 2009 with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Venerable Thubten
Dundrub (Neil). Kopan is a unique place - between East and West,
between religious and worldly life.
New Zealand at Mahamudra Centre they are taking bookings for a
Three-Month Vajrasattva Group Retreat, 29 August - 29 November 2009,
with Venerable Antonio Satta. Set in a lovely rural environment with the
spring turning to summer, great vegetarian food and rustic facilities.
Individual retreat facilities are also available.
Spain: at Oseling Centro de Retiros there are ten small houses
for individual retreats, built out of stone and wood in the local style.
The facilities are simple but comfortable, helping to create an atmosphere
which encourages you to focus your gaze inwards.
USA (Vermont): at Milarepa Centre there is a Medicine Buddha Retreat,
August/September, lead by Ven Geshe Tsulga. Their main facility is a
farmhouse that dates from 1865. Nearby are a converted barn, flower and
vegetable gardens, and two retreat huts served by the main kitchen. Two
additional, more remote huts have their own kitchen and are ideal for
longer stays. Surrounding it all is the natural beauty of rural Vermont.
 USA
(California): at Vajrapani Institute, our very own Geshe Tashi Tsering
is leading the Kopan West 09 retreat, 13-22 November 2009. There are six
individual cabins that are ideal for meditation retreat or study, offering
a quiet, safe and secluded environment. The cabins share a private indoor
bathhouse and fabulous outdoor showers. Each cabin has a sliding glass door
which opens onto a redwood deck and a spectacular view of the surrounding
mountains. After that, there will be a Vajrayogini Retreat, 28
November - 28 December, led by Elaine Jackson & Don Isaacson.
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FPMT UK Retreat Centre
project by Andy Wistreich
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 For
almost thirty years there has been a wish for an FPMT Retreat Centre in the
UK. This idea has surfaced from time to time, and briefly found
expression in the 1980s when Ramsey Island off the coast of South Wales
became a retreat centre linked to the London Centre. More recently other
attempts have been made and have almost succeeded.
Now, with the encouragement
of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Tashi, Geshe Wangchen (Jamyang London's first
residential teacher) and Khensur Jampa Thekchog Rinpoche, it seems that
this is an auspicious time to go ahead and make the wish a reality.
Since the project received initial approval from FPMT International Office
in October 2008, a project team and steering group have been created.
An online survey November-December 2008 established an overwhelming wish
amongst FPMT students in the UK for there to be a dedicated retreat centre
here. A bank account is open, a website developed and an initial
strategy agreed.
It is difficult to express the importance of retreat in the practice of
Buddhadharma. Most of us have so many problems, yet we have
discovered this teaching that offers us the chance to transform not only
our own situation, but to help all others too. We learn what we can
about this extraordinary path, and we do our best to practise what we
learn, day by day. Yet, because we are so busy, so distracted by all
our responsibilities and the attractions of the world, we integrate little
of what we learn with the deeper level of our mind. Thus we cannot
feel confident that if death were to come in the next few days, we would
carry forward to our next life very much of what we know. Yet death
can come any moment. Therefore we should try to make retreat a
regular part of our spiritual development.
An FPMT Retreat Centre in the UK would offer a range of opportunities to
all of us, and to future practitioners for generations to come, to engage
in group and solitary retreats and integrate what we learn, consolidating
our knowledge and moving nearer to enlightenment for the benefit of all
sentient beings.
Everyone who helps to make the Retreat Centre a reality will participate in
the merits of all who do retreat there. There are many ways to offer
support to the project. To read the strategy, to learn more about the
project and to see how you may participate, please look at the project
website at http://www.fpmtukretreat.co.uk
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Jamyang students on doing
retreat-
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Following the topic of this
month's edition of Gentle Voice, we have asked a few students to share
their experience and insight into what doing retreat means, and how it was
for them.
A Weekend Solitary Retreat by Andy Wistreich
 In
solitary retreat you get to know your own mind very easily and
quickly. If you begin with some short solitary retreats, as you gain
confidence, you can then embark on longer ones. A weekend is a good
place to start. You can do it anywhere, even at home, as long as you
try to meet the following conditions: 1. Buy all your food in
advance. 2. Ensure that you can be alone, without communication
by email or phone, and without media such as TV, radio, Internet or
listening to music. 4. Have a clean and pleasant place to
meditate with a shrine, and as little noise from outside as possible.
Take care with the environment, cleaning the shrine room beforehand,
setting up the shrine with offerings, and making a comfortable place to
sit. If someone else needs to be in the house or flat, negotiate to have
the privacy and quiet you'll need.
Choose your practice, such as Lam Rim (the whole or part) or a tantric
sadhana, if possible consulting in advance with your teacher. Plan
your sessions carefully, writing out your schedule and then sticking to it.
The following structure works well: Friday, after your evening meal,
one session; Saturday, one session before breakfast, one session before
lunch, exercise (e.g. walk, or physical work such as cleaning or gardening)
after lunch, one session before dinner and one session after dinner; Sunday
one session before breakfast and one final session before lunch including
dedication. You will still have Sunday afternoon for chores and
readjusting before work on Monday. If a weekend is too long, even 24
hours can be very beneficial, starting after dinner on day one and
finishing before dinner on day two.
Each session should be one and a half to two and a half hours long.
If it is a Lam Rim retreat, choose your topics in advance and which text
you will use as a source for meditation, and plan the topics for the seven
sessions. If it is a tantric retreat, each session should include the
recitation of your sadhana, concentration on specific points such as
dissolution and self generation, and mantra recitation. The first session
should include some motivational meditation for the whole retreat and the
final session some dedication of all the merit.
There will be times when you can do some reading. Only read books
that support the practice you are doing. At bedtime, sleep on your
right side with your right hand under your ear, and make strong
determination to use your sleep as part of the retreat, in a virtuous way,
and when you wake up, rejoice that you are still alive and able to do
retreat. In general make all your ordinary activities into part of
the retreat, offering your food, your shower etc to the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas according to any instructions you have received.
Continuously remind yourself of how fortunate it is to be able to do this
retreat. Have no doubt that this time will be very well spent.
Retreats - my experience, by Cynthia Bonell
 For
some people, going on retreats can become their main Dharma practice and I
have met serious Buddhist practitioners who happily go from one retreat to
another. Completion of two 10-day retreats and numerous shorter ones does
not qualify me to speak with any great authority so I write from my
personal experience of retreats and would encourage everyone to attend
them.
The first serious retreat I attended was a Vipassana Retreat at the
Institute Vajrayogini in Southern France. I was immediately struck by the
surroundings that felt cared for in a homely, comfortable manner. My 50
fellow retreatants ranged from those young enough to be my children to
those of a similar age to mine.
After being shown my room my first task was to set up my seat in the
meditation hall. I had already made a strong decision to try my best to use
this time to practise. I remembered very clearly Geshe Tashi's advice 'to
make the place where you intend to sit comfortable'. I spent some time
choosing where to sit. Luckily my husband, John, had made me a meditation
stool enabling me to sit cross-legged without putting pressure on my
ankles, and then by placing cushions beneath each knee, I was so comfortable
I could easily sit without fidgeting for up to two hours. Believe me, it's
worth spending time on this.
The retreat began that evening, when we met with Venerable Antonio, an
Italian monk. His instructions were clear and uncompromising both in terms
of what was expected of us but also of his commitment to care for us. I
immediately felt involved and willing.
The timetable meant we were up by 5.30 a.m., with our first meditation
session at 6 a.m. Each day we had about 5 sitting meditation and 5 walking
meditation sessions. Interspersed with these we ate and did work
activities. The whole time we were in silence apart from daily prayers and
when we went to speak with Venerable Antonio. He gave a talk each evening,
and before each sitting meditation there was always some skilful advice.
During the meditation sessions all my states of mind lined up to attack or
lull me, to torment or pacify my body and mind, including irritation and
depression, feeling spaced-out or free and alert, happy or sad, in pain or
in blissful comfort. All came and went but with plenty of time it
seemed possible to simply watch and give them space to come and go.
I only really became aware of the effects of the retreat some time later.
My meditation sessions were more focused and my mind seemed quieter with
more acceptance of life's passing events. These effects did not last but
were a strong incentive to continue.
Luckily at Jamyang we are given plenty of opportunities to join shorter and
longer retreats. Each time I attend I find the effect becomes stronger and
more worthwhile. The whole process from finding a comfortable posture,
relaxing into the meditation, accepting conditions without judgement and my
commitment to understand and be of help to others becomes natural.
From my own limited experience I would say if you have the opportunity to
go on a retreat, be it short or long, take the chance and give yourself a
really meaningful but totally safe environment to get to know what's really
important in your life by facing what gets in the way.
Steve Golding's latest retreat
 Namaste!
Just back from eight months in Nepal and India, mostly on retreat; feeling
happier, 'lighter', and more positive. There's space for only 500 words so
I hope this mere outline is of some benefit, interest or amusement.
Geshe Tashi suggested I do my first preliminary practice (nyung dro) -
100,000 Refuge and Bodhichitta prayers, in English and/or Tibetan.
First, the Kopan November course and retreat was beneficial for focusing on
Lamrim for 5 weeks; including a week of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche's powerful
presence and teachings. I enjoyed meeting dharma students from around the
globe - very few enjoy our great fortune to have an excellent teacher and
supportive lay sangha. Rejoice!
After Kopan, I led a group on pilgrimage to Lumbini, Kushinagar and Sarnath
where we were blessed with ten days of precious teachings and empowerments
from Jhado Tulku Rinpoche and then His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Mid-January, I went to Root Institute, Bodghaya, to start nyung dro but was
exhausted from sharing cold monastery dorms with chronic snorers for two
months, and sick from woeful hygiene and a cocktail of germs.
Most retreat huts are basic (no loo, kitchen, heating or fan) but good for retreat
and the staff kindly provided items to set up an altar. My first session at
6 a.m was Chenrezig practice, then 3 nyung dro sessions (one in the a.m.,
two in the p.m), studied in breaks, 21 Taras and a sleepy Vajrasattva
practice before falling into bed about 9 p.m.
I took the 8 Mahayana Precepts for 5 weeks, ate a large lunch at Root, and
divided sessions between my hut and the Mahabodhi Temple (30 minutes walk).
The first month was a struggle - apart from exhaustion and pain, gardeners
and goats were a bleating nuisance and I was afflicted with doubt about how
to do my practice properly. I was glad of support from various Jamyang
'cyber-sangha' and Ven Tenzin Chogkyi who came to Root. Later, I was
grateful for advice from Ven David, and daily 'de-briefing' with Ani
Dhechunk.
I enjoyed doing khorwa (circumambulations) of the Mahabodhi Temple,
especially during monlam when zimming with thousands of Tibetans. Practice
there is very powerful, and especially 'purification through the lower
doors' - I lost 15 kg!
Returning to The Stupa in Bouddnath, Nepal, had immediate benefit. I stayed
a few days to enjoy khorwa and a change of diet before returning to Kopan
for most of the next 4 months.
Welcome diversions included teachings and empowerments from Khensur Lobsang
Tenzin Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche, and Chos-kyi Nyima Rinpoche. I was
privileged to help Ani Tenzin with daily offerings of 360 water bowls in
Lama Zopa Rinpoche's apartment for a week; and visited the sacred sites of
NamoBuddha, Pharphing, Swayambhu and Vajrayogini shrine.
I had to leave Kopan for 12 days to make room for 86 students on an
Introduction to Buddhism course. On my return, I was allocated a room for 3
months, avoided those on courses, and received direct advice from Geshe Tashi.
Retreat improved significantly with structured daily meditation on refuge,
bodhicitta and emptiness.
I joyfully completed 108,000 recitations on 6 July - my dedication to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama's long life on His birthday. Hoorah!
Thanks to everyone who helped make this precious trip possible. May all
beings be happy!
(P.S I also had an exciting trip to Tibet but that's another story.)
Sitting in a Vipassana retreat by Alex
 Looking
back, I've made many errors of judgment but mostly they were unavoidable as
they were consequences of my state of mind at the time. We're not
perfect, but meditation facilitates our move towards perfection.
The principal understanding underlying meditation is the discovery that
everything is in a state of constant transition, and this is known as
Anicca (change/transition). Meditation gives us experience of this
rather than just theoretical knowledge. Science tells us this that
all is in transition, but it is theoretical knowledge, abstract, like
reading a description of a meal but not actually knowing what it tastes
like. It also means that we only pay lip service to this
knowledge. We meet someone, they go away and when we meet again, we
can say the words in our mind: "Oh, this person is not the same person
I met previously", but we don't respond this way. Our actions
belie our thinking and we react to the person as if they were still the
same person. If they have harmed us previously we experience negative
feelings and if they were previously "nice" to us we experience
pleasant feelings.
Vipassana assists our coming
out of this Pavlovian response and facilitates our move towards universal
love. Not that after sitting a 10-day retreat you love
unconditionally, but the conditions of your love are softened at the edges
and the process is an ongoing one, seemingly endless but apparently not so.
The teachings of the Buddha explain that this process is transcendable,
there is an escape.
The retreat itself requires that you maintain noble silence for 9 of the 10
days. Up at 4.30 a.m., breakfast 7-8, lunch 11.30-12 and no eating
after 12. The rest of the time is spent in sitting meditation until
bed at 9.30 p.m. The retreat centre I attend is in the heart of
Hereford in an undulating landscape of glorious greenery. As I became
more sensitive, and, literally, returned to my senses, I became alive
again, vivified, as one awakening from a grey smog I had allowed to
permeate my mind and body. A lot of this is to do with the wholesome
delicious vegetarian food that is made with such loving mindfulness by
volunteers.
The meditation centre provides all the conditions needed for spiritual (and
you realise material) progress, but you need to apply yourself. And
as you progress, you realise that the application is to not try but just to
pay attention. Nature will do all the work for you if the conditions
are right and you apply yourself to paying attention.
One other requisite that I have failed to mention and this is the necessity
of sitting with one's back straight, without forcing it, one needs to find
out for oneself how to sit for long periods with one's spine straight;
eventually one comes to realise that nature will effortlessly do this for
us once we have learned to allow it do its work unhindered.
One last observation (I could write a book on the subject, but have limited
myself here to the bare essentials as I see them), meditation is not
linearly mathematical. This means that 1 and 1 do not make 2 or 2 and
3 do not make 5.
When you meditate with others, the benefits are beyond the sum total and
this is how exponential merit is gained. Two people sitting together
are not equivalent to 2 people sitting separately or at different
times. The Dharma does not work like that. Two people sitting
together produce much more harmonious vibration than to do so separately
and the greater the numbers, the exponentially greater the harmonious
energy. So a regular group sitting becomes essential whenever
possible. In this piece I have focused on issues that are relevant to
where I am now, and this is by no means a comprehensive overview of
meditation.
To finish, I would like to mention that Vipassana meditation, through
constant application, has brought a change in my life beyond measure and
beyond words and that my sense of gratitude no matter how much it grows
seems never to match what I receive; may all beings be happy, may all
beings know true peace, true harmony.
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Osel's letter to
'everyone working within FPMT'-
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Following the suggestion of
one of Gentle Voice's readers, we are sharing with all of you a letter that
Osel Hita wrote for everyone working within FPMT. We hope you enjoy it.
http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/osel/
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FPMT-
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 Jamyang is affiliated
with FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana
Tradition) and is one of more than 150 centers and projects worldwide.
FPMT is based on the Gelugpa
tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught by our founder, Lama
Thubten Yeshe and spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. If you would like
to receive FPMT's monthly newsletters please subscribe here.
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Your thoughts
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What do you want to see in Gentle
Voice? We would love to hear your ideas and comments about Gentle
Voice, please contact Esther at: spc@jamyang.co.uk
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