NEWS LETTER
The Buddha said there are twelve links in the chain of Dependent O r i gi n a t i o n ( e v e r y t h i n g i s interconnected). Ev eryt hing affects everything else. Everything that is, is because other things are which is the Buddhist teaching on how things come to be, are, and cease to be. According to this teaching, no beings or phenomena exist independently of other beings and phenomena. The Twelve Links are Ignorance, Karma (out of ignorance come thoughts, words and actions that sew the deeds of Karma), Consciousness, Name and Form, Faculties (sense organs), Contact, Sensation, Craving, Clinging, Becoming, Birth, Old Age and Death and shows us how Dependent Origination works. Registration Essential
If Kyabje Khensur Kangurwa Rinpoche was the sun then Geshela would be his flames.
1. Kyabje Rinpoche offering text 2. HH Dalia Lama looking intently 3. Acknowledging & respecting the text 4. Thank you, thank you 5. Two phenomenal minds touch 6. Would love to know what was so funny!
In the background, our Tenzin, and Geshe Jamyang and Geshe Dorjee beside Kyabje Rinpoche
DIRECTORS NEWS
Let me see that proper devotion to my kind Master, Foundation of all good qualities, is the root of the Path, And devote myself to him with great Respect and many efforts inspire me thus! (Lamrim Prayer)
Teacher
Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Management Committee
Director: Chris Ridley Assistant Director: Aaron Trott Treasurer: Tania Bell Centre Manager: Carole Armstrong
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribing: Malvin Artley Newsletter: Carole Armstrong Librarian: Ven Jampa Tenzin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the days give rise to weeks and 2012 becomes established, the program at TBI is opening like a beautiful flower with the scent of the Dharma delighting young and old alike! The soil is enriched as the manure of our collective minds is steadily turned and mixed with the transformative chemistry of the teachings and the various meditational practices. We are so fortunate to have a specialist gardener of such renown who, although appears as a humble, affable friend, is so qualified in his craft that he is honoured and revered in his homeland where heads are scratched as to why he should want to try and grow anything, here in this desert! I of course am referring to our esteemed resident teacher, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen. In February, the opportunity to steady the mind at the Calm Abiding Day with Ven Jampa Tenzin, celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year with Geshela and a wonderful Guru Puja offering, together with the clarity, simplicity and yet profound transmission of the essential Buddhist texts, the Lam Rim and Mind Training like the Rays of the Sun, has encouraged and inspired all who have had the good fortune to participate, to keep cultivating our own gardens and so to feed ourselves and with plenty to give to others! In his thought provoking seminar, Why be religious at all? Ilia illustrated the challenging environment in which we find ourselves in terms of spiritual practice by way of a comparison with the priorities of the small community of 9,000 which built the Cathedral of Chartres (France) in 1260 at a cost $630 million (adjusted) and the Sydney ANZ sports stadium built in 1999 at a cost of AU$ 624 million. Perhaps the current build up for the Olympics is a further example of where our priorities lie! Into March, the healing rays of Medicine Buddha Day continue to shine while the auspicious Day of Miracles, Guru Puja with Geshela deeply moved all who could attend. Ilias seminar on Death and its Aftermath will present special footage from New Zealand Television of Thupten Rinpoche (Kyabje Khensur Kangyur Rinpoche's disciple). He spent three weeks in death meditation (thugdam),under medical supervision in Dunedin before being cremated, and this challenges our sceptical minds regarding the existence of past and future lives. This is a perquisite for genuine Buddhist practice and as Geshela said recently, the only reasonable basis for ethical behaviour. You may disagree - informed debate is at the heart of sharpening our thinking, wisdom being the antidote to our sluggish deluded minds. Continued on page 12
COMPASSION DAY
A day of Meditation and Practice including Four and One Thousand Armed Chenrezig and Meditations on developing the awakening heart of compassion Led by Ven Jampa Tenzin Saturday 5th May 9.30am to 4.30pm
$10 members $12 non members Please bring lunch to share
COMPASSION DAY
Saturday 5th May 9.30am to 4.30pm Members $10 Non Members $12. Please bring lunch to share
RESULT OF SURVEY Thank you to those people who answered the survey asking for preferred times for the following practices. The majority preferred to leave it as it is. DEITY PRACTICE TIMES
Vajrasattva Practice 6pm every Friday. Yamantaka and Vajrayogini Practice alternate every Friday at 7pm. These last two practices are only for people who have taken the initiations. Medicine Buddha Practice every second Saturday at 3.30pm. Green Tara and Four arm Chenrezig practice alternate every Sunday morning at 9.45am Please check the calendar for dates and times as occasionally they change if other classes are being held. Other than Yamantaka and Vajrayogini practices, everyone is welcome to come to all other practices.
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SUNDAYS
LAM RIM DISCUSSION SESSIONS 1st, 15th, 22nd April 6th, 13th, 20th May All classes: 1.30 to 3pm
Donations always gratefully received for all these classes
Ven Jampa Tenzin is running the Introduction to Buddhism class for April and May. See page 7 for further details.
received.
For 33 cents a day, can you really afford NOT to sponsor a Tibetan?
info@monksponsorship.org www.monksponsorship.org 08 8351 8788
Rob Hattam
Postdoctoral Director of
fellow, Johnston
Ralf-Yves Zurbrugg, Deputy Head of the University of Adelaide Business School Ilia Durovic, Translator at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute (Adelaide) We hope numerous students will attend the symposium as in 2010 and 2011 and bring their own personal touch to what promises to be a fascinating and thought-provoking gathering.
The latest pictures of the reincarnate of Ugyen Tsetan Rinpoche, Tulku Ugen Tenzin Chonye Rinpoche.
REMINDER:
FOUNDATION DAY 25th April (Anzac Day) CELEBRATING OUR SEVENTH YEAR
If the community park opposite TBI is completed by 25th, and if the weather is pleasant, we will have a BBQ picnic in the park. If the weather is not so good, then it will be held at TBI..just walk across the road!!! Please bring food to share (BBQ available for meat lovers) and drinks . We will start the day at 12 noon, with our Director, Chris Ridley welcoming everyone. This will be followed by short prayers, after which we will begin lunch. Mid way, Geshela will say a few words, and whilst we hoe into cake, Chris will give a brief chat, oh and by the way, any volunteers for baking cakes?? If finished, the basketball court will give ample opportunity for those with expertise with a round ball to show us what they can do. We could have, say the TBI Tibetan Class versus the rest of TBI, or maybe management committee versus the under four year olds. Speaking of little tots, there is a playground in this park which looks great for little ones to play on, bearing in mind that TBI does not take any responsibility for any mishaps, however very happy to supply cuddles, bandaids and panadol.
APRIL Bags, bags and more bags !!! $25.00 down to $19.00 $22.95 down to $18.00 $17.50 down to $12.50 Grab one for yourself, or give as a present. Too good to miss, so get in quick!
IF WE HAVE ADDRESS !
YOUR
So, two things to remember: in by the due date or any time beforehand and please give us your email address, and if you change it, please let us know. Carole Armstrong (Administrator)
Respectful Behaviour
LEARN TO MEDITATE
MONDAYS 6.30 pm
It is important that we have a tamed, disciplined mind and a warm heart. The mind is intrinsically pure, with a positive motivation, and our verbal and physical actions can become positive, producing wholesome results, results that are pleasant and beneficial. On the other hand, when the mind remains coarse, we commit harsh verbal and physical actions, which by nature harm or hurt others, with the result being unpleasant and painful. Meditation helps to calm the mind and we can then become more peaceful and disciplined. Everyone is most welcome to come and learn to calm the mind, body, feelings and thoughts. Lead by experienced students on a monthly roster. Leaders: April: Neal Powell May: Sam Pons Donations are always gratefully INTRODUCTION received for both classes TO BUDDHISM
Mondays 7.30 pm
with Ven Jampa Tenzin Eight week course April 2,16,23,30 May 7,14,21,28 Are you curious about Buddhism? Would you like to know more about the Buddhist way of life? Buddhism has been around for 2500 years and is a philosophy that offers a way of life that promotes the potential of the individual and offers ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us. Introduction to Buddhism is an eight week course which will give you an overview of the Buddhas teachings, and how to apply them in daily life
Carole Armstrong
If you would like to make an appointments to have an interview with Geshela, please contact the office. Times available are on Mondays & Fridays from 3.30 to 5.30pm (1/2 hour timeslots). It is appropriate to make a monetary offering to both Geshela and the translator and questions should focus on spiritual/dharma matters. Having made an appointment, it is important that you ring if you are delayed or need to cancel, and also to be aware that occasionally an appointment may go over time and there may be a delay. Patience is required:) Interviews will not be available in February, and will begin when Tenzin returns from India, probably in April.
Face about the Place I told him how I was feeling and he told me thats quite normal when you meditate. He talked about doing a lot of meditation in solitary retreatthat at the start it does all seem hopeless and it does all seem nihilistic and it does all seem like its a big game and that it seems like theres nothing there once you strip everything away. He said that could make you feel unhappy and despondent and that its common to a lot of people at the very start of learning to meditate I was in my early 20s at this stage. He pointed out that hed kicked on through another 10 years of meditating after feeling like that and said let me tell you its worth doing that. After that Sam went up to the Tushita Meditation Centre above McLeod Gang. He remembers at that time it was just the meditation room and a couple of huts. I had a dormitory to myself for a few weeks and after the way Id been living in India I felt like a king! Then Gen. Lobsang Gyatso, the Head of the Dialectic School, gave a two week course on Praise to Dependant Arising that was later turned into a book. This man was like the Muhammed Ali of debate! If you were going to ask a question you had to make sure that youd thought it through and that you were also prepared to get slapped around. He really instilled in me the awareness that you had to be tough to understand it intellectually and that it wasnt just negating thingsit was about negating and then reconstructing. It was easy to negate and hard to reconstruct and the battle was to reconstruct. Then Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama whom Sam had talked with just after arriving in Dharmasala, came and did a course and he asked him for advice. He suggested a Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva) retreat and much to my embarrassment he cancelled his teachings one day so that I could have the initiation for that. Then he told me to go and learn the practice and think about how deeply I would accept the notion of studying with a teacher. Sam came back to Australia and travelled around for a year with the mindset of surely as an Australian my spiritual connection must be here in this country so he went searching for it through traditional lands and in hundreds of places with Aboriginal rock art. In the end, I got to Alice Springs, sold the car, and went back to India! Once there Sam ploughed through as many translated books on Tibetan philosophy that he could get his hands on, found out where Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche was going to be, and readied himself to go and say that he was prepared to study properly. I was set for him to ask me any question about Buddhism and that Id be able to show him that Id done my study and knew what it was all about so I asked him if hed be the spiritual friend and instruct me on meditation. Do you know the only question he asked me was; Dont you get afraid when you swim in really deep waterwhat would do you if a shark swam up to you?
From that point on I started living around him and I wanted to enrol in a course at the Dialectic school but he forbade me from doing that. He said if I was going to live in India I should seek out meditators and spend time with them and learn from them because I could study anywhere in the world. I spent about six months doing that and living in quite humble conditions but then I tried to get out of that commitment and go back to study. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche said to me that when Westerners do too much study they begin to think they know what the Dharma is but the more you meditate, the more you realise how hard it is to know what the Dharma really is. He then said that if youre wanting to give up because youve realised that you just dont get it then you should keep going because thats a sign that youre on the right path! Thats what kept sustaining metrying to do stuff for which there were no results. I kept going back to Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and saying look, Im living in a cow shed and its tough and there are no results and he kept saying to me youll experience the results in decades from now but if you meditate for results now youll lose heart. Next issuea life in the New York spotlightand the moment when Sam vowed he would never translate again! An Interview with Grant Cameron
REFUGE CEREMONY
Saka Dawa
7am on 4th June
Taking Refuge is an important commitment, the Buddhist version of baptism: one becomes Buddhist for life and one should attend the teachings regularly thereafter, as it is in the teaching one is taking refuge.
"Saka Dawa an auspicious day in Tibetan Buddhism, is the celebration of Buddha Shakyamuni's birthday, enlightenment and Parinirwana (passing away). In Tibet, this is the most important holy day of the year, a day to remember Buddha. During this month practitioners place special emphasis on Dharma practice like circumambulation of monasteries and stupas, prostrations, taking precepts, reciting mantras, offering mandalas, doing sadhanas and saving animals lives, etc. We encourage students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts at home.
TBI will hold a Guru Puja at 7pm to mark the occasion. Everyone is most welcome to come along, and please bring healthy celebratory food along to offer.
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COOKING UP A STORM A regular column from Natalie Playford on nutrition and vegetarian cooking for healthier, happier Buddhists. Each newsletter well examine a different topic and youll get a free recipe.!!
Foods with Low GI include: * most fruits, except for dried figs, raisins, canned, melons, dates * most vegetables, except for broad beans, potatoes, cooked carrots and beetroot (raw is fine), sweet potatoes, parsnips, pumpkin, swede (I included these occasionally) * wholegrain breads, crisp bread, corn thins * pasta: durum wheat pasta, buckwheat and mung bean noodles * grains: barley, oatmeal, traditional oats, bran, quinoa (basmati rice white or brown has a medium GI rating I included it in the diet) *nuts and seeds, including nut butters (limit if using the diet to slim) *pulses and legumes: all, including canned ones always rinse and drain canned legumes before using * sweeteners: apple and pear juice concentrates, stevia (you will find all of these in your health food store); note: no refined sugar or any products containing this refined sugar is a serious contributor to weight gain
So, heres Natalies Easy To Do, Not Quite Low GI Eating Plan: eat foods from the above list 3 meals a day, preferably one of those is a leafy green salad; go easy on all grains, and limit nuts and seeds in first 3 weeks; eat as much fruit, vegies and pulses as you like; have some protein with each meal; use organic fresh full-cream milk and milk products, but go easy on cheese (white cheeses like feta and quark are good choices; also yoghurt); eggs, tofu, unsweetened soy milk and tempeh are all fine to include; start the day with half a lemon squeezed into a glass of lukewarm water, followed by a cup of hot white or green tea; drink 4-6 glasses water a day; have 1 tsp flaxseed oil every day; cook with olive oil and cold-pressed oils; a squeeze of lemon juice will help reduce the GI of a food eg. baked potatoes tossed in lemon juice, fresh herbs and olive oil; tea and coffee (not instant, and one per day) are ok; exercise like a 30 minute brisk walk - five times a week; get a minimum of 7 hours sleep each night; no alcohol for the first 3 weeks and very limited until you have reached your goal weight; weigh yourself, once a week only, same scales, same day and time, nude (keep a note of your weight each week); after 3 weeks have a day of free eating choices, then go back to the eating plan until you have reached your goal weight, which should be within Body Mass Index (BMI) guidelines for your height. And what happened? My friend started the eating plan in the second week of January, this year, followed it exactly and has lost 10 kilos to date. He has 5 more kilos to go to reach his goal weight. Its the first diet he has ever been able to stick to and the first one he has tried that has actually achieved any results. He feels and looks better, has more energy, is sleeping better and has found the eating plan very easy to do. Cheers everyone from Cooking Up A Storm!
Just some of Geshelas students in House 53 at Sera Jey Monastery. See if you can find Geshela and some other monks you might recognize. We should be ever thoughtful of the sacrifice made by Geshela to leave his students to come to Adelaide and teach us. Thats just one
reason to make sure we attend his teachings.
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BECOME A MEMBER
Concession $120.00 and Waged $180.00 yearly Dharma Wheel Membership $588 a year. Payments can be made by: Cash at TBI in an envelope with your
name and Membership written on it; Netbanking: email for details; EFTPOS at TBI; Cheques and Money Orders made payable to: Tibetan Buddhist Institute
f o r l o v e Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others. Inter-dependence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay. It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.
SANGHA SUPPORT
Making offerings is extremely important for our own personal practice and also of course, for our Resident Sangha. Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen was chosen by Kyabje Rinpoche, because of his immense knowledge of the Dharma, and amazing ability to impart this to his students. In the words of Jampa Sherab (Ben) If Kyabj e Khensur Kangur wa Rinpoche was the sun then Geshela would be his flames We need financial help to ensure our Sangha are cared for in the manner that they deserve.
An excellent opportunity to clarify our doubts in the context of how it all fits together will be at the forthcoming three day Easter Retreat with Geshela on, The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. It is only by understanding how life arises, exists, continues and ceases, what keeps all of us locked into suffering, samsara, cyclic existence, that we can find our way out. Geshelas teachings in January on The Four Noble Truths was a resounding success. Were in for a treat indeed as he takes us further on a journey that will definitely change our lives and benefit others not just in this life but in the many lives to come! With love and best wishes, Chris Ridley
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