News from Melbourne Buddhist Centre | |
Issue #2 Volume #2 | March 2007 |
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Welcome to this edition of our newsletter. It is designed to keep you in touch with Melbourne Buddhist Centre events and the activities of our Sangha here in Melbourne. | |
NewsBrunswick CentreThe Centre is now open on Mondays, 11am till 3pm, with a drop-in lunchtime meditation class at 12.30pm. Please consider calling in to browse the bookshop and talk to Order Members and friends.
Devamitra's visitIn mid March the Melbourne Buddhist Centre's President Devamitra will be coming out from England to visit. He will give a number of Wednesday evening talks and weekend seminars during his stay. Check our website for up to date information about events. Devamitra will also participate in the Men's Easter Retreat. Ordained more than 30 years, Devamitra has an extensive knowledge of the Dharma, and is well-travelled in the FWBO world. His presentations will provide a broad and colourful palette of the Buddhist teachings and applications. In between his teaching engagements, Devamitra will be very pleased to meet up with Friends of the centre individually, throughout his stay. OrdinationsOn 20th January ex-Paul Garner from the Dandenong Ranges sangha became Sanghamati. Buddhdasa is his private and public preceptor. Buddhadasa said his name means 'He whose mind is orientated towards the spiritual community'. At the end of April Anita Hirshhorn will fly to New Zealand for her ordination retreat. We will welcome her back as an Order member in early June. |
What's On
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Send any news items you have to news@melbournebuddhistcentre.org by 13th March for inclusion in the next newsletter. Programme of Events for 2007 - Visit our website | |
ReportsFund raisingThere was a great turnout at the Film night on the 8th February at the Nova. The sangha and friends viewed an excellent film "Leonard Cohen I'm your man" and over $500 was raised for Devamitra's upcomming visit. Congratulations Brian and Jivita on the organisation of the night. More money still needs to be raised to cover costs and you can make a contribution to Devamitra's visit to any Order member. |
Buddha 2550 Years - The Exhibition"Here's a flyer", "Would you like this book? Its free", "Can you tell me about Buddhism?" "Where is your temple?", and on it went, miles of smiles, curious shy side glances, rupas, stupas, strangers, friends, pets, sand mandala all flowing, moving, sentient scene in the seen the seen. by Lea Richardson In the City centre of Melbourne, as residents, workers, shoppers and tourists went about the hustle and bustle of their day, the Melbourne FWBO joined with other Buddhist communities to create an exhibition to celebrate the 2550th birthday of the Buddha. The exhibition, coordinated by the Buddhist Council of Victoria, gave visitors a wide range of unique experiences of activities close to the heart of Buddhist traditions. The Exhibition with its daily chanting, its opening ceremony where the Heart Sutra, chanted in Korean pierced the air, created a sense of silence, peace and knowing. A central shrine on which, side by side, sat rupas from the many traditions including our own MBC rupa made by Dipankara and Jivita, provided a special feeling. As one woman who worked nearby said to me, "you know I have visited this exhibition three times now I just come to look at the beauty and I feel a sense of peace." Special moments of the Exhibition come to my mind: the session on Contemporary Buddhism where Siladasa talked of the cultural overlay of Buddhism and in this context explained the place of the FWBO; Anita Hirschhorn talking of working as a Buddhist in politics, requiring a strong support system and an ethical framework; spending time with other volunteers working side by side to move boxes; setting up stalls in Federation Square for the closing lantern parade; engaging in conversations about tradition and Buddhist principles that we hold dear, knowing and feeling all the while that we share an enthusiasm for the Three Jewels. Ainslie Hannan |
Women's Long weekend RetreatAthena Williams Images of a snake skins, smiles from a happy group of women, a torch lit evening puja, great food, Xinxinming, big tall trees and the smell of the peppermint gum, all filled me with hope, clarity and a sense of contentment as I packed to journey home. I had just completed my first FWBO retreat and am really grateful I attended.Nervousness nearly took hold and many reasons why I should not go rose, but thankfully I did go and now I think, 'Why did I wait so long?' We stayed just outside Healesville - it was Autumn, the days still warm with a hint that the seasons were changing. The name of the retreat was 'Clouds of Butterflies' and we looked at the Xinxinming poem, which if you have never heard before is really long and very poetic!I have to say it feels like it might be a lifetime work for me to truly understand and appreciate the wisdom within it. There are some aspects of the poem that feel easy to navigate, but there are some aspects of the poem where the terrain requires deep consideration and being lost will be how some of my time is spent. Maitripala and Sudaya contributed their wisdom and skilful approach to promote an environment that was rich, loving and thoughtful. As a newcomer I really appreciated their availability and consequently found the teachings very accessible. A well of enthusiasm is rising and there is so much more to share about the weekend. I look forward to having many conversations with you and sharing thoughts.... thank you to all involved for a wonderful weekend...Athena
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Sangha Interview
What are you passionate about?Once I came to penetrate the Four Noble Truths and attain arahantship, all traces of passion had been destroyed. What are you reading at the moment?Reading was not commonplace in my time, and the dhamma was committed to memory and repeated for the benefit of others. However, in these modern times, I would recommend the Pali Tipitaka - as an essential source of information, inspiration and guidance for anyone with an interest in the Dhamma. If you could have five beings at dinner party (dead, alive or conceptual) who or what would they be?The Buddha (Teacher), Maha Moggallana (Arahant, long-time friend), Vaganta (father), Sari (mother), Ananda (Arahant, assistant to the Buddha) What school of Buddhism most influences you and why?I followed what was known at the time as Dhammavinaya (the Doctrine and the Discipline). The modern school most closely aligned with my way of practice is Theravada (Way of the Elders). What interests do you have outside the centre?Meditation, teaching the Dhamma, spiritual friendship, and helping others materially or spiritually. You can read more about the Life of Sariputta at the Access to Insight website. | |
And another thing...by JivitaThe Buddha said that if there was one more force in the human condition as strong as sexual craving and the fear of death then Enlightenment would be impossible. Well, I think I have found it! Humans beings love to be distracted, but until modern technology came to our aid, we were pretty much left to our own devices in our quest to be anywhere but where we are right now. Then the mobile phone was invented; an inconvenient plastic brick that you had to wear in a holster because it was too big and heavy to fit in your pocket. It cost a king's ransom to buy, it cost a queen's ransom to call anyone and the only people who had them were overworked techno types who were given them by their employers so that they could contact then while they were sitting on the toilet to ask them to come into work to fix something. Now everyone has one (except Rosemary) and we are always using them. Why is this? Why do we look into our mobile phones while we are walking down the road/waiting for a tram/train/bus? Why do we like talking into them at the top of our voice on the train? Why are three people sitting at a cafe table together all looking into their own mobile phones while their opposable thumbs dance over the keys? Why do people leave their mobile phones on the table beside them when at a restaurant/ cafe/ friend's house? Why do people check their messages one last time and then reluctantly turn off their mobile phones just as the credits start to roll for the beginning of the movie?* Next time you turn on your mobile phone ask yourself these questions. Am I really that important that the world needs to be in constant contact with me? If I turned the mobile off for a day would the world socio-economic system grind to a halt? Do the other people on the train really want to know what I had for dinner last night? Do I leave my mobile on the table at cafes because I want passers by to think (a) that I have friends and (b) that they are about to call me to beg me to go snow boarding with them in Beritz? What is so bad about just feeling the breeze on your face as you wait for the tram? Text yourself the answers to these questions.** *Text your answers to 0404 012 891. The best answer wins $1. (Text messages are charged at $1.50 per message. Check with a parent or guardian before entering) **Text your answers to (your mobile). If the answers are no, no, no, (a)yes, (b)yes, and nothing; then you win a shot at human enlightenment.
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AdvertisementDon't Forget our Bookshop!The Brunswick bookshop is brimming with books, incense, rupas, bells, candlesticks and other items. All stock from the City Centre will be integrated into this bookshop soon. You are very welcome to browse at your leisure, whenever the centre is open and we will happily give any help or advice you need.
If you would like to order any Buddhist book you can not see on the shelf, just let us know. We can usually help. New at the shop - beautifully made sturdy meditation cushions, filled with buckwheat husks (very environmentally friendly!) - $50. | |
Dharma Quote of the monthQuestion: How do things exist if they are empty of inherent existence? His Holiness the Dalai Lama : The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-existence. (Answers to questions from Western Buddhists). | |
| Copyright Melbourne Buddhist Centre March 2007
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In this newsletter we are fortunate to have caught up with the Venerable Sariputta - we report his answers to our usual questions here: