BRC Newsflash - December 2023
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The Buddhist Retreat Centre |
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Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
For people of all religions |
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BRC Newsflash: December 2023 Dear Retreatants, |
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Thank You!Thank you to all those caring and supportive friends who opened their hearts and extended a hand of friendship to help the Centre over these challenging few months. Your kindness, generosity, messages of encouragement and gifts for our auction have meant the world to us, and confirmed that the BRC has a special place in your hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful to you all. Please support our online auction; there are still some attractive items up for bidding, and some new listings have been added such as a week's stay in the three-bedded Royal Suite at the Peninsula Hotel in Cape Town. Click here to browse the catalogue and place a bid. |
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Ixopo dawn |
Image: Andrew Brown | |
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As enshrined in the Buddhist tradition from the earliest of times, the continued existence of the Dharma is dependent on the goodwill of its Sangha. Our Sangha has followed in that wake with your Noble Giving. The BRC can only flourish with your friendship, so please consider:
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| Choose joy | Image:Angela Shaw | |
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Nowadays, no-one is able to feel on top of the world all the time. Emotional ebbs and flows are normal and come with being human in this crazy world. We can take comfort in some of the life-learning gems from Maria Popova from "The Marginalian" and try to apply them in our own lives to find moments of sanity and of happiness. Be generous Let nature and the tranquility of the BRC be your sanctuary over the festive season. Take time out to slow down into the moment to find inner peace after the challenging year we have all had. As someone once remarked: "I went to the retreat in search of stillness, but the true gift was discovering that it has been inside me all along." Spending Christmas at the BRC is a great alternative to the frenetic commercialised Christmas that masquerades as the real thing in the cities . At its deepest level Chrisrmas celebrates the embodiment of spirituality. It crosses boundaries between the various religions and reminds us of the need to adopt a spiritual path and to integrate its teachings in our daily life. Spending new year at the retreat is a good time to take stock and contemplate our moment to moment, here-now reality in all its fullness, as we bid farewell to 2023 and welcome the new year with a renewed willingness to make whatever comes along workable. With Metta, Louis |
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| Quiet mountain, clear sky | Image: Peter Kloppers | |
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There are still a few spaces left on the following November retreats:Chi - Gung and MeditationPaul Dorrian | Weekend | 17-19 November
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| When beauty happens accidentally | Image: Angela Shaw | |
Conducted Retreats December 2023
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| A traditional tea ceremony |
Image: Chrsi van Loon | |
About the BRCPerched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for forty two years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquillity. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life. The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world. CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa, recently. The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird. Recently, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife granted the BRC “Private Nature Reserve” for the conservation of the rare Blue Swallow and Mistbelt Grassland. The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-two years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and.productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation by showcasing their crafts in the shop and sponsoring their trainers and consultants. We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home. We are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre in the form of PUY and Monthly contributions, new beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, a new refrigerator, microwave oven, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, garden benches, pillows, towels and linen, geyser insulation blankets, clothing and Dana for our staff, an inverter and beautiful antique scrolls and Imari platters and ceramics, framed prints and Thankas, new tablecloths and serviettes, signage for our forest paths - and so much more. Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work in Ixopo with monthly and Paid Up Yogi contributions and donations, with gifts, or with skills and time. And, of course, to everyone who comes to the Centre - you keep us open and viable - and to our teachers who keep the Dharma wheels turning. We are deeply grateful for your generosity towards us; it encourages us to continue Louis’ beautiful vision and legacy for the future. Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a registered non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects. Chrisi Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc. |
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Open The Heart And Still The Mind: Mist Rising, Dew Falling – Embracing Impermanence With Courage, Compassion And Joy
