Updated BRC Newsflash - May 2024
|
|
||
The Buddhist Retreat Centre |
||
|
Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
For people of all religions |
|
|
BRC Newsflash: May 2024 Dear Friends, |
||
 |
||
| Louis the artist at work | Image: Angela Shaw | |
|
Louis’ remembrance memorial this past week in Ixopo was a beautiful and kind ceremony deepened and enriched by Antony Osler, Mervyn Croft, Stephen Coan and Sue Cooper, and graced by his many friends. I enclose Stephen Coan’s beautiful tribute to Louis and Dorian Haarhoff’s poem to Louis “Man In A Mist Swirl" (please see attachment). Warmly, Chrisi “I first came to the Buddhist Retreat Centre with friends to a drawing retreat given by Louis in 1987. The qualities of seeing, observation and concentration required for drawing were a perfect fit with those skills brought to bear in meditation, observing, simply being with the breath. As Louis put it, the living ‘in depth’ of each moment. That retreat, and what Louis had to say, seeded the rest of my life. Thinking about Louis, this ‘dearest man’ in Dorian’s poem, who has now stepped from our midst …into the metta mist … Thinking about him, trying to visualize Louis, every image seemed to dissolve into another like a slideshow; images of him here at the retreat centre: sitting here in meditation; presiding over a tea ceremony; in the studio, talking – teaching. Sitting back in his chair chatting over lunch. Laughing. An abiding image has him slow walking in the garden, an orange robe melting into the green leaves of a shrub or tree as he passed out of sight.
|
||
| Antony Osler leading the circumambulation | Image:Di Franklin | |
|
Louis and the centre are inseparable. Some years ago I interviewed him, he spoke of his near-death experience while suffering from an unidentified fever in Sri Lanka and how ‘When I came out of this (he felt reborn and) I had the feeling that I had to do something with my life where I could leave behind something of value.’ Elsewhere it’s recorded how Louis, when convalescing, went for a walk and, in Louis’ words, ‘there were all these hills disappearing into the distance, and tea estates and so on.’ And it was then that I said to myself, 'I must go back to South Africa as soon as possible. And when we are back we must establish Buddhism there. We must get a property somewhat like this, with hills receding into the distance, and build a meditation centre'. You all probably know the story about how Louis found the site for the centre. In Dorian’s words: ‘who stepped blind into a mist, all seeing, to buy land midst hills lovely beyond their singing and setting.’ This is the version I recorded: ‘I couldn’t see a thing, but stepping on to it for the first time in my life - just one foot on the ground - I knew this was the place. There was a strange sense of belonging - and I couldn’t see a thing because there was such thick mist!’ Since then, look around you and see what has emerged from that mist. |
||
 |
||
| Valley view | Image: Angela Shaw | |
|
The ‘metta mist’. The Pali word metta is most often translated as meaning loving-kindness, but it embraces several other meanings, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence; someone said to me ‘I prefer to use that old-fashioned word “love”’. Metta is particularly associated with the Theravada tradition, the earliest tradition in Buddhism, which inspired and informed the creation and the practice here at the Buddhist Retreat Centre. And, in line with that tradition, Louis’ retreats, and those of others, though not all, end with a guided loving-kindness meditation based on the short metta sutra or scripture, given by the Buddha. Among the variations of this meditation one begins with offering thoughts - in your mind - of love, gratitude and respect to the Buddha - ‘The Awakened One’ - essentially to the teacher. Then evolves into extending thoughts of loving kindness to all beings: ‘May you be well, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering.’ I will end with a poem quoted by Thomas Moore in his book The Eloquence of Silence. The poem is by the Zen nun Teishin and heads a short essay by Moore titled ‘Gone Away’ in which he gives a bit of context for the poem: ‘Ryokan was a Japanese Zen monk, poet and calligrapher. When he was sixty-eight, he met the Zen nun Teishin, who was forty years younger than him. They became close friends and exchanged poems in a creative dialogue.’ One day Teishin goes to visit Ryokan, but he is not there. His absence provoked this poem: One summer day I visited, but the master had gone somewhere As Louis ‘you dearest man’ steps back into the ‘metta mist’. I/we offer him our gratitude, our respect and our love. And I honour him with a deep bow. With Metta, Stephen |
||
|
|
||
|
Misty morning walk |
Image: Angela Buckland | |
There are still a few spaces left on the following April retreat:Journey To Self – Explore Your Connection With Your True SelfSadhna Hamchander and Ravika Ramnath | Weekend | 26-28 April |
||
 |
||
| Meditate in the zendo | Image: Kim Ward | |
Conducted Retreats May 2024☸ indicates retreats held in noble silence Yoga For Well-BeingGeorgie Carter | Weekend | 3-5 May Picture your Soul with SoulCollage®️Keryn Rowley | 2 days | 6-8 May THE SHIFT EXPERIENCE: The Art of Being - Part 1John Homewood and Michelle McClunan | Weekend | 10- 12 May 2024 The retreat will integrate transformational, yet practical spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Creative Art Processes. This integration will help you clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, peaceful and abundant life. All creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required. For more info on their work see www.journesyofawakening.com THE SHIFT EXPERIENCE: Living In Joy - Part 2John Homewood and Michelle McClunan | 2 days | 12- 14 May This 2 day mid week retreat will integrate transformational, yet practical spiritual teachings of Presence, Awakening and Creative Art Processes. This integration will help you clear blockages that may have prevented you from living a healthy, peaceful and abundant life. All creative experiences are process-driven, as opposed to being outcome-based, so no artistic experience or skill is required. Part 2 will provide you the space to integrate and apply this Shift more deeply and more fully into your awareness. You will leave with a deeper sense of peace; a more focused sense of life purpose and rekindled joy and with greater emotional and spiritual intelligence to navigate life’s challenges. For more info on their work see www.journesyofawakening.com
|
||
 |
||
| Zen cairn | Image:Thalente Khomo | |
The Pioneering SpiritI’m currently spending a month on self-retreat at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. It’s off the beaten Dhamma track of America, Europe and Asia, but that’s one of the reasons I come here. The Centre occupies about 300 acres of hill in the rural backcountry and is the most beautiful retreat centre I have come across in over 40 years of teaching. One admirable touch is the way that the centre honours the location, with its traditional thatch-roofed 'rondavels', and by offering work to local villagers - as well as through the support it gives to a social welfare organization working with AIDS orphans. I’ve been coming here since 1985 to teach – they need some support, and I’m an 'off the track' kind of person – and since then that mission has grown to include two other centres Dharmagiri and Emoyeni (and there are other places that I don't cover). They're even further off the track. And that makes it interesting. Things are fresh, and for sure there's enough suffering in South Africa to satisfy anyone's need to teach the Dhamma. Crucially, there's also enough faith for people to come, listen and practise. |
||
 |
||
| Louis adding the final touch to the Buddha Rupa | ||
|
The quality of faith, as well as the material foundation of Buddha-Dhamma in South Africa, is on account of a few remarkable pioneers. In the case of the BRC, this means Louis van Loon who opened the place in the early 1980s. Louis was born in the Netherlands in 1935, but came out to South Africa after the Second World War on a migration scheme that offered free passage and 50 guilders to people to leave the Netherlands and seek their fortune overseas. Louis established himself as an award-winning architect. In the late 60’s he was working in Sri Lanka and became grievously sick, so sick that he didn’t know whether he was going to make it. Lying on a mattress soaked with his own sweat and in a semi-delirious state, he made a vow that if he could get through this illness, he'd dedicate his life to doing something for the peace and well-being of human beings. A vision arose of a hill rain-swept hill, that’s all. He recovered, returned to South Africa and with this vision in his mind felt he should start looking for property. Based in Durban, he started scanning newspapers for property, and found that there was an old farm going up for sale out in the backcountry. So he jumped in his car, picked up the estate agent and drove out there. It was pouring with rain as they drove up an overgrown and muddy dirt track and stopped at a barbed-wire fence. The estate agent pointed through the windscreen and said 'It's out there.’ Louis got out of the car, peered through the rain and dense mist and heard an inner voice say 'This is it. You've come home.''I’ll take it', he said. |
||
 |
||
| Louis building the stupa | ||
|
That was 1969. For the next eleven years he put his own money and labour into clearing the land, building huts, a meditation hall, a stupa, accommodation, kitchen and so on to establish a Buddhist retreat centre. In a fundamentalist Calvinist culture, this itself was a leap. Then he started looking round for teachers and invited various monks and teachers .... In 1984, an invitation was made to our sangha, and Ajahn Anando, one of the original group who accompanied Luang Por Sumedho to the UK, was sent. He ended up extending his stay to help Louis sculpt a 5 metre high Buddha-image that now presides over the Centre. I came along in 1985 to install relics in the Buddha's head and consecrate the site. Now the BRC is an established Dhamma-refuge and an accredited wildlife sanctuary – but struggling to make ends meet. The world! While hostility, distraction and consumerism remain popular and rake in millions, it's often the case that Dhamma centres with their incalculable offerings and blessings barely get by .... However, Louis heading into his 89th year, is living his last years in contentment. {Afterword: Louis has subsequently passed away, peacefully. on March 26 this year.} Sadhu, Louis. Ajahn Sucitto |
||
 |
||
| Ajahn Sucitto off the beaten track | Image: Nick Halliday | |
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-four 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. 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. 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 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, a brand new Magimix, 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. |
||
|
| Share:
|
||
|
The email was sent to: |
||
From Seeking To Seeing - Mindfulness Meditation
