Centre News

“The word prevents silence from speaking”  (Eugene Ionesco)

“Few things under heaven are as instructive as the lessons of Silence/ or as beneficial as the fruits of Non-Ado” (Lao-Tzu) 

Silence has a special meaning in Buddhism.  That is why it is called Noble Silence.  It is not just an obligation to keep quiet - like one is expected to do when listening to a Chopin Nocturne played in a concert hall.  It is also not simply the abstention from making an audible noise.  It is a voluntary undertaking to open up to a world that exists independently from our interpretation of it – whether in spoken or written words or thoughts.  Such stillness can only happen when you make yourself available to receive whatever the universe is presenting you with; when you are quiet and keep still.  

Generosity is the first of the Paramitas, and the most highly praised of the Buddha’s teachings, because it gave rise to the other quintessential qualities of morality. This altruism is so evident in the way our patrons and donors have responded so spontaneously to the needs of the Centre. Thank you to Iris Bornman, Kim Darke, Linda Van der Nest, Melanie Wicks, Barbara Day, Annegret Rood, Colleen Trotter, Peter Wellman, Rosemary Turner, Stephen Coan, and Antony Lavoipierre for your continued generosity which has enabled the ongoing refurbishment and upgrading of the Centre.

Dana (generosity) is a well-known sentiment in the Buddhist Eastern countries, and a natural response to the needs of the monasteries and centres like ours. We are always humbled by the abundance of gifts from retreatants who have made the BRC their spiritual home. Grateful thanks to  generous donations from Ian Chambler, Sandra Kloppers, Baboo Soni, Rafeek and Tasneem Dada, Aroshan Mohanlal, the Sitaram family, Roy Sivmangal, Asha Mahabeer, Kushy and Roy Ramjathan. The large AMC pot donated by Shirley Mahabeer was gratefully received, as was the magnanimous donation of paint from Lianne Van Niekerk and Pam Evans to complete the painting of the exterior of the Lodge.

We were blessed to receive and provide a loving home to 84 special indigenous trees, donated by Jenny Cowey, as well as another generous donation of indigenous trees from Chris Dalzell, all of which are flourishing with the spring rains.

Big thanks to Roy McEwen for compiling a beautiful CD of Antony Osler’s talks over Stoep Zen, and to Ans Van Der Walt who continues to maintain our library.

Thank you – everybody!                                                

Chrisi

After many false starts, Chris Dalzell has located the eight trees that tell the story of the Buddha’s life and teachings.   His partner, Pamela Evans, has offered to fund the boardwalk that leads from the circular road behind the Buddha statue, past the labyrinth, to the circular platform where the meditation pavilion will be built.   The trees will be planted around the perimeter of the Boma, enabling visitors to circumambulate them, each tree representing an important aspect of  Buddhist history and philosophy.

We are sad to have taken our leave from Tessa Pretorius.  She has managed our finances for almost four years.  

It is in the nature of retreat centres like the BRC to have to live with staff changes.  Indeed, few people look upon a post at the Centre as more than an episode between other moves in their lives.

We are - sometimes grudgingly - happy to provide such a psychological interlude for people to re-assess where they have come from and where they need to go.  Many visitors and retreatants do the same.

Maybe that is what the BRC – and the Buddha’s teachings - are about.      

When we first started to promote the BRC in the early 1980’s, we relied on the goodwill of friendly bookshop and health food store owners to allow us to put posters in their windows in the hope of attracting interest in our programs.   

Things have changed since then.  Powerful proof of that came recently when we had a call from CNN.com to say that they wanted to feature the BRC on their website as one of the 10 finest meditation centres in the world!   Did we mind?

You may like to look it up yourself: The link is: 10 of the world's best meditation retreats

In our fast changing times, where political, religious, and economic structures are failing to meet the need for a more equitable and caring world, new and radical approaches are called for. The challenges before us are unprecedented, both within our beloved country, and globally.

The Buddha’s First Noble Truth promises that you will meet up with plenty of problems in life.

You’ll grow old and get sick – you won’t like that. You will lose things you love and be forced to deal with people you loathe. You won’t like that either. But we are an integral part of a universe that works that way, so whether we like it or not, surely it is wise not to deny or avoid this obvious fact but learn to engage it uncompromisingly, as it comes, with all its disappointments and hurts, beauty and loveliness, with compassion, joy and moral integrity.

Wayward monks and misbehaving priests

You may have seen these headlines in the newspapers a while ago. The priests belonged to the Legion of Christ, which is centred in the Vatican. They had been up to the kind of tricks priests have been committing for centuries: sexually abusing seminarians and altar boys and fathering children with vulnerable women.  Nothing new there. There were major scandals in the USA and Ireland some years ago when it was revealed that this type of misconduct had been wide-spread for decades.

25 July: This is a wonderful, BBC-produced documentary that takes one on a tour of the principal events and cultures associated with the event of Buddhism, showing the ancient monuments and present-day activities in Buddhist communities and monasteries in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, China and Japan. Commentaries by modern Buddhist scholars, such as Robert Thurman and Ernst Gombrich add depth to the film.

We will show this film at the 32nd Annual General Meeting of the Buddhist Institute of South Africa. Tea and snacks will be served.  Come and meet the members of your Committee and other friends of the BRC.

The roof over the Lodge at the BRC was built 40 years ago from sheeting Louis bought at an auction sale of materials that had been salvaged from a 40-year old railway shed in Durban harbour after it was demolished. It cost next to nothing, but was of poor quality. Although it has now served us for another 40 years, it has finally given up the ghost.   Whenever there is a downpour, leaks spring up and rooms have to be vacated. It did not help when during a storm, hail stones punched about 200 holes in the sheeting.

To replace such a large roof costs money: approximately R. 120 000… What to do? As everybody knows, the BRC – in keeping with ancient Buddhist tradition – does not save for a rainy day to meet such expenses as this would increase our rates. We therefore need to think of other ways of finding this amount of money. That is why we hope we can count again on our Sangha Friends.

Louis had been thinking for a while about establishing a Buddhaboma - a circular meditation garden next to the labyrinth in which eight trees associated with the principal events in the Buddha’s life and teachings are planted. It will be a sacred Buddhist space, a refuge in the middle of an African indigenous forest. There will be a thatched meditation pavilion in the centre where one can sit and meditate, surrounded by the trees. One can circumambulate the trees and reflect on the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha – the trees being the unifying theme tracing the Buddha’s birth, his first samadhi experience under a Rose Apple tree, his enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, the various trees associated with his teachings and monasteries and concluding with his death (paranirvana) between two Sal trees. This will be the first such Buddhaboma in history. Chris Dalzell, who is busy establishing Botanic Gardens in Singapore and elsewhere in the East, has sourced all the trees. They are expected to arrive in South Africa soon.  

Here is our suggestion: help us to put a new roof over our heads by sponsoring a tree (R.10,000) a branch (R. 2,500) or a leaf (any amount) of the Buddhaboma. Your tree will outlive you many lifetimes over - to the enjoyment of countless numbers of people.

Good karma…