I remember when Donal and Akong Rinpoche came back from a visit to Zimbabwe and South Africa. We sat in the garden at Samye Ling, fascinated and impressed, as Donal told us about the African Buddhist Centres, and about their strong commitment to the dharma. Then, many years later, in December 2017, I had the [...]
Autumn is in the air with abundant seeding weeds, plants yellowing and nights cooling. After good late summer rains the valley is looking lush. Ceiling repairs This has not been a busy month for retreats, but endless building and grounds maintenance continue. Our employees are currently replacing an old collapsed ceiling in the [...]
Over the last few months Tikologo has experienced what we are now identifying as a seasonal activity induced media blackout. We insure you that this is a legitimate condition but hopefully the worst of it has passed and slowly our digital and social presence will return! That said it has really been a very [...]
Changing our minds The Ngondro contemplation on the agenda for the day was the first of the eight adverse conditions. This is the one where you get to mull over how much your mind gets disturbed by the five poisons. It’s important. The more strongly our minds are affected, the more we are under their [...]
Big Changes at TRC 2018 will see some big changes at the Tara Rokpa Centre. Since 2002, resident volunteer, Pippa Cope has been developing and running the Centre. She is now building a beautiful eco-house on the Tikologo site, in order to retire. This means that we are looking for a Retreat Centre Manager to [...]
Mitta was one of the last remaining matriarchs of Modibate ("Die Stadt", our next door neighbours). She lived in a completely ramshackled hut in a small family complex. It took 3 trips last Saturday to move her and her possessions into her newly constructed house in Rietvallei, a developing village which is about 8 km [...]
Daily Life Dharma by the Lazy Buddhist You gotta love Dharma teachings! The other day I was reading through notes I’d taken in which Drupon Rinpoche explained the two ways of NOT understanding. Drupon Rinpoche’s style of teaching is fabulous, I mean, seriously what a topic to receive teachings on! The two types are this. [...]
Winter was quiet and offered time for all to plan for the spring retreats, and carry on with endless needed maintenance on the property. Our resident team of myself, Megan, Coen, Alan, Ina, our neighbour and bookkeeper, Sean and staff, were joined by volunteers Dean on the Tikologo side. and Cheri, Bronwyn and David for [...]
Earlier this year Tikologo received some much appreciated funding from ROKPA International to help further develop the project. Since then a lot of energy has been going into the Tikologo site in order to try and make the best use of this opportunity and so the following developments have taken place: Apprenticeship and Volunteer program [...]
First Ever Visit to Africa Tara Rokpa Centre hosted Drupon Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist Mediation and Mind training Master. This was his first ever visit to Africa. I was privileged to attend his retreat from 30 August to 7 September 2017, in the beautiful Groot Marico. Rinpoche and his entourage, which included Lama Katen, Kunga, and [...]
