There I was, living at the tip of Africa looking for something, not really sure what, confused by the roots of my German-Indian descent: not at home, nor here nor there, standing on the halfway line between those two worlds. They say Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places on earth and South [...]
A Valentines’ weekend workshop By Dorcas B. Molefe The workshop was facilitated by Dharma teacher, Dr Ava Avalos, at one of the few places with clean air and clean water; a place of luxurious shades of green, on the weekend of 15 to 17 February, 2019. Dr Avalos’ profound teachings were based on Zen Buddhism, [...]
Planting of a cherry tree in the food forest in memory of Susan As most of you know by now, our friend Susan died on Wednesday 23rd of January 2019. On Sunday 10 Feb, a cherry tree was planted in memory of Susan in Tatjana's food forest at TRC. Susan loved cherries - they reminded [...]
by the Lazy Buddhist Dharma terms are shape-shifters! I bandy around words like karma, Bodhisattva and compassion for years, when all of a sudden, something shifts and a whole new world of meaning opens up. Recently I’ve had ...how can I put this... an abundance of opportunity to discover how much easier it is to [...]
…on retreat with Dónal Creedon at TRC – December, 2018 It always feels like there’s a lot of time on one of Dónal’s retreats. There’s an air of lightness and ease, It’s only in retrospect that you realise just how many hours of practise you’ve chalked up. I’ve been on a fair number of retreats [...]
The Elements with Pippa Cope 28 Dec 2018 - 2 Jan 2019 “Appreciate the beginners’ mind, the secret of good practice.” With these words, Dónal Creedon closed his week-long session with approximately 20 retreatants at the Tara Rokpa Center in Groot Marico. Grounding Earth During the retreat, Pippa Cope, long-term resident at the [...]
What does it mean? To be present to oneself. To be present, To the skies and the hills, And sunlight and shadow, To bundles of clouds And turbulent waters To birds flying by And the billowing grasses, To the girl with the child And the dogs rushing by To a smile and a frown And [...]
I went a round in the ring with impermanence the other day and I gotta tell ya, impermanence whipped my butt. Am I allowed to say butt in a Buddhist newsletter? It’s politer than the alternative I had in mind. Anyway, the lead up was typical of your average boxing match. Both parties go in [...]
I recently had a really bad day. I snapped at two undeserving people... in a row... before 8am... and, this is the worst bit, while DOING yoga... and right before stomping in to do my meditation practice. By the time I sat down in front of my shrine, I was so ashamed of my behaviour [...]
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 [...]
