A Contemplation from Alan Muller "With shamata practice, we learn to detect impulses in their early stages. We can check an impulse toward anger before exploding like a volcano. If we do not recognize that impulse, then the repetition of angry outbursts strengthens the tendency toward anger and creates its own karmic energy, it's own [...]
Getting to the retreat was, for those of us who arrived in the second week, quite an experience – the rains had turned the roads into deep mud, and alternative routes were equally rough. Other participants had travelled from the northern hemisphere, or from different corners of South Africa, all drawn to spend hours a [...]
Tara Rokpa Centre is a supreme setting for this special retreat. Set in the dramatic scenery of the North West province - wild and wonderful – busting with all the elements of nature and with the living solidity of the Eco/ Adobe buildings - this venue established by our beloved teacher, Akong Rinpoché, made for [...]
The tradition of encampments is seen in the nomadic lifestyles of the fourth to the ninth Karmapas, as they travelled through the peaks and valleys of the Tibetan landscape. Notably, it was not what the areas offered the travellers that would encourage them to set up camp for periods of time, but rather where, “the [...]
I felt a fair amount of trepidation ahead of spending my first Christmas away from family and friends, meditating with a group of strangers - but I have no regrets! Tara Rokpa Centre is situated in a beautiful part of South Africa’s North West Province, in a lush green valley where every day is full [...]
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, [...]
…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 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 [...]
