News

I will be presenting classes on meditation at the Sunbury Community Health Centre starting May 6th and running through to June 10th.

Meditation - Key to a Calmer Life

A practical approach to improving health, happiness and relaxation through meditation. The main aim is to develop a clear, happy mind free of tension and stress. This effective short course is facilitated by the Tibetan Buddhist Society. This program has been running for over 10 years with excellent feedback from participants, many of whom have repeated the program.
May 6 - June 10

Email: fionata@sunburychc.org.au
Time: Tuesday 7:30 - 8:30pm
Venue: Sunbury Community Health Centre
Cost: $65 for 6 weeks
Contact: Fiona Tanner 9744-9564
Dates: 06 May 08 - 10 June 08

Click Here to download Application Form

So your think about going to the teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia June 2008 but, need information regarding accommodation?

Here you go http://dalailamainaustralia.org/teachingsTour2008/accommodation.aspx

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has agreed to address the Closing Ceremony of the Melbourne Parliament of the World’s Religions on the afternoon of December 9th, 2009.
http://www.parliamentofreligions2009.org

The following day, December 10th, will mark the 20th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Tibetan spiritual leader in 1989. The Dalai Lama is a member of the Parliament’s International Advisory Council, and has participated in several previous Parliaments.

We are very lucky here in Australia as His Holiness was here in 2007, and in coming in 2008 and 2009!I hope that we can arrange for HHDL to give dharma teachings while in Australia in 2009.

Recently I was asked to lecture on Buddhist philosophy and meditation to a group of high school kids. The kids and staff were great. Very attentive and interested in learning about Buddhism and or meditation.

So a shout-out to the staff and kids at Overnewton College.

I applaud Overnewton College for their wonderful and progressive outlook to the education of their students. The event even made their local newspaper.

via http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/56016

MORE than 50 Overnewton College students got in touch with their spiritual side last month after a visit from a Buddhist monk.
Tibetan Buddhist Society monk Loden Jinpa led an animated discussion on Buddhism and meditation before involving the students in a practical meditation class.
The students, all part of the school’s new spiritual and values education program, were taught to manage negative thoughts and situations through meditation and deep breathing.
They were also shown methods to combat stress heading into their VCE years.
Spirituality and meditation teacher Amanda Clifford said it was important for the students to recognise and understand the ways of different religions and cultures.

“If you don’t know much about something you can fear it or not understand it and get different beliefs,” she said. To have an authentic Buddhist monk talk to them about it instead of me lecturing them is great. When Loden held the discussion there was lots of energy in the room and then we had the meditation practices and he said to them ‘do you notice any difference?’ and all of the kids were like ‘yeah, it’s so much calmer’.

Hi everyone,

I got an inquiry from a worried reader wanting to know my whereabouts and reasons for a lack of blogging over the past couple of weeks. Truth is, I have been very busy and had little time to do anything other than work, meditation commitments and sleep. This will be the case for another couple of weeks at least.

Here are a couple posts I’m currently working to keep you going until then…

What is meditation?
A look at what constitutes meditation, why it is important and the different styles of meditation. Including a look at whether the western philosophical endeavor is a form of meditation.

Buddhism as Philosophy
In this post I will discuss the notion critical analysis of key Buddhist assertion as a type of analytic meditation.

Fusion philosophy
Fusion philosophy is a recent advent. In this post I will discuss my enthusiasm for fusion philosophy, and to try explain it’s importance for the future of Buddhist education in the West.

The next Mandala magazine features a tribute one of my teachers, the late Geshe Achraya Jampa Gyatso.

Here are some short quotes form Ven Joan’s well written tribute.

Geshe-la taught us not to misuse our own or others’ belongings, to not waste or throw out what could still be used, to not go running after the latest gadget, whether a cell phone or a car. He showed us how to laugh at ourselves, our silly habits, our shortcomings, our weaknesses. He taught us to accept ourselves for what we are, while striving to become the buddha that is everyone’s potential. He taught us with endless patience, repeating time and again how to develop equanimity, love, compassion, patience, concentration, and wisdom. He told us his favorite stories over and over again, checking our memory by always adding a slight variation from the time before. He delighted us with his acting out of the sufferings of aging (often pointing out the fact that we would have a heart attack if we were suddenly to wake up old with a wrinkled face, gray hair, no teeth, loose skin), as well as the torment of attachment and the way we say “I love you,” while meaning “I am attached to you.” He shocked us with his outspoken opinions about politics and politicians (both Western and Tibetan). He surprised us with his lack of etiquette, tranquilly cleaning the wax out of his ears, taking out his false teeth to clean them, or scratching his legs or back while we talked to him. He charmed us with his imitations of people, his knowledge of our world, his insight into our lives and problems. He forced us to work on ourselves, on our minds, on our mistaken way of viewing ourselves and our world. He made us be truthful and honest with him and with ourselves. In short, he never put up with any of our usual garbage.

I remember during a teaching one time looking up at Geshe-la and he had placed his mala on his head wearing it like a head-band…inside I was rolling on the floor laughing…he just sat there with a slight smile on his face. Please come back soon Geshe-la
You can read more here about Geshe-la here

I have just finished watching the DVD’s of teaching His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave on Dependent Origination, a key Buddhist concept.

The teaching were organized by Gyuto Vajrayana Center in San Francisco. The texts HHDL uses for these teachings are Nagarjuna’s and Lama Tsong Khapa’s spiritual songs of devotion to the Buddha. This teachings are outstandingly translated by Thubten Jinpa. I only hope we see Jinpa-la in Sydney this June for the Dalai Lama’s teaching in Australia 2008.

Anyways if you have a spare $30.00 or 40.00 I’d go and purchase the DVD’s or at least download the free mp3’s from here

I was going through some old photos of my time with Geshe Jampa Gyatso the other day and found this one.

The photo is part of a series of photos taken of me offering Geshe-la a mandala after a weekend of teachings of the lamrim text Path to Bliss. This would have been December 1998.

more photos here http://lodenjinpa.com/photos

The past week has been quite busy. First was the passing away of one of my teachers - Geshe Jampa Gyatso. I counselled a dying person days before their death. The funeral is tomorrow and I have been asked to say a few things and conduct a short prayer service.
You already know my feelings about funerals so

We also had a visit from 250 school kids from Ballarat Grammar. The kids ranged in age from 13 to 15. I spoke to them about Buddhism and meditation. They seemed to enjoy it, well they were attentive at least. We spent some time meditating on the breath, with no laughing or giggling. I think the teachers were quite surprised how quite they were.

After the session, I was asked if it would be possible for me to visit Ballarat Grammar for a week to give presentations on Buddhism and meditation. We are trying to get this to happen sometime next year.

I think having a monk visit schools for an extended period of time is a fantastic idea. I would like to see more schools participate in this exchange of knowledge. I guess all they have to do is ask.

Geshe Jampa Gyatso has finished his meditation on Clear Light almost 7 days after he stopped breathing. This means his mind has left his body and in Buddhism this is the actual point of death.

It is believed that only holy beings can remain in meditation on the Clear Light for this period of time, and so it is very inspirational to see Geshe-la show us his skill as a final teaching.

In another event related to death…
In the last couple of days I was asked to counsel a Buddhist student dying of cancer and who had only days to live. We did Medicine Buddha puja together, recited his mantra and meditated on Lojong - a meditation where one visualizes taking on the suffering of all living beings and giving ones happiness and good qualities to others. She also passed away today.

In Tibetan Buddhism there is a detailed description of the death process. How the mind dissolves from course to subtle levels of consciousness and how that relates to the body.

As it has been a week for death, I thought it timely to write something about the death process, which I will do in an upcoming post.