Kagyu Samye Dzong London
News

April 2006

Contents

1. Meditation instruction and advice with Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche
2. Manor Baths - progress to date and a wish list
3. Willing volunteeers needed
4. Tilopa Poem
5. Forthcoming events

1 - Lama Yeshe on Taming the Mind

"Taming the mind is more difficult than training the body or speech. Mind has such a big potential! It’s the mind that gives you pleasure, happiness and joy, as well as pain, sorrow and unhappiness, - everything! If you really look into where your emotions start, where they come from, you will see they all have to do with your state of mind. For instance, when you feel mentally very stable, physically very well, if people abuse you or give you a hard time, at that specific moment, you will feel it’s no problem, you can accept it, it doesn’t hurt you, it’s no big deal. But if you are physically and mentally not so well, then you become so negative that people don’t even need to say anything wrong, you will get upset even if they say the right things to you. This shows that what matters is not what we say or do, but our state of mind.

To tame ones mind is the most difficult thing, but also the most essential. We can never be truly happy or peaceful without taming the mind. Therefore we should not feel afraid or overwhelmed by the task, but simply resolve to begin and stick with it. This is why we meditate."

Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche will be at the Centre on the 29th - 30th April, leading a weekend of meditation instructions with time for questions and actual meditation practice, suitable for all. To see the detailed itinery for the weekend just click here. To book your place, contact the office.

2 - Manor Baths progress and a wish list
 
Progress - this last month:

With the guidance, expertise, skill and good humour of Colin, our site manager, 5 tons of rubbish has been removed from Manor Baths this last month... to start with! Various stripping out / down work has begun and some partitioning has already been installed. However this is barely the beginning!

Wish list - can you help?

Newsletter readers can help in many ways, not only by volunteering time. Colin has provided us with a wish list of things that would help with the work needed including:

• Palm Laser Level
• Electric Sander
• Heat gun
• Aluminium scaffold tower
• Stepladder
• Microwave

The occasional use / loan of a van would also be extremely helpful.

If you are able to assist us with any of these items, please contact the centre on 020-7928 5447, or email us at london@samye.org

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3 - Willing volunteers needed - how you can help

There is a great deal of work to do to make Manor Baths as beautiful as our current home. We need help with cleaning, carpentry, joinery, cabinet making, roofing, plumbing, plastering, general labouring, painting and decorating, flooring, bricklaying and tiling, glazing, as well as cooking
and keeping the centre running alongside the building work. People with experience in the building trades are welcome, and we are also happy to receive help from any willing volunteers. As they say: "Join the Dharma, learn a trade."

Volunteering at Manor Baths

Volunteers are now needed all the time. There will be people on site everyday except Tuesdays and it's fine to just turn up and offer what assistance you can. In the meantime there is also a weekend coming up when we need some very specific help at both Carlisle Lane and Manor Baths:

Manor Baths - 22nd - 23rd April

Does anybody have a van available to help remove some metal cabinets, stripped out carpets and other assorted items?

We also have 74 indoor window frames that need to be prepared for painting.

Not to mention a few more tonnes of rubbish still need to be cleared out.

Dress code: distinctly casual!

Carlisle Lane 22nd - 23rd April

As Lama Yeshe is teaching at the Centre on the 29th-30th, we'd like to use this weekend to give the Centre a good spring clean in preparation. We also need people to help to stuff envelopes with the new programme.

If you'd like to know more about volunteering, or if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact us either by phone on 020-7928 5447 or by email.

4 - A poem by Tilopa

Walking the hidden path of the wish-fulfilling gem
Leading to the realm of the heavenly tree, the changeless.
Untie the tongues of mutes.
Stop the stream of samsara, of belief in an ego.
Recognise your very nature as a mother knows her child.

This is transcendent awareness cognisant of itself,
Beyond the path of speech, the object of no thought.
I, Tilopa, have nothing at which to point.
Knowing this is pointing in itself to itself.

Do not imagine, think, deliberate,
Meditate, act, but be at rest.
With an object do not be concerned.
Spirituality, self-existing, radiant,
In which there is no memory to upset you
Cannot be called a thing.

Tilopa was one of the great Buddhist teachers who mastered and distilled the teachings of all the mahasiddhas of 11th century India, achieving enlightenment near the River Ganges.

5 - Forthcoming events

April

Tibetan Language and Grammar
with Lama Zangmo
10am-5pm Sunday 2nd April
£25
A day focusing on Tibetan Language for those who can already read and write. The emphasis will be on learning more vocabulary and grammar and the day will be broken up with short sessions of meditation.
This course will only run if there is enough interest. If you would like to attend, please book your place now by phoning the Centre on 020-7928 5447, or email London@samye.org

Prostrations and Dorje Sempa
with Lama Zangmo
Sunday 9th April, 10.00 - 4.00 pm
£30
A day of instructions and practice of the first two of the Special Foundations, the Ngondro. This is the practice of full length prostrations and the meditation on Dorje Sempa (or Vajrasattva). The morning will mainly focus on the prostrations and gaining familiarity with the Refuge tree and afternoon will focus on the instructions and practice of Dorje Sempa.
It is necessary to have received the Dorje Sempa empowerment to attend the afternoon's teachings.

Chen style Tai Chi
with John Henry
Sunday 16th April, 10.00 - 4.00 pm.
£25
A monthly class of Chen style Tai Chi.  Beginners welcome.

Volunteer Weekend at Carlisle Lane and Manor Baths
Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd April, 10.00 - 4.00 pm
Time to be spring cleaning the Centre before the visit of Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche on the 29th - 30th (see below for details). There is also much work that needs doing at Manor Baths. If you have the time and enthusiasm to come and volunteer for the weekend, there are many jobs to be done at this time. As usual, we will provide lunch and lots of tea!
Please let us know in advance if you can come.

Meditation instruction and advice from Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche
Saturday 29th - Sunday 30th April, 10.00 - 4.00 pm
£55
This will be a weekend of meditation instructions with time for questions and actual meditation practice, suitable for all. During the weekend, there will also be a Refuge ceremony for those people who wish to formally become Buddhists

About the Newsletter

This newsletter goes out to those who have expressed an interest in Kagyu Samye Dzong London. It covers news of the efforts and progress towards finding and funding a new site for the centre, and other events taking place in the coming weeks

Being on this mailing list is not compulsory. If you do not want to receive this newsletter, or would like it to be sent to a different email address, please use the links at the bottom of the newsletter.

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