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What's on? - Buddhist Events

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The 2012 New Years Retreat will be from the 2nd to the 8th January. All welcome.

The 2012 Tibetan New Year festival will be held on the weekend of 3 & 4 March 2012.

Tibetan Buddhist Society November 2011 Newsletter

Rose Garden Open Days on the 24 and 25 March 2012

Last updated 18/12/2011


Ongoing teachings at the Tibetan Buddhist Society

Summer teaching program

From Sunday 11 December, all classes except the Buddhist Meditation - Philosophy and Practice Introductory Series and Saturday night Discussion Group will finish for the summer break. We will also hold a New Year Buddhist Meditation Retreat.

Sundays 1.30 to 3.00 pm - Buddhist Meditation – Philosophy & Practice Introductory Series

There will be no class on 25th of December or 1st of January.

During these classes a variety of meditation techniques are introduced, including breathing meditation, visualisation and analytical meditation. The fundamental Buddhist principles of cause and effect, impermanence, love, compassion and the nature of human experience are explained drawing from texts by the Tibetan Buddhist Society’s Founder and Spiritual Leader, Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden, Essence of the Path to Enlightenment and Meditations on the Path to Enlightenment. All welcome.

More details...

Victorian Multicultural Commission support We are pleased to thank the Victorian Multicultural Commission for an organisational support grant that it has provided to assist with our introductory meditation and philosophy lecture series. Victorian Multicultrual Commission

Path to Enlightenment

Path to Enlightenment classes have finished for the year and will resume at 4pm on Sunday 11 March 2012.

Comprising teaching and guided meditation, this series provides practical instruction on all the key Buddhist concepts and practices based on Geshe Loden’s authoritative text, Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism. Engaging in the path to enlightenment is the only assured method for progressing from the initial stages of a beginner, through to the attitudes of refuge and renunciation, the mind of enlightenment, to the wisdom perceiving ultimate truth and finally Buddhahood. Path to enlightenment practice also is the key to achieving peacefulness and contentment and a strong mind able to cope with any kind of adversity. All welcome. More details...

Vajrayogini Practice

Vajrayogini classes have finished for the year and will resume at 7.30pm on Monday 12 March 2012.

For students who have received empowerment, these sessions comprise the practice of the Vajaryogini sadhana and tsog offering. Led by Jean D'Cruz.

Yamantaka Practice

Yamantaka classes have finished for the year and will resume at 7.30pm on Wednesday 14 March 2012.

For students who have received empowerment, these sessions comprise the practice of the Yamantaka sadhana. Led by Anthony Joseph.

Saturdays 7.30 to 9.00 pm - Discussion Group

These sessions provide an opportunity to discuss the various topics presented in Geshe Loden’s text Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism. All welcome.

There will be no discussion group on 24 & 31 December and 7 January.

More details...

Retreats

Each year the Tibetan Buddhist Society holds a New Year retreat, a calm abiding Easter Retreat, and a Vajrayana Retreat in late September and early October for advanced students.

New Years Retreat - 2 January to 8 January 2012

All Welcome Read more...

Easter Calm Abiding retreat Friday 6 to Monday 9 April

The Easter live-in retreat will focus on bodhichitta, the mind of enlightenment, and calm abiding. Wishing bodhichitta is the aspiration to remove the suffering of all beings and bring them happiness. Venturing bodhichitta is actualising that wish by engaging in the six perfections. The retreat comprises six guided meditation sessions each day with a variety of meditation techniquess. There is plenty of opportunity to relax in the gardens, read, or have discussions with fellow retreaters. Contact Jean at the centre to register.

Yamantaka Retreat - late September / early October, dates will be confirmed early in January 2012.

Annual Vajrayana retreat for students who have received empowerment. Read more....

Tibetan Buddhist Society Festivals

The Tibetan Buddhist Society holds two weekend festivals each year. The first celebrates the Tibetan New Year in February/March and the Buddhist Spring Festival follows this each November. Teachers from a variety of traditions including Tibetan, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese give talks and lead meditations. There are also temple and garden tours, vibrant market stalls, courtyard café and much more.

The 2012 Tibetan New Year festival will be held on the weekend of 3 & 4 March 2012.

Buddhism teaches that happiness depends solely on the state of our mind, rather than the events and circumstances of our lives. Meditation opens practitioners up to the world of the mind and helps transform the way we approach the world so our lives are happier, healthier and more peaceful and satisfying.

Hosted by the Tibetan Buddhist Society, Buddhist teachers will explain the benefits of meditation and offer insights from the rich traditions of Buddhist psychology. Talks from Tibetan, Thai, Zen and other Buddhist teachers will take place in one of the only traditional Tibetan temples in the Southern Hemisphere, which was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his 2002 Australian tour.

The talks provide a taste of Buddhist teachings on compassion, love, karma, enlightenment, impermanence, ethics and concentration. These themes – and especially the way that we can use them through the practice of meditation to change our personal experience – are more deeply explored in subsequent weeks during a Sunday afternoon introduction series.

More than 2,000 people are expected to take part in this community festival at the Tibetan Buddhist Society’s magnificent 10-acre property in Yuroke, located 30 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD. Alongside talks and guided meditations, the festival offers many activities - tranquil gardens to relax and explore thousands of roses in beautiful bloom, browsing at cosmopolitan market stalls, delicious vegetarian fare in an outdoor cafe and a photo exhibition.

A popular highlight of the festival is the non-denominational ceremony for world peace. At 12.00 noon on Saturday 5 November, Buddhist monks and nuns along with members of Christian denominations, political leaders and community representatives join together in prayers for world harmony and universal wellbeing.

Festival visitors are encouraged to wander through the 10 acres of landscaped gardens, relax and enjoy the fragrance of hundreds of rose bushes in many varieties. The gardens also feature tranquil lakes and more than 2500 trees including 23 Californian redwoods, 35 golden robinias, 31 olive trees and weeping mulberries.

Festival highlights include:

  • Cosmopolitan market with hundreds of items including Tibetan and local handicrafts, Indian shawls, Thai jewellery, Tibetan and Nepalese blankets, kimonos, books, meditation cushions, bags, ornaments, candles, soaps, and incense;
  • Garden tours with Venerable Tim McKibben providing explanations of the many rose varieties, the history of the centre and the art of companion planting and pesticide free cultivation;
  • Temple tours explaining the significance of the religious and artistic treasures such as the 18 foot statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, constructed in Nepal;
  • Delicious vegetarian food and home-made cakes in a delightful outdoor cafe; and
  • Photographic exhibition showing the Tibetan culture in pre-1959 Tibet and giving an account of today’s exiled communities in India.

Entry to the Festival is $5. Family rate $10 - parents and school age children or younger. There is a facility charge for talks - $10 for one class, $15 for two and $20 for three or four classes per day. Temple tours are $5 and garden tours are free. All proceeds are donated to support the temple.

For more details and photos of our Buddhist festivals click here

Rose Garden Open Days

The Peaceful Land of Joy Rose Garden Open Days, at the Tibetan Buddhist Society in Melbourne, are held in March and November.

The gardens are a prime example of sustainable rose growing using recycled water. Through careful and far-sighted water management and the hard work of many volunteers, these gardens have maintained their beauty in the enduring drought.

The gardens are one of Victoria’s largest and most successful examples of rose companion planting, maintained without herbicides or pesticides. They are proof that beautiful gardens and responsible use of water resources are compatible.

The Tibetan Buddhist Society’s water management initiatives undertaken since acquiring the property at Yuroke 20 years ago include:

  • Significant investment in water recycling equipment, which allows use of house water on the gardens.
  • Rainwater collection systems including big gutters on the traditional Tibetan temple and the main buildings to collect water.
  • The garden, driveway and all paved areas designed and plumbed to channel rainfall to the dam, which is used on the garden.
  • Early adoption of water saving devices, like water efficient showerheads and dual flush toilets.

In the gardens deep mulch covers all rose garden beds and helps reduce water use and conserve moisture. Calendulas (marigolds), which are planted to attract insects away from the roses are subsequently mulched with organic matter to use around the base of trees like the golden robinias.

Under the guidance, inspiration and energetic example of the Society’s Founder and Spiritual Leader, the Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden, students and residents have made the Peaceful Land of Joy a peaceful haven that brings happiness and a sense of calm to all who visit.

The 10 acre property at Yuroke, just 30 minutes’ drive from Melbourne CBD, features hundreds of rose bushes of many varieties. There are also 2000 trees including 23 Californian redwoods, 35 golden robinias, 31 olive trees, weeping elms and mulberries and blue spruce. Visitors are welcome to enjoy a picnic in the grounds and relax by the tranquil lake.

Thousands of birds of many species, such as ducks, ibis, herons and cormorants also enjoy the environment, and have been attracted in no small way by the bread and rice fed to them every morning for many years.

The Rose Garden Open Days feature:

  • Regular free tours by resident garden guides, with rose pruning demonstration and cultivation tips.
  • Delicious Devonshire teas in an outdoor café, with homemade scones, cakes and a special blend of spiced chai tea.
  • Tours of the stunning traditional Tibetan temple, one of the few of its kind in the West and which was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 2002 Australian tour.
  • Free relaxation meditation sessions in the temple on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 12.30 pm.

Entry is $5. Family rate $10 - parents and school age children or younger. All proceeds support the temple.

For dates of the Open Days please check this website around late February and mid November, or phone 03 9333 1770.