Monthly Community Sit

The Victoria Vipassana Community holds a community sit on the first Sunday of each month. All are welcome to attend. There are chairs, yoga mats, bolsters and blankets for our use, but bring your own sitting gear if you wish.

The next Community Group Sit will be held:

Sunday December 7, 2008
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Helga Beer Yoga Studio
#202 - 1600 Bay Street (Shakespeare St. entrance)

Joan Glover will facilitate.

As well as an opportunity to sit together, a taped dharma talk will be presented. We will also have an opportunity to reflect and share our understanding of this talk.

Everyone welcome. By donation.

For more information...
http://www.victoriavipassana.org/weekly_groups.htm

Introducing Buddhist Meditation

Introducing Buddhist Meditation" is the title of a day-long workshop to be held November 15 at Royal Roads University.

The formal practice of meditation has enormous potential to open our hearts to the whole range of experience we encounter in our lives.


Led by storyteller and teacher Margo McLoughlin, the course will combine an introduction to the history of Buddhism with an exploration of sitting meditation and walking meditation. The day will include time for discussion and reflection on the applications of mindfulness in daily life.

Facilitator: Margo McLoughlin, BA Linguistics, MA Divinity, Harvard Divinity School, is a writer, editor, storyteller, puppeteer, and researcher. Margo is a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School and a student of Buddhism for over twenty years, having practiced with Joseph Goldstein, Larry Rosenberg and other teachers in the Insight Meditation tradition. For three years she taught “Introduction to Insight Meditation” for the Harvard Buddhist Community. She was the Interfaith Chaplain with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass, leading interfaith healing services and a special storytelling series. Her research has included museum studies, comparative religion, Pali and Sanskrit.

Shambhala Training in Victoria

"The Art of Being Human"
Shambhala Training Level I
Director: Mark Hazell

A great deal of chaos in the world occurs because people don't appreciate themselves.

-Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche from
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Shambhala Training is a progressive series of weekend workshops that uses the wisdom of meditation to introduce students step-by-step into the path of working with one's mind in the context of everyday life. This program is founded on the belief that the practice of meditation can help people of all walks of life and followers of any spiritual tradition become more aware in their own lives and more compassionate and courageous with the world around them.
This program is appropriate for beginners as well as experienced meditators. Please join us for talks, discussions and brief sessions of sitting and walking meditation.

Friday, October 31, 2008 starting at 7 p.m. (until about 9:30)
Saturday, November 1, from 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (lunch provided)
And Sunday, November 2, from 9:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Cost $75.00 (seniors and students $60.00)


Victoria Shambhala Meditation Centre, #1 - 2033 Belmont Avenue
Victoria, B.C. V8R 3Z7 (Located at the corner of Belmont Ave. and Pembroke St. in the former Belmont United Church building).

To register or inquire, please contact the Victoria Shambhala Centre via
Emailing: mmadventures@shaw.ca or phone John at 250-598-6433

Pre registration will ensure your space and will help coordinators prepare the space.
Don’t let a lack of funds stop you from inquiring about this program.

Learn to Meditate

Learn to Meditate
Saturday, October 18, 9:00 – Noon
Meet your mind and your body on the spot during this three hour session which will include: periods of sitting and walking meditation, working with your mind and your posture along with discussions about the practice offered and your experience with it.
The practice being offered is Shamatha-calm abiding.
Everyone is welcome – no previous experience required.
Suggested donation for the program $10.
To register or for information contact John at mmadventures@shaw.ca or by calling 250-598-6433
Shambhala Buddhism arose from the mind terma of the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a master within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Boddisatva Warrior

The Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies presents

“Bodhisattva Warrior: Six Paramitas”

With Silas Rosenblatt
and Dr. Jim Sacamano


Tuesday evenings 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm
(upstairs shrine room, sitting practice at 7:00pm)
October 28th, November 4, 11, 18 & 25
With an intensive day, Saturday Nov. 29th


In the Buddhist tradition having developed a powerful aspiration to attain enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings one takes the vows of a Bodhisattva. Thus the spiritual path becomes a process of developing fearlessness and the open heart with which to engage the world. This course presents the six transcendent actions or paramitas of the bodhisattva path.




Dr. Jim Sacamano, founder of the Medicine Buddha program, is a senior teacher at our centre. An early student of Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. formerly his representative and teacher in
residence at Berkeley and in Halifax. Silas Rosenblatt. a student
of the Sakyong. Mipham Jampal Trinely Dradul Rinpoche. is a
meditation guide at the Victoria Shambhala centre.

Shambhala Community Study Programs cost $60 - $45
(sliding scale depending on your financial means)


To register: contact: David Clarke (rangdral@yahoo.com)

Victoria Shambhala Meditation Centre
#1-2033 Belmont Avenue, Victoria BC, V8R 3Z7. 383-9108
www.shambhala.org/centers/victoria

Weekend Non-Residential Vipassana Retreat with Joanne Broatch - October 25 & 26

This retreat will be appropriate for both new and experienced meditators. It will be taught by Joanne Broatch. Information: http://www.victoriavipassana.org/retreats.htm

With Jack Kornfield as her guiding teacher, Joanne has been practising Buddhist meditation in the Theravadan tradition since 1980, and teaching since 1994. Her spiritual journey has included inner work with humanistic psychologists of the 60s and 70s; later, Diamond Heart work and Process Painting; and more recently investigating Spiritism and etheric healing in Brazil. She is particularly interested in the importance of faith and lovingkindness in physical, emotional and spiritual healing.

Retired from work as a business writing consultant, writer and editor, Joanne has focused on supporting the growth of sangha in Western Canada, especially in smaller communities in the west. Now semi-retired as a dharma teacher, she teaches retreats, groups and classes primarily in British Columbia and Western Canada.

Registration:

Please copy and complete the registration form below and email it back to the registrar, Rod House, rodhouse@shaw.ca. Once you have registered, he will contact you with more info. We encourage people to set aside both days for this retreat, although there will be space for people only able to do one day. If you are a new meditator and can only do one day, it is suggested that Saturday would be the day to come and not Sunday as basic instructions will be given on Saturday. Please let Rod know if you are only coming for one day.

REGISTRATION FORM

Victoria Vipassana Community
2-day non-residential retreat
Date: October 25 & 26, 2008
Teacher: Joanne Broatch
Place: Goward House
2495 Arbutus Rd., Victoria

Thank you for your interest in our upcoming retreat. Please copy and complete the following form. Return it to the registrar, Rod House, at rodhouse@shaw.ca as soon as possible.

1. Name:
2. Email address (or street address, if no email):
3. Phone number:
4. Will you be attending both Saturday and Sunday? Yes or No If no, please specify which day you will be attending?
5. Are you able to offer another meditator a ride? Yes or No If yes, please indicate your neighbourhood or geographical location.
6. Do you need a ride? Yes or No If yes, please indicate your neighbourhood or geographical location
7. Are you able to billet out of town meditators? Yes or No If yes, please specify how many.
8. Do you need to be billeted? Yes or No.

Cost:

We have been using the practice of generosity, or dana, (dana is the word for generosity from the language in the Buddha's time) to cover the costs (rental, teacher's travel, etc.) of putting on the retreat over the past few years and will continue to do so. We suggest a $30 donation for the weekend to cover our costs. Any extra money left over goes into a Scholarship Fund for folks in our community who have an interest in doing longer retreats but not the funds to afford that. If the $30 is beyond your means, though, that is fine. Please feel free to come and simply donate what feels within your means.

There will be a basket out at the retreat for all donations. The teachings themselves are offered by the teacher freely in the Buddhist tradition of over 2500 years. If you feel the teachings have been of value to you, there will be an opportunity to practise generosity, or dana, for the teachings at the end of the retreat. This money will go directly to the teacher. There will be a basket out at the retreat for this. More information will be provided about this at the retreat.