Ajahn Sona Public Talk

Victoria Vipassana Community Welcomes:

Ajahn Sona

Friday, May 7th 7 – 9 p.m.

Public Talk:

The Relationship of Concentration to the Development of Wisdom.

Note: The location has been changed to accommodate more people.

Please go to Queenswood Retreat Center, 2494 Arbutus Road, Victoria, BC. May 7th 7-9 p.m. We will be in the Chapel. Chairs will be available. Floor-sitters, please bring your own cushion.

No registration is required for the Friday night talk, however we would appreciate an email to brockbrown108@gmail.com if you are planning to attend.

Ajahn Sona – Abbot of Birken Forest Monastery

Born in Canada, Ajahn (”teacher”) Sona’s background as a layperson is in classical guitar performance. His encounter with Buddhist wisdom as a young man initiated a spiritual journey that led him to become a lay hermit for several years. He subsequently ordained as a Theravada monk under Venerable Gunaratana, at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia. Ajahn Sona further trained at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah lineage in northeast Thailand, especially Wat Pah Nanachat. Upon his return to Canada in 1994 he helped establish Birken Forest Monastery which is now located south of Kamloops BC.

Ajahn Sona has been in robes for over 20 years. He has ample experience leading meditation retreats and lecturing on Buddhist meditation and practice, both in Canada and abroad. His teachings combine tried-and-true Buddhist wisdom with modern commonsense.

Shambhala Level I The Art of Being Human

At the Victoria Shambhala-Buddhist Meditation Centre

An introduction to the path of meditation in which we learn to experience the world as sacred and see basic goodness as our birthright. More

Through the practice of meditation, we glimpse unconditional goodness as the ground of our existence. Opening to ourselves with gentleness and appreciation, we begin to see our potential as genuine and compassionate human beings.
This first weekend of the Shambhala Training Heart of Warriorship series introduces participants to the practice of sitting meditation and to the basic principles of the Shambhala path of warriorship. There is a fundamental, good energy present in all of our experience, and this basic goodness, innate to the way things are, is our own inborn, unconditional nature as well.
The program includes meditation instruction, talks by the Director, group discussions, guided contemplative practice, and individual interviews with instructors.
Shambhala Training Level One is a pre-requisite for Level Two and is the first step in The Way of Shambhala curriculum.

To register go to the Victoria Shambhala Website front page, find the program on the left and register.
http://victoria.shambhala.org/index.php

Spring Workshops with Ngakpa Kalzang Dorje

Explore the potential of mind this spring in Victoria and Nanaimo workshops. Ngakpa Kalzang will teach about the mind's role in our experience of life. He will discuss mind training from the Buddhist perspective, and how to ultimately cultivate compassion, wisdom, and freedom from suffering.

Workshop details:

Victoria: May 8th, 2010 from 1 to 4 pm at Queenswood Centre, 2494 Arbutus Rd, Victoria.

Nanaimo: May 15th, 2010 from 1 to 4 pm at Solace Wellness Centre, 719 Fitzwilliam St, Nanaimo.

To register please call 250-748-6028 or email info@thubtencholing.com. For more information visit http://www.thubtencholing.com/.