The New Life Foundation in Chiang Rai proudly announces The Hungry Ghost Retreat: Healing the Mind in Recovery to be held March 22 -25, 2012

This Mindful Recovery Retreat is offered as an opportunity to experience a wholly Buddhist approach to recovery from all forms of addiction. This retreat is open to those new to recovery as well as those who have been in recovery for a longer time.  All are welcome to sit together to discover an alternative and complementary approach to recovery and to support on-going abstinence.

Throughout the retreat, the meditation practices of Loving-kindness and Forgiveness – both essential for healing our hearts and minds – will be central to, and woven into, our daily schedule.
For the period of the retreat, retreatants are required to commit to Sila (Precepts):

• To refrain from harming any living being
• To refrain from taking what is not offered
• To refrain from sexual and sensual misconduct
• To refrain from false speech (including idle gossip, harsh and divisive speech)
• To refrain from taking substances which disturb the balance of the mind (and may lead me into committing any of the above).

It is important to note that you do not have to be a Buddhist to adopt or to adapt any of the principles discussed, and meditation practices explored. Recovering people of all faiths and none are welcome on this retreat.

The retreat’s primary facilitator will be Vince Cullen. Vince is an ex-alcoholic who has been associated with the Wat Thamkrabok monastery in Thailand and Buddhist-oriented drug and alcohol recovery since 1998. In 2009 Vince became a charter member of the Buddhist Recovery Network and established the Fifth Precept meditation for recovery group in Berkshire, UK.  Vince offers recovery retreats in the UK and Ireland.

Donation (Pali : Dana) : The retreat teachings are offered in accordance with the Buddhist tradition of Dana (the practice and virtue of generosity).  Vince follows the ancient Buddhist tradition of not charging for the teachings he shares. The organisations that host his retreats and workshops generally only cover his travel expenses.  However, in return for his teaching and instruction, Vince gratefully accepts donations, which enable him to continue his work. If you would like to support Vince, you can do so at the end of the retreat.

Retreatants have a single room each, with shower, bed, sheets, towel and fan. Please notify us in advance if you would like a double room. Vegetarian meals are served 3 times a day. Fruit, tea and coffee will be available all day long. The retreat will include teachings, guided meditation practice and yoga with an experienced teacher. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the swimming pool and our herbal steam bath. The price for the retreat is 2,000 THB. Please help us spread the word and bring some friends.

If you are interested please contact us at info@newlifethaifoundation.com
More info on our website : www.newlifethaifoundation.com or blog: http://newlifethai.wordpress.com/

Friends, please enjoy this wonderful lecture on YouTube by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh.

Did you enjoy the video?  Now go pick up some tangerines at the local market and eat them mindfully.

The traveling exhibition of the Tooth Relic of the Kassapa Buddha has arrived at Wat Phra Singh.  The exhibition is presented by the Government of Bhutan (the Land of “Gross National Happiness”) and the is accompanied by a host of Bhutanese lamas.  The Kassapa Buddha is a previous incarnation of the historical Buddha.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassapa_Buddha

A selection of verses to honor the auspicious relic are being chanted throughout the day beginning at 6am culminating in a recitation of verses to honor the Boddhisattva Avalalokitsthesvara at around 5 pm ending at around 7pm. The Bhutanese lamas and Thai monks alternate chanting.

This is a truly auspicious event for the New Year.    The Tooth Relic will be at Wat Phra Singh through January 19th.

We are so proud of our new Green Papaya Sangha banner.  This banner is the calligraphy of the Venerable Zen Thich Nhat Hanh.  He made this especially for us while in residence at Plum Village.  Our very own Phap Thi, a member of the Green Papaya Sangha who is now ordained and living in Plum Village, asked Thay (“teacher”) to make it for us. Phra Prempiti, a monk studying at Mahachulalongkornrajavidiylaya University here in Chiang Mai, worked his cyber magic and crafted it into our banner.  Our many thanks to Thay, Phap Thi and Phra Prempiti.

Enjoy!

Happy Seasonal Greetings.  May your internal papaya continue to ripen.

Watch this heartfelt stirring inspiring wonderful video.  A holiday gift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&feature=player_embedded

Thursday, December 15th at 7:30 pm the Green Papaya Sangha is pleased to host our good friend Phra Pandit who will present a dharma talk “Welcome Back to Yourself: a Talk on Self, Ego and Non-Self in Easy Terms”.  Phra Pandit will have just returned from The Mountain Retreat in the hills of Chiang Mai. This is his fourth dharma talk at the Green Papaya Sangha.

Phra Pandit is a British monk resident in Bangkok and has been ordained as a Bhikkhu (monk) in Thailand since 1996. Apart from Dhamma and meditation,his  interests include psychology (BA) and faerie tales. Blogmaster at littlebang.org, Phra Pandit organizes most LittleBang events, and is the speaker at the annual Dhamma Talk Series. Phra Pandit is a lecturer at Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidiylaya University at the main campus in Bangkok, a Buddhist university for monks and novices.

THE PATH IS THE GOAL

3 day meditation retreat with Vichak Panich at New Life Foundation
25 – 27 November 2011

Who?

Vichak Panich is an educator and teacher of Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) founded by the renowned Thai social activist, Sulak Sivaraksa. Vichak studied religion at Naropa University and intensive meditation in the Tibetan tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche under the guidance of Reggie Ray. At present Vichak teaches at Semsikkhalai, Suan Mokkh and many other institutes in Thailand and writes books on meditation and Buddhist practice in the modern world.

What?

For this retreat we invite beginning practitioners as well as experienced meditators from all different lineages to come and practice, learn and share together, as friends. We will learn some tools to cultivate real body awareness and relaxation and after every session we will share about our practice. English – Thai translation will be available during the whole retreat.

This workshop will give a unique occasion for people who practice in different lineages to come and have a chat about our inner journey and engage in deep self-exploration. Drawing on the mediums of deep relaxation, bodywork and meditation we will explore and develop the meaning and qualities of our own inner “spiritual warrior”.

Where?

Retreatants have a single room each, with shower, bed, sheets, towel and fan. Please notify us in advance if you would like a double room. Vegetarian meals are served 3 times a day. Fruit, tea and coffee will be available all day long. The retreat will include teachings, guided meditation practice and yoga with an experienced teacher. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the swimming pool and our herbal steam bath. The price for the retreat is 3,000 THB. Please help us spread the word and bring some friends.

If you are interested please contact us at info@newlifethaifoundation.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Life-Foundation/123378871013634

We will limit the amount of retreatants to a maximum of 26, if you are interested please book your place as soon as possible.

Schedule:

It started 28 days ago, with a ragtag group of people who called themselves “Occupy Wall Street” planting themselves at Liberty Square Plaza (aka Zuccotti Park) in New York City, under the shadows of skyscrapers.

They gathered together to call attention to the disproportionate influence that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans have over our political and economic system. Using the phrase “We are the 99 percent,” they drew a circle of inclusion around the myriad forms of structural violence and suffering that so many of us are experiencing these days.

The Buddha would probably agree with their analysis. Numerous Buddhist texts point out that poverty is not any individual’s fate or karma, but rather exists in a web of causes and conditions. The Buddha also noted that the way to build a peaceful society is to ensure equitable distribution of resources.

In a more contemporary rendering of Buddhist teachings, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh offers this precept: “Do not accumulate wealth whilst millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life, fame, profit, wealth or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy and material resources with those who are in need.” Bernie Glassman Roshi says: Do not foster a mind of poverty in yourself or others.

In less than a month, this gathering in New York has grown into a worldwide movement that has captured the public imagination and vision. This is a leaderless movement, and one that started without any clear demands, and one that is committed to nonviolence. These are exactly the kinds of movements that those with privilege and power have no idea how to contain.

There is a precedent for this kind of social change. The Civil Rights movement, though now almost exclusively identified with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and to a lesser degree, Rosa Parks, was actually comprised of many leaders in multiple locations who gradually self-organized so that the whole became greater than the sum of its parts. And like Occupy Wall Street, the Civil Rights movement grew in its own power based on a common dedication to justice for all.

Some have criticized or ridiculed Occupy Wall Street because it has not formed a list of clear demands for change. Instead, it has relied on a participatory process, even inviting the public at large to weigh in on what issues are of most importance.

What is really remarkable about this movement is that somehow it has raised the process of “how” change happens to being more important than the “what” of change.

The people on the streets in New York are in the process of being the change they wish to see, to use Gandhi’s phrase. They have organized to provide health care for each other, to feed each other, to clean up their space together, to deal with difficult situations using creative solutions. They have intentionally refused alignment with any political party in order to keep their message open to the widest audience. They are taking pains to use a collective decision-making process so that the voices of the marginalized are being heard and considered.

In the context of Buddhist teachings and practice, these are all compassionate actions.

It calls to mind the words that Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy spoke at the 2003 World Social Forum:

Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness — and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe. The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling — their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.

The downfall of any revolution is when it unknowingly replicates what has come before it. Can Occupy Wall Street succeed? It can, if it continues to place generosity and compassion before greed, and to recognize the power of interdependence, causality and selflessness.

Roshi Joan Halifax is the Abbot of the Upaya Zen Center in New Mexico, USA. This piece was co-authored with    Maia Duerr, former executive director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and current director of the Upaya Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program. See Maia’s blog, The Jizo Chronicles, for more Buddhist perspectives on Occupy Wall Street.

Reposted from The Huffington Post, October 14, 2011

Mountain Retreat: 30th Nov – 9th December

After discovering the most perfect, idyllic site imaginable for a meditation retreat, we finally can announce our first Mountain Meditation Retreat.

This page will keep updating as we get more of the details confirmed. However, the dates, the venue, and the 2 teachers are set.

The retreat is open to experienced and beginners alike. There will be special sessions for any beginners to interact with the teachers as needed.

Overview

The place is in the mountains behind Chiang Mai, near to Mae Daeng. It is high up, and pretty chilly in the evening. There is plenty of room, with lots of rooms, dorms, corners, balconies and alcoves to pitch your sleeping bag. It is not exactly private rooms, but there is a lot of space (venue can probably sleep over 100 quite easily) for you to get into your zone.

Some of the photos are here (but don’t do the place justice!)

Teaching will be Steven Smith and Mae Chee Brigitte – two marvelous meditation teachers.

Those vistas! in the pristine air 

Cost of the retreat is 7000 baht, and your place is booked only after payment. Refunds can be made until 7 days before we leave – after that we will have booked the vans and bought the food already. WE are limiting retreatants to maximum 50 places.

….

Booking

*If you are booking from Hawaii – please contact VH for booking/payment details
*If you are booking from Bangkok – we will take bookings and deposits after 7th November (when Pandit returns from Hawaii)
*If you are booking from Chiang Mai, contact Steve from the Green Papaya Sangha here

Dates:

Nov 30th :- Meet Chiang Mai for lunch at a venue to be announced. Take minivans to the retreat. Arrive about 3pm

• Evening of 30th November – start the retreat after settling in.
• Retreat will be fairly relaxed (not a boot camp) with early morning group sitting/walking meditation. Some Tai Chi/Chi kong for mindful movement, and some free time in the afternoon to absorb the Mountain air.
• Every evening will be a general meeting, meditation and Dhamma talk.
• December 9th we will break noble silence, and have a BBQ Banquet. Return to Chiang Mai for about 4pm.

~We will serve vegetarian food throughout, with an emphasis on fresh fruit and veg.

~Participants must attend the full retreat – mainly because there is no transport up/down the remote mountain other than by the minivans we organise.

~Interviews with the teachers will be available on request.

~The meditation style will be Vipassana based on breathing and mindfulness, with a strong emphasis on Metta (loving kindness) meditation. You are also free to follow your own meditation method if you wish. All yogis will be asked to observe noble silence (not talking) for the majority of the retreat, and meeting/meditating together at the set times is stipulated. There will therefore be group meditation time, and also time to meditate alone.

Costing

This Mountain Retreat is too perfect not to use. We are not paying for the venue, however we will be paying quite a few members of staff up there, and a kitchen manager. Also is the cost of the teachers …. Honestly there is no way to guess how much the whole thing will cost in the end. So please understand!

We are not out to make a profit, and if there are lots of funds left over (unlikely!) we’ll be glad to reimburse, or use them as offerings to the teachers or other good cause. It could also be that we are short of funds by the end! We will have to see how it goes. Note that a single trip up/down the mountain in the 4w drive costs 500 baht in fuel alone, so we can’t really cater to special dietary needs, nor accept people who are not attending the retreat in full.

Steven Smith

Steven co-founded Vipassana Hawai’i in 1984 and in 1995 founded the MettaDana Project for educational and medical projects in Burma. Also in 1995 Steven helped establish the Kyaswa Valley Retreat Center in Burma, headed by Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Abbot of Kyaswa Monastery. This partnership helped usher in the beginnings of Vipassana Hawai’i’s Fusion Dhamma approach combining traditional and contemporary teaching styles in the same retreat. Anchored in the Theravadan Buddhist Burmese lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw since 1974, he was trained and sanctioned as a teacher by revered monk and meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita. Steven divides his time teaching Vipassana and the Divine Abodes (loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity) meditation retreats around the world, and assisting Burmese refugee communities along the Thai-Burma border. His long term vision for preserving the Dhamma is culminating in the beginnings of the Hawai’i Insight Meditation Center (HIMC) on the Big Island of Hawai’i’s remote North Kohala coast.

He has done a number of talks for us and our Green Papaya siblings in Chiang Mai, and we have loved his personal and compassionate approach to Dhamma.

Mae Chee Brigitte

Many of us know and appreciate Mae Chee – she is a wonderful meditation teacher, with a dedicated following.

Click here to link to her website, which includes the touching story of how she came to ordain.

Mae Chee is a well known meditation teacher, based mostly in Thailand. She is Austrian, and speaks fluent German, English and Thai. Her easy instructions and encouragement to meditate have inspired many people to commit to a meditation practise.  She is now based at a temple out past the Suvanabhumi Airport where visitors are welcome to stay (click the image to link to her website). However, due to popular demand she is very often away from the temple teaching meditation at different places, especially around Thailand and Europe.

Pandit Bhikkhu

Organiser behind the Little Bangkok Sangha, will be pitching in to help as needed. British-born Bhikkhu of 15 years, and the speaker behind the annual Rainy Season Dhamma Talks, and student of Buddhism, psychology, and Faerie tales. During the retreat we will be spicing things up with a detailed rendition and breakdown of a Faerie Tale – one that includes lots of beautifully expressed Dhamma.

He also lost weight since the picture to the left was taken!

(That is what Phra Pandit says and we must believe him because he is a monk.)

Steve of the Green Papaya has yet to see the venue so can add no further details but it promises to be a wonderful winter retreat!

 

‘The Cost of Illusion’ 

New Life Retreat with Bikkhuni Zamba Chozom 26 – 30 October 2011

New Life’s retreat with Ani Zamba in August was a huge success, and many people have expressed their interest in a second retreat. She is a brilliant teacher indeed, and the tools and insights she hands us have such strong transformative power.

Needless to say that we are honored that she will pay New Life another visit in October. The retreat will last 1 evening and 4 days, and is open to those who attended her first retreat as well as newbies. ‘The Cost of Illusion’ will be the theme for the retreat; Ani will teach about the components of our ego and how gradually the idea of the “self” is created. There will be a lot of time to practice as well, since without practice there is no ground to understand the path.

For those who don’t know Ani yet: Ven. Bikkkuni Ani Zamba Chozom has numerous centers and groups around the world where she has been teaching for the past 37 years. She had the opportunity to study under some of the greatest meditation masters of the last century not only from the Tibetan but also Thai, Burmese, Korean and Chinese traditions of Buddhism. 
Her approach is very scientific, dynamic and interactive but not particularly religious, as she focuses on our “perception” and how it works to condition our experience of life. She explains, “If we understand why we see things in certain ways, we’ll understand how we can change our experience of life-we can be our own psychotherapist healing all our neurotic tendencies and so removing the conditions that result in our dissatisfaction, confusion and suffering.”


Retreatants have a single room each, with shower, bed, sheets, towel and fan. Please notify New Life in advance if you would like a double room. Vegetarian meals are served 3 times a day and fruit, tea and coffee will be available all day long. The retreat will include teachings, guided meditation practice and yoga with an experienced teacher. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the swimming pool and our herbal steam bath. The price for the retreat is 3,000 THB. Please help spread the word and bring some friends.

The retreat will take place at the New Life Foundation, an international mindful recovery community located in Chiang Rai province, Northern Thailand. New Life aims to provide a unique learning environment based on mindfulness and sustainable living, where residents can learn to nurture and maintain their recovery. Alongside it daily activities New Life also organize retreats open to everyone interested in mindfulness practice.

If you are interested in the retreat please contact New Life at info@newlifethaifoundation.com

You can find more info about the retreat on New Life’s website: http://www.newlifethaifoundation.com/eng/retreats.php

Find New Life on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Life-Foundation/123378871013634

Empty appearances on an empty screen!

Retreat schedule: