IMPRESSIONS OF EKUTHULENI
SUMMER 2015
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Noon: under my skin.
Sometimes it feels like there's a slim film, a membrane between what's cooking underneath & what's coming into full awareness. Sometimes the membrane only needs a wee jiggle, it's almost see-through, it's flimsy, thin as bubbles in washin up liquid....
At other moments , it can be more like thick rubber & clear understandings can't come through for a bit more time; like the heavy duty stuff to stop weeds getting through..... I know this... but I don't know how... this inkling that there's change happening always, even before it's fully conscious, & it's there simply as energy if you listen carefully. There's a shifting under the skin, at the cell level , of what we're aware of that's often not nameable...labels slide off...more washing up liquid involved. Suddenly, it can surface, & some clarity appears without having "worked " on some thing that may or may not have been a difficulty. Like we have barnacles on the bottom of our boat, so stuck on ,& with awareness trying to prize them off( tendencies , habits, negativities...) I feel the joy & effort of conscious cooking & that's really all fine in those moments....& also, in others, especially turmoil I can't envisage the ending of, it can be so helpful to tune into the sub-currents of just shifting energies, & trust sitting back into being, then, as meditation happens on its own, sometimes with no problems for "me" to solve...this underneath busyness of electrons or whatever, re-aligning, this knowing bubbling up on its own, loosening without me in the drivers seat,is a rare blessing.... always with us .
'Touching our Roots' with Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni...see more photos
Sanghaseva retreats...see more photos
General photos summer 15..see more photos
Many thanks to Fred leVan for translation of this newsletter. Also to Janna Ferrett, super web mistress for her skill and patience & to Isabelle Mullesch for her translations for the website (soon to be live). To Pete Bailey for his beautiful and generous carpentry work , to Michael, Sumedha`s stepdad for printing our leaflets, and to everyone who has participated at Ekuthuleni this summer...
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'Simplicity of Heart' with Ajahn Candasiri...see more photos
'Wholeness' retreat, June 2015
Sumedha:
More and more I am touched by the sense that if I can let myself be part of nature - made of elements, touched by the senses, a bit more humble and open this lifts both the burden of 'me' (all those stories!) AND makes for a sensitivity, responsiveness, a love for and awe of the earth, fellow beings.
I look at the consumerism today, wars, destruction of the earth and species at a vast rate - and...how much of this is rooted in our self interest, our disconnect from life and the fact we are all part of life's web and flow? Recognising our connectedness can radically alter our behaviour (for example questioning how we treat others, what and how we consume/ buy - even simple things like local or not) and bring us back to saner, more open, more connected presence in ourselves. The radical and yet gentle and sanity making touch in heart and in action of non self.
A thought came over the summer that if I was financially clever, I would be making some product to do with meditation in nature - inflatable cushions, funky compost loos..??!! Then the recognition - how grateful I am to be exploring with others that most radical aspect of the Buddha's teaching - non grasping, sensitive presence, looking at the desire to consume in itself.
If you talk to the animals, they will talk to you.
And you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them, you will not know them
And what you do not know, you will fear.
What one fears, one destroys. (Chief Dan George)
Chanting retreat Sep 2015...see more photos
Check out this link for some African spirit in working meditation!
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