The annual spring visit of Acharya Moh Hardin and Sangyum Cynde Grieve to our centre began on Friday evening May 11th with a public talk and signing of Acharya Hardin’s A Little Book of Love. Over thirty people attended and the books, which had been kindly supplied by Westminster Books, sold out!

On Saturday Acharya Hardin presented a workshop in which we practiced some of the techniques from A Little Book of Love for opening our hearts and connecting with our world. Sunday’s program centred on Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s recent teachings on Basic Goodness and Enlightened Society.

During the weekend Acharya Hardin also acted as preceptor at two vow ceremonies, as sangha members took Bodhisattva and Refuge vows.

Participant Lorna Drew summed it all up in this song, sung to the tune of Cruising down the River, which she offered at the closing reception.

Cruising down the river
To an island in the flow
Guided by the wisdom mind
Of Acharya Moh,

Curious and wakeful
Opening at last
Sailing in the love boat
With Moh Hardin at the mast.

Is this world real or is it not?
Perceptions are unclear
Is that a snake? Nope, it’s a rope –
So put away your fear!

Minds and bodies merging
And a clear blue sky above –
Cruising down the river
With the Little Book of Love.

Sangha members gathered at the Fredericton Shambhala Centre on the evening of Shambhala Day, February 22 2012, to celebrate the beginning of the Male Water Dragon year. The evening began with a lhasang and a period of sitting practice before the viewing of the Sakyong’s recorded talk, which had been given in Halifax the same afternoon. The talk was followed by a ceremony in which the incoming and outgoing Centre Directors took vows under the preceptorship of Craig Schneider. After the traditional throwing of the I Ching, the attendees enjoyed a celebratory reception.

A transcript of the Sakyong’s talk is available here. The Sakyong Wangmo also spoke, and the transcript of her talk is here.

To view the Iron Hare Year in Review video, including glimpses of the Being Brave retreat and Kalapa Governance Gatherings, as well as fascinating footage from two new films about Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the Sakyong, click here.

This article is based on a message to the Fredericton sangha from Council member Craig Schneider.

After an amazing six years of energetic and dedicated service to our community, Dan Keating has decided to move on from the position of Director of the Fredericton Shambhala Centre. We owe Dan a deep debt of gratitude for his service. He has brought a sense of inclusiveness, gentleness and spaciousness to his activities. He is a true Shambhala Warrior. Dan, however, won’t be going far. He has agreed to remain on Council.

Stepping into the role of Director is David Seabrook. The Fredericton Centre Council nominated Dave and the appointment was recently confirmed by the Sakyong’s office.

Dave has been a member of the Fredericton Shambhala Centre for over ten years. He has been a Shambhala Guide for several years now and in 2010 attended Warrior Assembly at Karme Choling in Vermont. In December 2011 Dave also completed Assistant Director training in Halifax, and immediately stepped into the role of Assistant Director for our recent Shambhala Training Level Three.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Dan for the time and effort he’s given our Centre. His generosity has benefited me personally over the years and his open leadership at Council in the role of Director is an example I will strive to approach,” says incoming Director Seabrook.

Dave, who is the City’s tourism manager in his professional life, enjoys traveling and has been fortunate enough to visit many Shambhala Centres around the world.

“As we work with the needs of our growing and dynamic Sangha here in Fredericton, I hope we draw on some of the best practices, pun intended, at other centres.”

“The next few years will be exciting for us. We’re bursting at the seams a bit and the Sakyong is challenging us all to do everything we can to further the Shambhala vision for the benefit of others. I look forward to being a part of it myself and hope to engage as many members as possible. There’s lots to do!” adds Dave.

During our Shambhala Day festivities on February 22nd, the whole community will have the opportunity to join in, participate and celebrate together as we thank Dan for his years of devoted service and welcome Dave to his new role.

The weekend of January 13 to 15 was the occasion of a delightful Shambhala Training Level Three in Fredericton. The twelve participants were taught and inspired by Director Craig Schneider and Assistant Director David Seabrook – in his first Level as an AD – while being supported by a seasoned staff ably led by first-time coordinator Steve Godkin. At the Sunday afternoon celebration, Lorna Drew led us in a new Shambhala song, which arose… during the gaps … on the weekend. It was sung – spiritedly – to the tune of “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet”.

It’s time for celebrating
The whole world is waiting
For the warriors of Level Three
Look at our potential
We’re self-referential
We’re as dauntless as can be.

So there is no Buddha
Hey, what’s it to ya,
Our compassion is our guide.
Even though we’re groundless
Spaciousness surrounds us
We’re just moving with the tide.

Nothing formal
Our blood pressure is normal
The Shambhala banner is unfurled
In our calm abiding
There is no more hiding
Here we come so look out world!

The participants in the Contentment in Everyday Life course composed this spontaneous group poem, or Doha, at the celebration following the final class in December 2011.

Friendliness allows the space of Nowness
Being amongst others has taught me of Nowness
Contentment comes from gentleness
Riding the energy with spaciousness
Now seems like a good time
Now is a good time
Connecting with others in this moment
Sound of rain makes me feel peaceful
Friendship is like good wine the longer & sweeter it gets the better it is
Write, write, write how to keep up with content
I say complicated words for something simple
Silence is okay
Everything is impermanent
This makes me want to practice my lines ahead of time
Quietly content.

Dear Sangha,

The Centre director, David Seabrook, has asked me to write a few lines of explanation regarding our new teacher’s chair.

As you enter our shrine room, you will see the chair, placed to the right of the shrine, to be used for teachings by Shambhala teachers.

As many of you have already experienced, within Shambhala we are working with a lot of forms: the shrine room itself, the colors, the shrine, the meditation cushions and the way they are placed, and of course the way we place our body on the cushion. All these forms are meant to wake us up to our inherent potential of Basic Goodness.

The teacher’s chair is another of these forms to wake us up. For years now we used an old kitchen chair, which worked, but just as in our practice, there is always opportunity to sharpen up further, and go to deeper and finer levels. Since the Shambhala teacher represents the Sakyong and the lineage, and has to present the teachings – which are compared to very precious jewels – it is of great importance that he or she takes his or her seat. With this more uplifted and elegant chair, this situation is helped tremendously and it’s not so easy to slouch or fall asleep.

As an aspiration, I hope that many more teachers will visit our Centre and take their seat.

Thanks to all of you who donated to this project – may there be lots of merit for you!

Yours in the vision of creating an enlightened society,

Shastri Veit Weber

Did you know that every Tuesday evening the Fredericton Shambhala Centre is the site of a weekly two hour Zen sitting?

“Our small group is very grateful to the folks at the Fredericton Shambhala Centre for allowing us to use their lovely Shrine Room for our weekly zazen practice” said Rick McDaniel. “Zen may be hard to define but basically it is paying attention to our lives as they unfold in this moment and the mindful, nonjudgmental perception of this process is the action of our true, original self, which exists before thinking, opinions, and beliefs arise.”

Zen Buddhism is an ancient tradition that has its origins with the teachings of Buddha. A story is told that he was asked to give a talk to a number of people. Instead of speaking, he held up a flower. Tradition tells us that this was the beginning of Zen. The simplicity, directness, practicality, compassion and peace of this little story convey the spirit of Zen.

The Zen group in Fredericton is affiliated with the Montreal Zen Center. The weekly zazen practice takes place at the Fredericton Shambhala Centre every Tuesday evening at 7PM. The format includes three rounds of 30 minute sitting meditations with a ten minute walking meditation after each of the first two rounds. Anyone interested in participating in the weekly zazen practice is welcomed to attend.

Rick McDaniel is currently writing a series of three books. The first, titled “The Zen Masters of China”, will be released by Tuttle Publishing in October of 2012. It will be followed by “The Zen Masters of Japan,” and “The Zen Masters of North America.”

Story contributed by Wade Wilson. Photograph of Rick McDaniel by Geoffrey Gammon

The Fredericton Shambhala Centre hosts a full schedule of programs every year, including Shambhala Training Weekends, Way of Shambhala Courses, and other programs including Acharya Moh Hardin’s annual teaching visit. For all these programs, dedicated sangha members volunteer to coordinate and staff the weekends, clean the centre, shop for and prepare food, host visiting directors and participants, and generally help out in many other ways.

The overall planning and organization of this busy schedule is the responsibility of the Centre’s Education Committee, which was formed in the Spring of 2011. While the members work together as a team to set the schedule and to support each other, each has specific responsibilities.

The Shambhala Training Coordinator is responsible for background planning of the Shambhala Training Level weekends. This includes recruiting a weekend coordinator and staff, arranging for out-of-town Directors’ billeting and other needs, and communicating with potential participants, among many other tasks. The Shambhala Training Coordinator is Laurel Lewey.

The Way of Shambhala Coordinator is responsible for the courses in the new Way of Shambhala Curriculum, such as Contentment in Everyday Life, Joy in Everyday Life, etc. These courses have varied schedules and are sometimes offered online, sometimes with one or two local teachers. The WoS Coordinator is Jean Ahlgren. So far Jean has usually acted as program coordinator as well, but we plan to recruit and train new coordinators for future “Everyday Life” courses.

The Registrar keeps records of all programs, including participants and income and expenses, as well as maintaining the committee’s policies and guidelines. The Registrar also helps out with coordination of “other” programs, such as Acharya Hardin’s annual visit. This role is currently held by Frances Giberson.

The committee is chaired by the Director of Practice and Education, Eric Aubanel, who is also responsible for recruiting directors and assistant directors for all the programs.

Lorna Drew wrote this poem at the Sangha Retreat in Halifax in August.

Heartless

Today I gave away my heart.
It is an old heart
But it worked just fine
And I was fond of it.

I gave it to the Sakyong,
And to Adam,
And to Pema.

At the start
I didn’t even know if they wanted it
But the shrine was full of hearts
So I offered mine.

Long ago, I was taught
That the heart
Was a hollow, muscular organ,
About the size of a fist.
But the hearts on the shrine
Don’t look like fists
They look like roses.
Open
Shining.

These photographs show a glimpse of the shrine “full of hearts”.

Recently Fredericton Sangha member Mark Curtis shared these thoughts on how he has benefited from learning and practicing meditation.

“Meditation is helping me in profound ways to manage my combat related mental health problems. I would argue that working with Buddhists has been far more effective treatment than any of the conventionally available treatments I have been offered in the past. More than that I am exploring a philosophy of life that helps me to think about life in new ways. The type of meditation I have been introduced to is called calm abiding. This is a process of sitting where the focus is on the breath and relaxing the body, allowing the mind to drift from time to time as it does but gently bringing the focus back to the breath. Teaching is always conducted with what the instructors call gentle kindness. This type of meditation can be practiced by very disabled veterans like myself. I have a 100% disability assessment by the Veterans Agency. I meditate sitting in a chair with my hands resting on my knees. The process helps in the management of pain by what is called breathing through the pain. This helps to manage discomfort and pain without drugs, helping to reduce the use of painkillers. I have learned to use meditation to bring myself into a calmer state at least for a while. It requires some time, training, support and encouragement, commitment and hard work but it can be done.

It should be noted that Buddhists have been developing meditation practices for almost 2500 years. They have developed a whole range of techniques to help develop inner peace, wisdom and awareness in practitioners. I find the conversations I have with Buddhist meditation instructors helps me to reduce my anger and increase inner peace. They have given me what I describe as profound insights into my thinking. One example of this is the management of my anger. For many years I had asked myself and those around me how to deal with the anger of injustice from which I suffer. Many people told me they don’t know, or use alcohol or stiff upper lip etc. However when I discussed the matter with a Buddhist meditation instructor he told me I was lucky because the pain I carry can help me to understand other people’s pain and help me to become a more compassionate and beautiful person. The burden of injustice is still there but the way I feel about that burden has changed in me. I now realise I have a way of tapping into compassion because of my burdens. This gives me hope of becoming a more beautiful and understanding person. These changes in perception help me to feel more positive about myself.

I would strongly encourage other traumatised and disabled veterans to explore the possibilities of Buddhist meditation practices.”

We are grateful to Mark for telling his story and for his encouragement of others.