October 2011 retreat
Retreats and workshops with Tarchin Hearn and Leander Kane
Tarchin Hearn and Leander Kane, two inspiring teachers from our tradition, have both accepted Open Path’s invitation to return to Shoreham this year. Leander will be conducting a weekend workshop on the Labour Day weekend in March and Tarchin will be arriving in early May to conduct a 9 day retreat together with some evening teaching in Melbourne. Both Leander and Tarchin will be teaching from 21 Marine Parade, Shoreham.
Leander Kane - Liberation Through the Body
weekend workshop Saturday/Sunday/Monday 10/11/12th March
10.00 am – 12.00 pm and 2.00 – 4.00 pm each day
Cost: by way of dana
This is a simple and direct way of awakening to the present moment.
All of our past experiences are stored in the body becoming our habitual patterns. Through gentle movement explorations we can release these patterns and open to our true strength and naturalness.
An interesting and amazing transformation can take place which often surprises.
Learning to recognise the wholesome qualities of mind that come forth from exploring in this way and resting in them deepens insight into the nature of mind.
We become an embodiment of the present moment. A new found confidence emerges and continues to grow as we bring this empowering way of working into our lives.
Registration is essential – please email or ring Kathryn.
You are encouraged to attend all 3 days, but if that is not a reality for you, then come for as long as you are able.
Participants will need to arrange their own accommodation nearby. If you let Kathryn know sufficiently early, she may be able to help with finding a suitable place.
Please bring:
- If you wish to stay at the teaching space for the lunch break – your own lunch or lunch to share with others. You will be encouraged to keep socialising to a minimum and to rest or take a walk along the beach.
- A blanket, rug or thin mat to lie on during the session
- Cash for dana for Leander
Tarchin Hearn
9-day retreat, Saturday 5th May to Sunday 13th May
Deep Love and a Passion for Understanding: the natural way to meditate
A retreat for investigating the world within and around us – just as it is
Each of us is a unique expression of life unfolding – from womb to tomb. We are symbiotic communities of being and becoming; interminglings of families, neighbours, strangers and adversaries, along with countless other species and beings. Our bodies and minds are rivers of evolving life, landscapes of responsive communion. Waking up to all of this, what could it mean to be fully human? How can we encourage a path that is open, spacious and loving; able to engage and embrace all that arises on this miraculous journey?
There are many wonderful traditions and practices of meditation. During this retreat, Tarchin will journey with us into the heart of meditation and mindfulness; weaving together classical buddhist teaching, science, ecology and the mystery of sustainable living. We will explore a form of practice that grows out of the rhythms of relating that you are, a kind of formless practice, though not without structure. In a natural way to meditate, posture and schedules are of little relevance. Instead, we will encourage a flow of caring enquiry that opens our bodies and minds into a place of understanding and experience that is immensely inclusive; rich with reverence and awe for this world in all its abundance.
The retreat will take place in Shoreham, Victoria, using tidal flats, reef, beach and coastal forest as our temple and classroom. Daily teaching sessions will blend with opportunities for practice amidst the natural beauty of the environment. During the week Tarchin will encourage participants to carry their contemplative explorations to and from class, in their formal sessions of meditation and practice, in the ongoing daily activities of beach and bush walks, cooking and looking after living arrangements.
This retreat will be a marvelous opportunity to seamlessly merge classical dharma practice and compassion filled mindfulness in the course of daily life activities; profundity in the midst of ordinariness – a true living of dharma.
Tarchin has studied and practiced in various schools of Buddhism for more than 40 years and has taught extensively in many countries. With such a wealth of life experience he is regarded as an elder in the tradition of innovative Buddhadharma. Tarchin lives in New Zealand with his partner Mary Jenkins. For more information about Tarchin see www.greendharmatreasury.org
Participants will need to arrange their own accommodation nearby and look after their meals. Possibilities include tenting, caravans and renting local homes. If you would like Kathryn to help you find accommodation please let her know – there may be possibilities of sharing with others.
Cost and times to be announced.
It is possible to attend for the first weekend only or for as many days thereafter as possible.
Registration is essential – please register as early as you are able.
Report on 2011
In February 2011, Tarchin Hearn and Leander Kane presented, separately, two wonderful weekend courses at Shoreham to inaugurate the new Open Path teaching space. During Tarchin’s weekend, he presented the Tibetan Buddhist teaching on Chenrezi, the Buddha of Compassion, in a rich and moving blessing ceremony to both students attending the course and local neighbours.
In October 2011, Open Path hosted a 9-day retreat with Tarchin: ‘Living Dharma, the heart of Buddhist meditation and practice’. Over 24 participants attended for the first weekend, with almost 20 staying for most of the retreat.
The retreat was an experiment regarding the possibilities of the Open Path teaching space at Shoreham. Retreatants looked after their own accommodation and food and attended the Open Path teaching space on a twice daily basis for the morning and afternoon teaching sessions. In past years Open Path has offered retreats, at various dedicated retreat spaces, on a residential basis with food provided and we were unsure whether participants could integrate meditation practice along with everyday tasks. The experiment proved to be very successful. All retreatants organised accommodation for themselves within walking distance of the teaching space. Some camped at the Shoreham foreshore camping area, a truly delightful natural bush camping space overlooking the beach and the sea. Other participants rented and shared holiday houses, and some who lived nearby stayed in their own homes.
During the retreat Tarchin encouraged participants to engage their mindfulness practice formally, sitting on the beach or in other of the myriad natural bush settings nearby, walking to and from class, and in their ongoing activities of cooking and looking after their living arrangements. For some participants this included looking after children or elderly relatives.
Using classical teachings on breathing meditation as a foundation for the retreat (the Buddha’s teaching on Anapanasati), Tarchin seamlessly merged classical dharma practices with deep ecology, and compassion filled mindfulness practice – a truly living dharma. The natural bush and seaside setting of the Open Path teaching space proved to be a deeply supportive environment for the spacious openness and calm at the heart of the practice.
