Sangha Retreat - Review by Rianne, a volunteer at Dechen Chöling

After some weeks of calmness it seemed as though a bomb had exploded in Dechen Chöling. On Sunday the 8^th of May over a hundred fifty people arrived for the Sangha retreat. Young, old, beginners and advanced students came from all over the world to witness this big event. Before the programme started we had put a lot of effort into making this place ready. And thankfully all our hard work paid off. After asking some participants how they felt about arriving here I couldn’t help but notice that everyone felt happy to be here and very welcome. I reckon handing out those chocolate cookies at arrival is something we should keep in mind. It seems to work their magic on tired people who have traveled all day!

Having all those people around had an amazingly uplifting effect on the energy of this place! It seemed as though we have accomplished the impossible. We had to work at least three times as hard to keep everything running smoothly, but looking back I feel we did an outstanding job! I couldn’t be more delighted to be part of this community. Thanks to the entire staff and all the participants whom did a great job on their work assignments we managed to turn this event into a great success.

On my day off I decided to blend in with the retreaters and see what it was like in the big tent. We started at 7 o clock in the morning, and spend the entire morning in silence until after lunch. It was their first period of silence and I could see how some people were struggling. How hard they were trying to sit still, and practice. But they were hanging in there! And they had installed a solid container to keep them uplifted. It was truly humbling to witness this.

As the Sakyong’s arrival was approaching people got more and more excited and we were exploring all avenues to make sure that all the staff members could at least go to one of his talks. I for some reason hit the jackpot and got to go to all of his talks! Like most of the participants I had never met the Sakyong before. That way I got completely absorbed in their excitement and got to share this experience with them.

During the last three days of the retreat the Sakyong gave three talks about basic goodness, and being kind and brave. Instead of talking for hours he did some practices with us, to get in touch with our bodies and our feelings. But most importantly for us to feel we are basically good. By approaching the teachings in this way he managed to reach all students without throwing beginners into the deep, yet, still keeping it interesting for the “older” students. And to be quite fair: you can never hear “you are basically good” enough. (Don’t even try to deny that!)

After receiving a blessing, enjoying a delicious meal and giving the last Sunday evening some serious Saturday Night Fever, people packed their bags and made their way back home. With nothing left but a bundle of experiences worth a trip going down on memory lane.

By Rianne Pelleboer, volunteer from the Netherlands at Dechen Chöling (on the left of the picture above); Photos by ka.

"How simple life can be, if I just let it"

Many participants from Dechen Chöling's Sangha Retreat last week share here their experiences with us. Thank you so much for that!

“In this retreat I dared once more to leap into the arms of the teachings, the sangha and the Sakyong. A wonderful landing place. My heart and my mind are filled with courage and confidence, to take a fresh leap into the world.” Gaby Pongracz from Vienna, Austria.

“In this week I reconnected with my heart and my strength. I feel confident to face the challenges of my life now.” Friederike from Cologne, Germany.

“I am feeling in touch with my human nature, which feels basically good and vulnerable. I bow for the courage of all participants. By the way, we had lots of great laughs. Love and Respect,” Dennis from Holland.

“Discovering basic goodness as something personal I can connect with, has been an opening of my heart. Meeting the bigger sangha of Shambhala in a practice situation, manifesting as best as we can an idea about an enlightened society: This has been a deeply moving experience to me. Somewhat showing that it is possible to manifest or live these principles. We breathe the same air while meditating. We work with our individual minds. We try to open up our minds and hearts. For some reason this creates a deep feeling of community. I experienced a strong feeling of community being in this retreat.” Christian Stenberg from Copenhagen, Denmark

"How simple life can be, if I just let it. This was one of the many insights AND experiences during this sangha retreat.” Bart Landstra from Leiden, the Netherlands.

"What role can I play in society?"

 "The Sangha Retreat offers the opportunity to spend a week together with an amazingly diverse group of people - in terms of nationality, culture, spiritual background, age, careers - in order to contemplate and practice dealing with some important questions: What is a decent life? How can we relate to each other? What role can I play in society? So: a wonderful experience." Shared by a participant at Sangha Retreat, a one week meditation retreat. We have about 200 people participating in this retreat, coming from 19 different countries.

Cultivating gentleness

Barbara Märtens at Sangha Retreat "Being brave, transforming our world":

“I think if we want to understand friendliness, kindness and why this is the core of our being, we also have to understand the pain and the fear and the suffering, and the function of it in our being. In moments of pain we very often open up if we lose our set system of concepts and ideas about who and what we are. In those moments we are connected with the openness of our heart, with the uncontrollableness of our human situation that we always want to avoid. Friendliness is not to be separated from this pain, this fear, this part where our existence feels like a burden, a threat or something we want to escape from. If we touch into this part we automatically connect with our inherent gentleness.“

Barbara Märtens is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. Sangha Retreat is a one week meditation programme.

Talk on "Being Brave: Transforming our World" by Adam Lobel

Excerpts from Adam Lobel’s talk, May 9 – Introductory to Sangha Retreat “Being Brave: Transforming our World”, a one-week meditation reteat at Dechen Chöling.

“What is more natural – the beautiful strong magnificent oak tree or a modern city with highways, buildings and people busying around with headphones plugged into their ears? Or, look at the routine of our busy lives and that of a toad? What is more natural? Many of us would say, it’s the oak tree and the toad’s life. The simple point I want to make here, is that there is an invisible background understanding that we as human beings are fundamentally unnatural, problematic, confused, maybe even aggressive and violent. How have we come to understand ourselves in this way? How do we experience ourselves in the midst of society, feeling unnatural? There is something sad about this experience. Many of us thrive on this feeling.

In the Shambhala tradition Human society is considered basically good, natural – just as an oak tree or a toad. We as human beings have a right to be on this planet, there is goodness and dignity about being human and part of nature. So, it needs a shift in experience – being as simple, good and natural as an oak tree. In the midst of our ordinary experience there is this sense of wakefulness always available. It is completely basic and ordinary. And therefore we miss it. But we do all experience it, in moments of freshness, appreciation, silence and stillness. Within the speed of our lives, it’s difficult to rest with what we call basic goodness. Many of us don’t experience this natural being. In part that’s because of the simplicity and ordinariness, there is something very boring about sanity – compared to all kind of madnesses and horror news on TV.

There is so much incredible goodness happening on this earth every day and minute, there is so much of what people have let go of in favor of others, so much kindness, we wouldn’t believe it. Just think of the countless ways of someone caring for someone else, or just people preparing good food for each other. We can’t forget that.

Every consideration of transforming our world has to do with our own state of being, our heart and emotions and how we live our everyday life. Cultivating our own goodness, connection, opening up and wisdom is inseparable from shifting modern society.”

Adam Lobel invited all participants to touch and taste their own basic human goodness.

Working day & a cake to die for

“Only 17 days left until the Sangha Retreat! In order to make sure that Dechen Chöling is completely ready for the spring/summer programmes we decided to call the “community work afternoon” into being. From 14:00 pm to 17:30 everyone leaves the office and works in facilities, household or landscaping to make sure that all visitors find their place in the sun.

After a hard day of work, and a tea break with a cake to die for, we could feast our eyes on a whole different Dechen Chöling. It seemed as though the staff campground and the big dining tent had appeared out of nowhere. It’s amazing to see what a difference it makes if everyone bundles their powers for just one afternoon! And then to think that we did that in only one day.

This afternoon we will help Hans Willie (our “Lord of joy”) to make sure that all tents are equipped with beds and cabinets. So that all visitors can get a good night rest after sitting on their cushions all day. Because, it turns out having sour backs doesn’t make people jump for joy.

The following two weeks we will keep bundling our powers to turn Dechen Chöling into a little piece of paradise. To make sure that every single person can enjoy the splendor of the land of great bliss.“

by Rianne Pelleboer, volunteer from the Netherlands