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30th Mar 2007 - 1st Apr 2007
Channel Course: Hook of Holland
A surprise meeting with a fella with an unpronouncable name that sounded like "Merangue" at KIBI led me to booking myself on this here course. The idea was for a weekend of teachings from Klaus from Germany (can`t remember his surname, but I know it wasn`t Wunderlich) and a chap called Steve Davis from the U.K., who later turned out to be Dafydd Morriss in disguise. Klaus and Dafydd are both travelling teachers, authorised to talk on Buddhism by Lama Ole Nydahl, our main teacher.
There was a good showing from the U.K. sangha, coming by trains, planes and automobiles from London, Reading and Brighton. I managed to scrounge a lift with Cristina from the London centre; it took us a fairly entertaining 10 hours via the Dover - Dunkirk ferry to get to the Hook of Holland.
We arrived in the middle of Klaus`s first lecture wherein he reminded us that all beings inherently have Buddha nature (Tathagatagharba) - even Germans. Lecture over, we were left to socialise with the Belgians and Dutch that had arrived earlier and greet those that continued to arrive until late into the night (Goska). Some even headed for a midnight dip in the North Sea.
On saturday morning the Belgian sangha had prepared breakfast; why the Belgians? Easy: waffles! This was followed by a meditation session that lasted for around 3 hours, with everybody doing their own practice. The prostrators managed to raise more than a few eyebrows from those innocent passers-by who decided to look in through the curtainless windows. This was followed by a wonderful Dutch lunch cooked by Ellen from Utrecht and others.
According to the timetable it was now time for a lecture from the mysterious Steve Davis. Some of us English were fairly surprised to learn that the famous "boring" snooker player had become a buddhist, but it turned out to be a wonderfully creative planning mix-up. Dafydd talked and answered questions in his usual easy but precise style.
For the next hour or so some of us from the U.K. helped to prepare the English dinner for the evening. Some of us chopped carrots (about 111,111 of them) whilst Cristina took care of the sausages and we were all ordered around and generally bossed about by Goska.
As the tables were being prepared, we tuned in to the live streaming from Lama Ole Nydahl`s lecture in Copenhagen. Instead of the usual jokes and friendly style, we were all taken aback by Lama Ole`s announcement that his wife Hannah was critically ill and that he should be with her. He asked that if we had the time we should meditate on the Buddha of Limitless Light (Amitabha), the preparatory practice for Conscious Dying (Phowa). Everybody stood shocked, sad but completely inspired as Lama Ole even took the time to begin the meditation, explaining the four basic thoughts of buddhist practice. Needless to say, the tables were cleared, the dinner put on hold and the meditation began. This was around 7pm and continued until around 2am sunday morning when the word was passed around that Hannah had died. By this time there was no sign of tears: beers and bottles of wine were opened as we celebrated the life of someone who truly lived the Buddha`s teachings. For me, all of the above events of that saturday night were continuing evidence of the style and nobility of our Diamond Way methods.
As the last drinks were sunk at around 6am, there were far fewer around for meditation on the sunday morning. However Klaus began his lecture early so that the U.K. sangha could be included, as we all had long journeys ahead of us.
Somehow the weekend was a strange success; a very profound experience for all of those involved. A positive outlook and a laugh never seemed inappropriate.
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Diary Photos
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Refuge |
| Though not in flowers, obviously |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Look at this lads! |
| Peter shows off....? |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Channel retreatees |
| We mixed socially. |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| "Welcome to the Brighton Buddhist Centre!" |
| Peter displaying compassion and wisdom. |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Look at this Ingrid! |
| Peter shows off part 2 |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Hania and Paulina |
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| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| The Morriss Band |
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| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Goskini, photographer extraordinaire |
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| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Work |
| Jeroen and Mireille from Rotterdam with Dafydd. |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Aga Do Do Do |
| Travelling teacher Dafydd Morriss lectures on dance moves of the '80's |
| 31st Mar 2007 |
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| Bodhisattva Activity |
| (Crissie is vegetarian!) |
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