October 2004

Dear Dharma Friends,

Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter on the events and activities of the Shambala Trust. In the future we are planning to send out a newsletter twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn, interspersed with news flashes to announce courses, special events and visiting teachers.

A lot has happened since we sent out our first newsletter in autumn last year, and I hope you received our little news flash with an overview of recent events and activities which was sent out to you in September. These are the topics of our newsletter today:

Shambala Trust Web Site Expansion
Trust Members meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Building Dorje Naljorma Buddhist and Retreat Centre
Appeal for Help and Support
Ongoing Buddhist Courses and Groups
Upcoming Events and Activities

We hope you will enjoy reading our newsletter and we pray that all our actions and activities will be for the benefit all living beings everywhere.

With best wishes and many prayers,

Thomas Warrior
(chairperson of the Shambala Trust)

Our new web site is becoming more and more beautiful, thanks to the dedicated and skilled work of our web master, Marijke Wilhelmus of Blue Oceans Web Design & Hosting, and Paul Adkinson, who has put in many hours as a volunteer. Many heartfelt appreciations to both of them!

You can now view all our newsletters with beautiful photos on our web site and Marijke is currently working hard to complete a state-of-the-art online shop which will sell a number of items to aid your study and practice on the Buddhist path. It will sell recordings of live teachings, books, statues, tangka paintings, malas, incense, prayer flags and handcrafted merchandise. All profits from Shambala Shop sales will be used to support the projects and activities of the Shambala Trust.

The shop items will have photos which can be enlarged and ordering on-line will be easy and safe thanks to a secure SSL server. Whats more, we've already culculated the shipping cost into the price of each item, so shipping will be absolutely free! Payments can be made by sending us a cheque (drawn on UK banks only) or on-line by debit/credit card via PayPal. We will send out a news flash as soon as the shop is life on our site!

Most of you probably already know that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet visited Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dunfermline in May and June this year and perhaps you even attended some of the events yourself. Trustees Margo van Greta, newly appointed Trustee James Mitchell from Edinburgh, as well as Maris & Thomas Warrior and their 4 year old daughter Iona all participated in most of the events and even had private audiences with His Holiness. In the end we all felt thoroughly blessed, deeply moved and inspired by His Holiness talks, teachings and conduct.

Please read on as we share about the background of His Holiness visit to Scotland and two inspired reports of meeting His Holiness in a private audience.

Background leading up to the meeting with His Holiness

At this point we would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Victor Spence of the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association who initiated a meeting with representatives of the Findhorn Foundation and Community two years ago to discuss proposals for inviting His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Scotland. An invitation for His Holiness to visit and teach at Findhorn was extended at that time but the Dalai Lama's busy schedule as well as the travel distance prevented His visit this year.

Victor went on to form an association with The Edinburgh International Centre for World Spiritualities, the City of Edinburgh Council, Fife Council, The World Peace Prayer Society and the Scotland Tibet Association, and a successful invitation was launched. At the same time the Dharma Network Limited, a non-profit organisation set up to organise conferences and public events on behalf of various Buddhist groups in the UK, successfully invited

His Holiness to give a series of public talks and teachings at the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Glasgow.

An Audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
(by Thomas Warrior and Margo van Greta)

During his visit to Scotland His Holiness gave a public talk and teachings in Glasgow and public talks with question and answer sessions in Edinburgh and Dunfermline, which both included a beautiful Peace Prayer flag ceremony with school children. His Holiness programme was something for everyone, regardless of anyone's familiarity with Buddhism.

Part of His Holiness schedule in Edinburgh was a private meeting with MSP's and invited guests at the Holyrood Hotel on Wednesday morning, 2 June. Margo van Greta, head of the Spiritual and Personal Development Department of the Findhorn Foundation and Thomas Warrior, chairperson of the Shambala Trust, were amongst the group of 15 invited guests. The invitation was given in recognition of the excellent work the Findhorn Foundation and the Shambala Trust have been doing over the years in the field of inter-faith dialogue and spiritual inquiry.

We spent about an hour with His Holiness, during which everyone introduced themselves. For this session the Dalai Lama preferred the Western handshake to the traditional Tibetan ritual greeting of offering a white scarf. His attitude was completely relaxed and informal, very friendly, and he was genuinely interested in the people around him. Many questions touching on a wide variety of subjects ranging from politics to meditation were asked.

The Tibetan leader said that there were many parallels between Scotland and Tibet and that Scotland's devolution settlement could prove to be a useful model for a government which would bring peace to Tibet. The Dalai Lama has been the leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile for more than 50 years and is still trying to build negotiations with the People’s Republic of China, seeking an autonomous Tibet which will protect traditions, culture, language and the Buddhist tradition.

His Holiness displayed his great modesty and humility and emphasised that a warm heart and good conduct were more important than differences in religion and belief. "It is very important not to forget the bigger picture, the common interest of the whole. This, I think, is not only now relevant to some individual countries but to the whole world, to think in the global sense.Each country should consider itself to be a member of that whole humanity."

As a religious leader, the Dalai Lama often stresses the importance of keeping the faith of your own country, rather than converting to another religion. When asked about how to pursue an interest in the Buddhist path he answered: "If they want to practise the Dharma, my suggestion is study. First, know before you make a decision. Have the knowledge of what Buddhism is and of the whole structure. It is not just to recite a few prayers. It is not sufficient."

The event ended with a photo session for everyone. This was finally an opportunity to offer the katah (white scarf) and to receive a traditional blessing. Thomas also presented a Tara statue on behalf of the Shambala Trust.

We then handed His Holiness two separate letters with similar content in which we invited him to visit the Findhorn Foundation and Community and Thomas asked His Holiness to be a patron of the Shambala Trust and to offer advise and guidance on how to realise the project for the benefit of all living beings.

We thanked and appreciated him for the teachings, his wisdom and great humour and especially his interest in interfaith dialogue. This provided a graceful link with our community, as we live and work here with many from a variety of religious and spiritual backgrounds, so we hope and pray that His Holiness will bless our community with his presence on his next visit to the UK.

An Unexpected Encounter with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
(by Maris Warrior)

Being aware of all this, I was very excited to hear that Thomas had been invited to attend a private audience with His Holiness. While he was going to the audience, I had planned to take a walk in the nearby area with our daughter Iona.

However, when we entered the lobby of the Holyrood Hotel Thomas introduced us to His Holiness secretary, Tenzin Geyche, who was in charge of the event. He seemed to know exactly who we are and kindly offered Iona and myself to meet the Dalai Lama as well. He asked us to stay in the lobby to wait. The lobby was empty apart from the security guards who were continuously measuring the floor from the entrance to the lifts. I sat down and with every minute passing I felt the excitement growing in my heart. The security guards were friendly, they chatted and played with Iona and instructed her to step forward when His Holiness arrives.

After some time he finally appeared. “This is Iona,” His Holiness secretary introduced, while guiding him towards us. The Dalai Lama was delighted and immediately took Iona's head between his hands and held her for a while. He then blessed me as well and turned towards someone else, but then turned back to Iona once again. “My name is Thubten Dechen,” Iona introduced herself with her Tibetan name. “Very nice, very nice,” said the Dalai Lama who appeared very moved and bowed down to her. He then touched his forehead to hers and talked to her quietly for some time.

Just as he finished I saw Thomas coming down the stairs. His Holiness went outside where he was warmly greeted by a crowd of school children, the press and other onlookers. We followed him and as soon as he noticed Iona again, he took her by the hand and and presented her to the press posing with her for many pictures. Finally His Holiness went to his car and drove away to meet with the Scottish Parliament.

It all happened so fast that at the time I just ‘let everything happen’ around me. Only when the press started to bombard us with questions such as “what did you do here?”, “where do you come from?” and “what did you feel when the Dalai Lama was talking to Iona?” I began to feel that something very special and auspicious just happened. I sat down feeling thoroughly blessed and utterly blissed out. My heart was overflowing with feelings of joy, gratitude and happiness.

His Holiness loves Scotland - and He may be back, soon!

In a debrief meeting some weeks ago, Victor revealed that His Holiness expressed much joy and contentment about his visit to Scotland. Being asked if He would consider to visit Scotland again on a dedicated visit, His Holiness responded positively and another visit may be arranged as early as 2006! Victor said that he would support an invitation for His Holiness to visit the north-east of Scotland on that occasion as well. The Findhorn Foundation and the Shambala Trust will continue to extend joined invitations for His Holiness to visit Findhorn in the future. So, stay tuned and watch this space...

In our previous newsletter we introduced this proposed residential centre, which is to be a place of inter-religious exchange, to serve the needs of the students and practitioners of all Buddhist traditions in the area, as well as the needs of the growing population of the ecological village in this community. In 2002 Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu and firm supporter of the project, suggested Dorje Naljorma Centre for Retreat and Meditation as the name of our building project.

Dorje Naljorma is the Tibetan Name of the popular female Tantric Deity, Vajrayogini, who is a representation of complete Buddhahood in female form.

Preliminary Concept Drawing

Exciting progress has been made over the past months as we succeeded to employ the skills of the renowned local architect David Dittman. David is a passionate supporter of the proposed centre and has donated much of his spare time to produce a preliminary concept drawing of the build in line with our vision.

The drawing shows a rough plan identifying the different areas of the centre and although it doesn't show any details yet, the concept has met with much excitement and approval from the Trustees and other friends and supporters of the project.

The main entrance will lead into a service area which houses the reception area, lounge and library, kitchen and dining area as well as utility rooms and toilets. Walking straight through the reception will lead into a large courtyard garden with a stupa and entrance to the main meditation hall at the far end. The hall has a circumambulation route with large glass walls on the outside.

The upper floor will feature a self-contained flat for visiting teachers and a further consultation and meeting room. Single room accommodation for private retreat and shared guest accommodation - both with en-suite shower rooms - are located to either side of the courtyard garden. A separate apartment to accommodate the resident manager is also featured in the design.

David is now working on an elevation of the build which will help to capture the imagination as to how the centre will actually look like. More detailed floor plans will follow once we have established a site for the centre, which has now become a priority along with efforts to raise funds for the project. We aim to build in a suitable location - preferably within the Findhorn Foundation and community - within the next three years.

Raising 1 Million Pounds to Realise the Dream

For a long time we estimated the building cost of the centre to be around £300,000 but rethinking the project and consulting many community members, architects as well as some of our teachers and guides over the past months reveals a much bigger centre as previously anticipated.

The new design will be able to accommodate up to 25 guests in shared and single accommodation and now incorporates both, a teacher's flat with a second consultation and meeting room, and a flat for a resident manager. David's preliminary drawings now point to an estimated building cost - including garden designs and landscaping - of just under 1 million Pounds.

We strongly feel that the success or failure of raising funds for a project is not so much depending on how much money needs to be raised, but depends much more on the true need and relevance of a project. We hope and pray that the proposed centre is very relevant to fulfilling the needs of the people of this community, the needs of the people living in the north-east of Scotland, as well as the needs of the thousands spiritual seekers that are drawn to this place every year.

We are very confident that we will be able to raise the necessary funds and one of our next steps is to prepare a feasibility study to build a firm foundation for the project in order to attract donors and investors. We are also seeking a consultation process with the people in this community in due course. The purpose of this is to identify people's needs in relation to this project, to hear people's concerns, suggestions, advise and inspirations and - hopefully - attract wide support for the creation of the centre.

To realise all of the Trust's objectives we very much rely on your help and support. It doesn't matter what skills or background you have - everyone has unique gifts to give! So, if you think our work is relevant and beneficial for others, please consider giving us your unique gift! There are many ways of supporting the Trust and its projects and activities:

Become a member of the Shambala Trust

One great way of supporting the Trust while enjoying a number of benefits and discounts at the same time is to become a member of Shambala Trust. For a small yearly fee of £48 (that’s just £4 per month) we offer you the following benefits:

- 10% discount on all our courses and events
- 10% discount on all our merchandise in Shambala Shop
- free use of Shambala Trust Library
- free Dharma book when you join

Sign up now by clicking on this link

Make a Donation to the Trust

We welcome your donations, no matter how big or small. If you would like to make a regular donation please fill in the Banker's Order Form by following this link

If you are a UK tax payer please also fill in the Gift Aid Declaration Form by following this link. This will entitle Shambala Trust to reclaim 28% in tax from the Inland Revenue on every £1 you donate.

Offer us a Loan

One of the most effective ways to support our building project, Dorje
Naljorma Centre for Retreat and Meditation, is to offer us a long term interest free or low interest loan. Please contact us for more details if you can help us in this way.

Become a Volunteer

And last but not least, we always need dedicated volunteers to support the work of the Trust. At present we are looking for a skilled fundraiser, a builder who would like to manage the building of Dorje Naljorma Centre, as well as volunteers to help in the Shambala Trust library. Please contact us if you have skills in these areas and feel drawn to support us. If you have a great fundraising idea please don't hesitate to contact us straight away!

Mindfulness Meditation events in the tradition of the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh:

Mindfulness Meditation, Mondays, 5:15 pm - 6:15 pm in the Park Building Sanctuary. Contact: Chris, Tel. 01309 676001

Mindfulness Morning, every Saturday except the third of the month from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm in the main Park Sanctuary. Please call Chris on 01309 676001 for more details.

Mindfulness Morning/Afternoon, every 3rd Sunday of the month. For more details please contact Carrie Bates, Tel. 01667 404762.

Mindfulness Day, about once every three months. Includes shared lunch. For details please contact Chris, Tel. 01309 676001

Friends of the Western Buddhist Order study and practice group. Mondays from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at NewBold House. Contact: Chris, Tel. 01309 676001

Green Tara Meditation Practice, with Eva Ward. Thursdays from 8:00 - 9:00 pm in the Park Main Sanctuary. This is a traditional practice in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. For more information please contact Eva Ward on Tel. 01309 691142.

Tibetan Buddhist Study and Practice Course, The new autumn term has just started. Wednesdays from 7:30 pm.- 9:30 pm. For more details please contact Thomas Warrior, Tel. 01309 690690

OPENING THE LOVING HEART, a one week Retreat on Self Acceptance and Loving Kindness with Ven. Ngawang Pende.
Introduction talk on Friday 19 November 2004 at 8:00pm in the Community Cenre Lounge of the Findhorn Foundation. Entry by donation. Everyone welcome. Retreat Dates: 20-26 November 2004 in the Community Centre Lounge. Click here for more details or contact Margo of the S&PD department of the Findhorn Foundation on Tel. 01309 692129 or e-mail:margo@findhorn.org

Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s visit. In a joint venture between the Shambala Trust and the Findhorn Foundation we have invited the great Tibetan Buddhist master Lama Zopa Rinpoche to visit and teach in our community. Watch this space for more details in one of our next issues or via our News Flash.

Ven. Robina Courtin’s visit in 2005 . Ven. Robina has visited our community on two occasions before, giving a number of inspiring public talks and leading meditation workshops, and we have invited her again to visit us in 2005. We will contact you with a News Flash as soon as we have more details.

Venerable Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald), has given inspiring teachings in our community last year and we have invited her to return for more! We are currently waiting to hear back from her and will be in touch with a News Flash as soon as we know more.