OPENING THE LOVING HEART

a One Week Retreat on
Self Acceptance and Loving Kindness
with Venerable Ngawang Pende

INTRODUCTION TALK

on Friday 19 November 2004 at 8:00 pm
in the Community Center Lounge
of the Findhorn Foundation

Entry by donation.
Everyone welcome!

RETREAT DATES

20-26 November 2004
in the Community Centre Lounge

During this week we will use traditional Buddhist meditations to open the loving energy in our hearts. These techniques can be used by everyone, independent of their believes and backgrounds. There will be a general introduction into meditation. The retreat is suitable for beginners.

The Buddhist teachings start off the practice of loving kindness by focusing first upon ourselves. The Buddha declared: "Whoever loves himself or herself will never harm another". The capacity of listening to others depends on the capacity to listen to oneself. Only when we learn to listen to our needs and our suffering then we are able to learn to accept our self. We want to go home but sometimes we are afraid to go home because we can touch a pain, a fear inside of us. We have to learn to go home with loving kindness.
      
When we look deeply into our hearts we recognise that the very nature of consciousness itself is a wellspring of loving kindness. It is said that the very quality of the Buddha nature is that of inexhaustible love, and it is already there. In other words, you don't need to get it from anybody else: not from a religion, not from a teacher. It is there already, but it does get obscured. So if this is a birthright, a capacity we bring into this life, then instead of emphasising how to cultivate this wonderful quality of mind, we can shift our mindset to ask how to stop doing what we are doing to obscure it.

Venerable Ngawang Pende has been a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 7 years. For more than 20 years he's been studying and practising techniques for transforming the mind and finding true happiness in life. He is a student of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and is the director of Nalanda Monastery in the South of France.

It is not necessary to commit for the whole week and it is possible to attend part of the sessions. Each evening there will be an explanation of the following day. All people who want to attend some of the sessions during the retreat are invited to come to the introduction on Friday evening and the teachings on Saturday for the whole day. We will keep silence during the morning until lunch.

Those people who commit for the whole week are asked to come to all the sessions, so that we can support each other and develop a strong group energy. This includes a first session before breakfast. We will use guest accommodation at the Park.

COST
FF Co-workers: free, food via meal tickets
NFA/NFD/College/LCG/SEVA: £75 per week or £12 per day,
All others: £95 a week or £15 per day,
Food and accommodation: £90 per week

BOOKINGS
please contact Margo van Greta in the S+PD department
of the Findhorn Foundation. E-mail: margo@findhorn.org Tel.01309-692129
or leave a note in the General Office of the Findhorn Foundation

PAYMENT
please make cheques payable to "The Findhorn Foundation".
Education credits as part payment are possible. Bursaries are available.