Buddhism and Ecology Workshop

Deer Park Institute organized its second “Buddhism & Ecology” residential participatory workshop on the 2^nd & 3^rd of December, 2009. This workshop was aimed at encouraging the practice of Zero Waste and educating the monasteries & nunneries about the increasing global environmental problems. It also aimed to collaborate with them in solving the problem of plastic waste, with waste segregation as the first step in managing our own waste.

The workshop was attended by a total 16 monks and nuns and 2 lay people. There were 8 participants from Gaden Choeling, Kirti Monastery, Dolmaling Nunnery, Gyuto Monastery and 2 lay representatives from H.H Karmapa Labrang in Dharamsala. We also had 8 participants from DGL Nunnery, Nyingma Monastery and Dzongsar Monastery in and around Bir.

The workshop schedule included games, film screenings, presentations, eco-walk, group and open discussions. The Buddhist philosophy of Four Noble Truths and Interdependence was brought into the activities as a base for understanding the true nature of environmental problems: touching on the suffering, causes, cessation and the path towards the sustainable existence of lives on Earth.

One of the interesting heated discussions we had was about the offering of 'tsog' (ritual food offerings) which has become a source of waste generation because of all the plastic packaged offerings used in pujas. The concept of Zero Waste Puja was introduced to the participants by suggesting various alternatives available. We agreed to collaborate among monasteries and nunneries in taking action towards the solution of waste problems. We hope this workshop will bring some positive changes in the way things have been carried out hitherto.

Wisdom in Healing workshop

Deer Park recently had 35 to 40 people attend the Wisdom in Healing workshop. Participants included 6 students, 3 lecturers and 3 Tibetan doctors from the Tibetan Medical College (Men-Tsee-Khang) in Dharamasala. This was Deer Park’s first attempt to present an introductory workshop on the 3 major healing systems in Asia: Chinese, Tibetan and Ayurveda. The workshop included lectures on the fundamental principles of each system, hands-on demonstration of acupressure based on Chinese acupuncture meridians, Tibetan cupping techniques and Ayurvedic herbal formulas in daily usage.

Participants applauded Deer Park as a suitable and supportive venue for conducting such workshops and expressed enthusiasm for future workshops of this nature.

The workshop ended with a Medicine Buddha prayer chanted by the Tibetan Medical College participants, which filled the room with positive healing energy. May all beings be free of suffering!

Ecology workshop with school children at CST Bir

On Monday 23^rd of November 2009, Deer Park Institute organized an environmental awareness workshop with the school children of CST Bir. The kids were all very young, from 1^st to 4^th Standard. They were all cute, chubby & very noisy! Our aim for this workshop is to introduce to them the growing problem of waste in Bir and waste management as the first step in handling our own waste. Since they were all very small, it was challenging for us to reach them, to deliver the message, to make them understand about the waste problem and also to make them realize their contributions to the problem and how they can personally take responsibility through small actions in changing their habits in a positive way.

We assumed that kids wouldn’t like to have a long and heavy preaching session, hence we designed our workshop in such a way that they would have fun alongside learning something out of games during the whole session. But we ran half an hour over our planned schedule just trying to make them quiet & attentive. No wonder!

However, the result was quite positive in the end, judging by the answers they gave to our questions.. And they left the classroom with the tune of our singing energizer played during the workshop. We are looking forward to doing more such activities with these kids in future.

A letter from a student

Dharma in the 21C. is changing with easier access to information and an ever increasing interest in the West. The availability of translated dharma materials outside of traditionally Buddhist countries has expanded greatly. Students or seekers today can have exposure to various traditions and from this vantage point, see the underlying or unifying principles across a broad spectrum of tradition.

Venerable Sudhammacara is an example of the possibilities of our modern age. His is a view of great breadth and depth. I was lucky enough to experience this recently while in a mindfulness meditation retreat at Deer Park in November. Venerable Sudhammacara brings experience from the Zen tradition, the Theravada forest tradition of Myanmar, and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. His careful avoidance of Buddhist terms that can easily slip into jargon, made retreatants rethink or let go of Buddhist conceptualizations that we often automatically rely on, thinking we already understand the meaning without renewed consideration.

Venerable Sudhammacara's vast experience has shown him the pitfalls of commonly practiced meditations. Why do serious mediators not make progress after 10-15 years of devoted practice? The explanations were subtle and spare and so carefully considered. They were critically important to my understanding.

By rephrasing the questions with careful use or avoidance of terms/language, he helped me understand what I was doing in meditation and why. Venerable Sudhammacara is perhaps even ahead of his time. With respect and appreciation, I deeply commend Venerable Sudhammacara and Deer Park for their foresight and expansive vision.

I hope your onward travels go well.

Most sincerely...

With gratitude,

Sally