Vesak 2008
Ecumenical Buddhist Picnic
Celebrating the Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment, and Paranirvana
Sunday, May 18, 2008;  3:30 - 7:00 pm
Agri Park, Fayetteville

Northwest Arkansas Buddhists will celebrate Vesak 2008 with a potluck picnic beginning at 3:30 pm (dinner starts around 5:30 pm) on Sunday, May 18 at Agri Park in Fayetteville.  All area Buddhists and all those interested in Buddhist theory and practice are cordially invited to attend. 

Sometimes informally called “Buddha’s birthday,” Vesak celebrates the birth, enlightenment (Nirvana), and passing (Paranirvana) of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni. An official state holiday in many Buddhist countries, Vesak is also known as Vaisakha, Buddha Jayanti, and Saga Dawa. The exact date of Vesak varies according to the various lunar calendars used in different traditions.  For many of those traditions, Vesak falls on May 20 in 2008.

Please bring food and drink, plates, cups, and utensils to share with those attending, as well as lawn chairs, games, etc.  Local practice groups are invited to bring information about their group’s practice and activities to share with others.  Those who wish may bring offerings of fruit, flowers, incense, or candles to be placed on the altar.

The event will feature a period of silent meditation, and perhaps a Dharma talk or two.  At the close of the event, Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee will offer to those interested the Eight Precepts Vow, to be honored for the 24-hour period beginning at sunrise on Tuesday May 20.  Participants who take the vow undertake to abstain from: taking life (both human and nonhuman); taking what is not given (stealing); all sexual activity; telling lies; using intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness; eating at the wrong time (the right time is eating once, after sunrise, before noon); singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands; and using luxurious places for sitting or sleeping.

Located on Garland Avenue north of the University of Arkansas and Deane Street, Agri Park features a covered pavilion; in the event of rain, the event will proceed as planned.

Click here to download a flyer for the event.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama rooted in the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, returns to Fayetteville on Monday, April 21 for “Spiritual Discourse”, a heart to heart dialogue, which invites the audience to join in an exploration into the realm of truth which is always available to us. In this meeting, he will challenge those core beliefs which have chained us to our misery for far too long. Freedom is knocking on our door.

Sponsored by by the University of Arkansas Department of Religious Studies, the talk will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 224 N. East Avenue in Fayetteville at 7:00 pm.  The talk is free and open to the public, but a donation of $10 is suggested to help cover Anam Thubten’s travel expenses and other costs.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche was born in Tibet and undertook Buddhist training in the Nyingma tradition at an early age. Soon after entering the monastery he was recognized as the reincarnation of Anam Lama. He has studied with many dharma teachers in Tibet. He has been teaching in the West since the 1990’s and currently serves as the spiritual advisor and dharma teacher for the Dharmata Foundation, headquartered in Point Richmond, California.

The reason I’m teaching is not because of having been recognized as a Tulku, or out of adherence to title and position within the Buddhist institution, but from a passionate love of true Dharma.  Dharma is pure and perfect.  Through it, we can transform our lives. This is neither theory or speculation.  It has been demonstrated in the lives of many of us, who have taken refuge in it.  Dharma is always aligned with truth, since it goes beyond all of the concepts one can have.    ~Anam Thubten

Anam Thubten Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama rooted in the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, returns to Arkansas for public talks in both Fayetteville and Little Rock and a weekend retreat in Little Rock, sponsored by the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock.
 
Anam Thubten Rinpoche was born in Tibet and undertook Buddhist training in the Nyingma tradition at an early age. Soon after entering the monastery he was recognized as the reincarnation of Anam Lama. He has studied with many dharma teachers in Tibet. He has been teaching in the West since the 1990’s and currently serves as the spiritual advisor and dharma teacher for the Dharmata Foundation. Anam Thubten is also a writer, Buddhist scholar and a lover of the true dharma.
 
Friday, April 18th, 7:00-8:30 p.m. - Little Rock
Public Talk: “Spiritual Discourse”
Buddhist teacher, Anam Thubten, is going to give heart to heart dialogue, and invite everyone to join in an exploration into the realm of truth, which is always for us. In this meeting, he will challenge every core belief, which has chained us to our misery for far too long. Freedom is knocking on our door.

Sat., April 19th to Sun., April 20th - Little Rock
Retreat Teaching: “Bodhichitta”
The moment we realize who we are, we begin to live a life of joy and freedom. Many of us have been holding on to a mistaken version of ourselves. Once the false self is deconstructed, what emerges from that is our true nature beyond all conditions. The path leading us there is called prajnaparamita, which means transcendent wisdom. This is the heart of Buddha’s teaching. Anam Thubten is going to introduce the timeless wisdom in a most direct and experiential manner. He invites everyone to go through a powerful inner transformation during this retreat.

Monday, April 21 - Fayetteville
Public Talk: “Spiritual Discourse”
This public talk will be held in Fayetteville at 7:00 p.m. For more information, please contact Professor Sidney Burris at 479-575-2509. Additional details will be published on NWABuddhist.info as they become available.

For information or to register for the retreat, visit the EBSLR website.

Rick Ray, the director of “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama”, will hold an informal chat session at RZ’s coffeehouse in the University of Arkansas Student Union on Monday, March 31 starting at 1:30 pm.  Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

The University Programs Cultures & Concepts Committee in partnership with The Fulbright College Honors Program and The Religious Studies Program will present a documentary film showing of “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” with director Rick Ray on Monday, March 31st, 2008 in Giffels Auditorium, 2nd floor of Old Main, at 7:00pm.
 

Wattle Hollow Retreat Center
Begins Thursday, April 17 at 5:00 pm
Ends Sunday, April 20 at 3:30 pm
 
Here is an opportunity to become more fully immersed in nature, vipassana meditation and yoga at Wattle Hollow. Participants are welcome to join us for the entire retreat, or any amount they can manage to attend.

Joy Fox will be your guide on this journey into the mind/body phenomenon, called Vipassana meditation of the Theravadan Buddhist lineage. She will teach the sitting/ walking/ eating/ and metta (the Pali word for lovingkindness) practices.

Beginners are welcome, along with our usual sangha. This longer retreat will allow time for nature walks, personal interviews, dharma discussions, journaling, contemplation…a real “refreshment” for the soul.

The fee is by donation, but advance registration is required, and you’ll want to reserve a place, as these retreats are beginning to fill up.

For more information, visit http://www.wattlehollow.com/schedule.htm

Internationally-renowned meditation teacher and author, Matthew Flickstein, will visit the Rime Center in Kansas City, Missouri for a weekend retreat April 4 - 6.Flickstein, a former psychotherapist, has been practicing and teaching insight meditation for over 32 years and founded the Forest Way in 1991. The organization follows the Theravada Buddhist tradition that focuses on insight meditation, loving kindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity and how to incorporate those qualities into everyday life.

This retreat will explore the dimensions of self and no-self through meditation, contemplation, dharma talks and discussion. It will be a journey into the realm of time, space and emptiness.

For more information, visit www.rimecenter.org

The film “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama”, presented by director Rick Ray, will be shown in Giffels Auditorium on the 2nd floor of Old Main, instead of in the Arkansas Union, as previously announced.

The University Programs Cultures & Concepts Committee in partnership with The Fulbright College Honors Program and The Religious Studies Program will present a documentary film showing of “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” with director Rick Ray on Monday, March 31st, 2008 in Giffels Auditorium, 2nd floor of Old Main, at 7:00pm.

Rick Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

Part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, 10 Questions for The Dalai Lama conveys more than history and more than answers - it opens a window into the heart of an inspiring man. Ray will briefly talk about his experience and answer questions following the documentary film showing.

The event is free to all students, faculty, staff, and guests. For more information about the Cultures & Concepts Committee, contact Roberto Noensie at (479) 575-5255.

[Please note the venue change from the previous announcement] 

The University Programs Cultures & Concepts Committee in partnership with The Fulbright College Honors Program and The Religious Studies Program will present a documentary film showing of “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” with director Rick Ray on Monday, March 31st, 2008 in Giffels Auditorium, 2nd floor of Old Main, at 7:00pm.

Rick Ray examines some of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving together observations from his own journeys throughout India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an extraordinary spiritual leader. This is his story, as told and filmed by Rick Ray during a private visit to his monastery in Dharamsala, India over the course of several months. Also included is rare historical footage as well as footage supplied by individuals who at great personal risk, filmed with hidden cameras within Tibet.

Part biography, part philosophy, part adventure and part politics, 10 Questions for The Dalai Lama conveys more than history and more than answers - it opens a window into the heart of an inspiring man. Ray will briefly talk about his experience and answer questions following the documentary film showing.

The event is free to all students, faculty, staff, and guests. For more information about the Cultures & Concepts Committee, contact Roberto Noensie at (479) 575-5255.

University of Arkansas Students for a Free Tibet will host a candlelight vigil in support of the Tibetan people this Tuesday, March 25, in Giffels Auditorium on the 2nd floor of Old Main at approximately 7:15-7:30.  The student group’s advisor and Tibetan Buddhist monk Geshe Thupten Dorjee will speak, and his student Rinzin Dorjee will perform a chant and blessing for Tibet.  There will also be a short film.

Prior to the vigil, beginning at 6:00 pm in Giffels Auditorium, Professor Sidney Burris will present a lecture on His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the history of Tibet leading up to the 1950 Chinese invasion. 

The lecture and vigil are part of the U of A History of Non-Violence class taught by Professor Burris and Geshe Dorjee; but this event is open to the public.  All are welcome to attend.

Beginning April 3, 2008, the Buddhist Meditation and Spiritual Support Group will meet in the downstairs room of the Arkansas Yoga Center at a new time: 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m..

For more information, contact Josh Newman at (479) 422-6526 or Geoff Oelsner at (479) 521-2395