Special Events
Lama Rinchen Palmo: ‘The Buddhist Approach to Love’
June 7th and 8th - 2pm to 5pm with tea breaks.
This course is by donation. A suggested amount of £20 per day would be most welcome,
but nobody should feel excluded due to lack of funds.
Buddhist teachings on the cultivation of a loving and compassionate heart, and how we can be of true help and benefit to others. How do we normally define love and compassion, and how can we expand our view and practice beyond our usual limitations of self and attachment? Tibetan Buddhism contains a wealth of instructions for cultivating the heart and developing limitless, unconditional love for all sentient beings. We often wonder how best to help others, and in Buddhism we are given tools through the deep and profound teachings of Bodhicitta, or the enlightened heart.
Of French descent, Lama Rinchen Palmo is a highly experienced meditation teacher who has spent at least 20 years in strict meditation retreats and previously assisted with the supervision of the long retreats on Holy Isle in Scotland. She is one of the four Western Lamas who were appointed by Akong Tulku Rinpoche, and she is much-loved and well-known for her compassionate and down to earth style of teaching.
Lama Rinchen is the spiritual director of Samye Dzong Brussels and its associated retreat centre
at Beaumont on the Belgian border.
Weekend retreat in Scarborough with Fay Adams and Kristine Mackenzie-Janson, 30 May-1 June 2025
What if peace and fulfilment could be found within us, rather than in external pursuits?
There is something endearing, honourable and heartbreaking about the way us
human beings seem to muddle our way through life. Each of us always attempting
to belong, meet our human needs, find love, happiness, fulfilment. Endearing
and honourable because there is dignity, tenacity and spirit in our ability to
bounce back and find a way through against the odds to survive. Heartbreaking
because often our strategies for finding peace and fulfilment are
self-defeating and only serve to entrench our struggle – addictions, self-blame
and blame of others, endlessly wanting more of this or that, overworking etc…
What if true refuge is not from it all but within
it all? True refuge is not an escape where we somehow transcend the
vicissitudes of life in favour of another, better place. Rather, it’s an open
space where we can deeply and softly rest within it all. From here, ‘it all’
can feel different – heart-breaking perhaps, but also peaceful, true, beautiful
and full of love.
This may sound like a grand or maybe even
impossible aim, but when we have a good map to guide us and a resolve to follow
it over time, finding true refuge and coming home to ourselves becomes a real
possibility. In this retreat weekend we’ll explore this possibility and do
practices to nudge us towards experiencing it directly for ourselves.
Inspired by American meditation teacher and author Tara Brach’s book True Refuge, we’ll weave together mindfulness, compassion and mystical poetry throughout this weekend and we’ll settle into presence, heart and awareness. While poetry will speak its words of wisdom in ways that only poems can reaching the heart directly, practice will immerse us in our own experience of this.
The venue is a beautiful old building now converted into a Buddhist centre, positioned on a hill and overlooking the North sea in Scarborough, UK. You will need to book your own accommodation nearby in Scarborough.
This retreat weekend is open to people from all
walks of life, of all faiths or none, and is for those with an existing
meditation or self/spiritual development practice which they trust can support
them. If you’re unsure whether this is you, please be in touch with Kristine or
Fay.
When:
30 May – 1 June 2025
What time:
Friday 30 May 7-8.30pm, Saturday
31 May 10am-5pm, Sunday 1 June 10am-3pm.
Where:
Kagyu Samye Dzong Scarborough
How much:
low income £100, standard £125,
pay it forward £150 – to be transferred by BACS online, through PayPal or in
cash on the day. Please don’t let the costs get in the way of coming, if
they’re a problem just get in touch!
To book: https://www.fayadams.com/about-4-1
Please note, the Homecoming course is an
external course, and not one offered by Kagyu Samye Dzong.