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| Message from the Sunray Peace Village |
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Greetings!
Welcome to another in a series of personal messages from people who have visited the Sunray Peace Village. We hope you like them. Thank you all for your participation! Please come and enjoy the Peace Village and the Fall season. If you can, please also invest in the land. |
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Dreaming the Heart of the Peace Village
This year our family is celebrating 21 consecutive years of engaging with activities at the Sunray Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont. There is nowhere else, up to this point in our lives, with which to compare the impact of our experiences from this sacred ground which have inspired such a unique and beneficial evolution of consciousness in community. First to express gratitude to the ancestors of Ywahoo lineage, whose foresight to create such a sanctuary was remarkable and to the living lineage holder, Chief, and Spiritual Director, Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, who has persevered tirelessly, with the help of many hands, to manifest and develop this prophetic vision. In the following words are shared a few anecdotes from the countless collection of memories from our direct experience. Simply, there is such good fortune for all who are able to find their way here.
 We first stepped on the land for a Starchild Gathering in the summer of 1989. Our camp was situated by two cedars on the land with a clear view of the mountains. Teachings were held in a huge tent situated by a glistening pond. Those who were leading the Starchild teachings skillfully opened the view with compassion and great joy inviting every being to meet the vastness of Great Mystery. We were familiar with the idea that there would be teachings arising from Tsalagi (Cherokee) traditions but were pleased to be introduced to Tibetan Buddhist practices as well. By the end of the first day our eldest son had memorized the recitation of the Heart Sutra which was part of the meditation practice both in the morning and evening. We enjoyed so much learning the many chants, especially the Heart chant, one part of which had a sound that was similar to our younger son's nickname at the time, "Ani", which he noticed immediately which led to years of naturally singing the chants while playing with his toys. This chant was also similar to a call I had had for my cat, illuminating a classical resonance of a harmonic fifth. We, Mother and Father, also discovered that we were situated in an extraordinary field of energy where we each had both visionary and healing dreams in synchrony with the medicine of making the dream shawl during that session with/for our Eldest son.
This medicine was to be dedicated on the final day of the Gathering, which was our son's 8th birthday, and the boy who was camping next to us kindly brought him a bouquet of wildflowers first thing in the morning, to be sure that he would receive a gift on this precious day. At noon, Venerable Dhyani and her son, Tatanka, arrived in time for a potluck and thus, we had our first meeting with our spiritual family in the heart of the Peace Village by the Medicine Garden. As we packed up our camping gear, I walked out onto the road, looking to the West, and thought of the possibility of us moving to live in these mountains. In less than seven years, that vision became a reality.
The following summer, I packed up the car with our two sons and all our gear and headed to the Peace Village to become a staff volunteer for a month and offer services in exchange for the experience of living in community energizing peaceful coexistence supported by daily meditation practice and skillful methods of reconciliation. There was a core staff receiving stipend who fulfilled the responsibilities as Caretakers, Program Director, and Staff Cook. During our first night we were the only tent set up on the grounds and there was an incredible thunder storm with a wind that rolled down the mountain and furiously shook our tent for hours. I prayed through the night that we would not be struck by lightning while the boys slept undisturbed. This was a curious introduction to life at the Peace Village.
 In the early morning, around 4:30 am each day, was a magnificent symphony of birds singing as the animals in nature began to awaken. Morning practice, breakfast, and then working on the land for whatever was needed: raking, gardening, cleaning the bathrooms, helping in the kitchen, sweeping the community hall and so on. We called this our labor of love. The kitchen was a fairly primitive set-up on a platform outdoors on the edge of the forest with tarps over head and we were fortunate to have simple and delicious meals to nourish us through each day.
Once in a while we went down to the New Haven river to swim by the waterfall and this was quite a treat for all of us. After completing our work in the afternoons there was evening practice where our youngest son would often fall asleep to the sounds of the chants (lullaby) and through which our oldest would come to learn the meditation practices quite well by the end of the month.
Summer solstice was our first experience in the Ceremonial Arbor for which we prepared the ground and had a sunrise fire, offering prayers of thanks, dancing in the light of a new day and singing the Creation chant for what seemed like hours. A young Inuit man said that he noticed many joyful beings that day performing cartwheels around the fire.
Where there is the light there is also a shadow and as humans often do, there would soon be what appeared as inner/outer conflict, disturbing the natural flow of things in this group living process. So we would gather together to sit in council circle, passing the talking stick to share, one at a time, what was in our hearts. Each voice could be heard and all could consider mindfully how to resolve apparent differences through clear and skillful communication sparking the wisdom nature to transform confusion as we spiraled around and around until every being could again know the quietude of a peaceful heart.
At the time this life practice made a huge impression on me and I recall, immediately applying that method into my work in education. And so the days went by, and before we left we were inspired to create a circle garden just in front of the community hall, myself with several children and one of the caretakers. Once the ground was prepared, we carefully planted the flowers in a mandala of three concentric circles which flourished through the summer. Twenty-one years later, this garden is a resting place for the stone Buddha which greets visitors as they enter into the village.
 In this 21st summer, we are living in Lincoln enabling us to go to the Peace Village quite often. We have had the good fortune to attend so many glorious teachings, ceremonies, and community events through every season wherein our lives have been enriched through participation and service towards sustaining and building this unique sanctuary where people of all traditions from many worlds can meet in peace. Here we can open our minds to learn how to meet the challenges that arise in daily life and see them as golden opportunities for genuine growth benefiting many. Our sons are young adults now singing songs of celebration as they recall the medicine of awakening which touched our hearts so many years before at the Peace Village. Hey, Hee, Hey, the Beauty Way. Madeleine Piat-Landolt |
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| Please periodically check our Peace Village and Sunray Meditation Society blogs. For Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo's teachings, you can also find them at Beauty Way.
Please forward this e-mail to let others know about the Peace Village. Thank you. |
May all beings benefit,
Sunray Peace Village |
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