FEATURED ARTICLE:
Guiding Teacher Marcia Rose
HARVESTING TEACHINGS FROM MY GARDEN
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Healing Ecology - A Buddhist Perspective
on the Eco-Crisis & Social Justice
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September 18-20, 2015
San Geronimo Lodge
Taos, New Mexico
Public talk on Friday evening:
Why Buddhism & the Modern World Need Each Other
The highest ideal of the Western tradition has been to restructure our societies so that they are more socially just, while the most important goal for Buddhism is to awaken and realize one's true nature. Today it has become obvious that we need both...because each project remains incomplete without the other.
Retreat/Workshop on Saturday/Sunday 
(with option to stay over at San Geronimo Lodge):
Does Buddhism provide any special insight into the ecological crisis? Do its teachings imply a different way of understanding the biosphere & our relationship to it, which can really help us at this critical time in history, when we are doing so much to destroy it?
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 David R. Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author who lectures nationally and internationally, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity: what each can learn from the other. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues. He also leads meditation retreats. Sliding scale retreat fee: $60 - $150
Fee for Friday Evening Public Talk $10 per person.
If you wish to stay overnight, contact San Geronimo directly at (575)751-3776
for special discount rate.
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 You can also find out more about David at his website davidloy.org |
LISTENING, CONTEMPLATION & MEDITATION:
Study Retreat on The Art & Practice of Loving
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November 13 - 20, 2015
Columbine Inn
Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico
Open to both experienced & beginning students
This retreat will combine the practice and study of metta, or loving friendliness meditation. The Buddha taught metta meditation to quell fear and anger, to promote harmonious relationships, and to purify the mind in concentration. The benefits of this practice touch every aspect of our lives. We will draw from a handful of sources for our study, including suttas from the Pali canon and teachings from the Tibetan tradition on bodhichitta, the awakened heart. We'll also give attention to Western neuropsychology. Each of these contribute a distinctive strand of meaning to the fabric of this practice.
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Venerable Dhammadinna took robes in 1983 in the Theravadin tradition. She moved to Burma  with her teacher and remained in Asia for 21 years, studying with U Pandita Sayadaw and Ajahn Buddhadasa, among others. She has taught Buddhism and led meditation retreats in Thailand, England, India and the US. In Dharamsala, His Holiness the Dali Lama accepted her as his personal student in 2000. In 2006, she co-founded Bodhiheart Sangha Meditation Center in Seattle with Tenzin Jesse. Venerable Dhammadinna is deeply committed to the practices of samatha and vipassana meditation as shared by both the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions.  Tenzin Jesse began studying Tibetan Buddhism in 1993, practicing with teachers in the Gelug, Kagyu & Nyingma traditions. She has completed the 7-year Lama Tsong Khapa Master's Program, a traditional Buddhist monastic curriculum. In 2004, she moved to India to study with the Dalai Lama & received ordination there from His Holiness. She returned to Seattle in 2006 and with Venerable Dhammadinna founded BodhiHeart Sangha, where she now teaches.
Sliding Scale Fees:
$498 (low) $698 (actual cost) $898 (benefactor)
Partial Scholarships Available - Application Necessary
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Reflection from Marcia Rose on Harvesting Teachings From My Garden...
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Fall is just around the corner. The garden is my teacher on this cool early morning. I see that the tomato, cucumber and pea plants are quite obviously moving towards the end of their tenure. Filling a basket with bright red tomatoes of all sizes, prickly long green cucumbers and pregnant green peas...the harvest is abundant. The air carries that special smell o f autumn this morning. As I walk near the peach tree a gentle breeze sends a strong sweet whiff directly into my nose from the fat ripe peaches hanging in the tree. Seeing, smelling and touching these experiences of summer and fall as they teeter-totter back and forth...the garden continues teaching me. My mind and heart are moved. The end of the garden is near. A touch of poignancy is felt along with great joy and deep gratitude for all the fresh, nurturing, beautiful and delicious food that is being provided. And pretty soon I will have a rest from the day by day hard work that it's taken to nurture this garden that is now nurturing me. Physical and mental energy will be available to use in other ways as the cold seasons move in and the garden lies fallow.
And so it is for us, all living beings and every facet of this planet that we all share. Everything has its season. Everything arises and passes away...endlessly. The end of anything always provides space for the beginning of something else...the seasons and my garden teaching this to me every year. The tiny moments of our lives hold this same teaching as the experience of each moment gives way to the experience of the next moment. If we try to hold on to summer or any moment that we're in, the heart contracts. We feel pain.
There is an almost invisible apex that manifests at the end and the beginning of seasons and moments. It is at this subtle point in the ceaseless changing nature of things where the innate manifestation of creativity lies. The garden naturally knows this and never tries to hold back, cling on or resist. I'm still learning and am so grateful for my living breathing teacher, my garden.
From the Buddha:  Anicca vata sankhara Upada vaya dhammino Upakituva nirujihanti Tesang vupasamo sukho
All conditioned things are impermanent Their nature is to arise and pass away. To live in harmony with this truth Brings true happiness.
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Looking forward to 2016...
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 ... The Mountain Hermitage always needs donations to help with operating expenses & to support those who would not be able to attend our retreats without financial help.
Your gift will sustain this precious refuge of The Mountain Hermitage allowing us to offer the teachings and practices that bring greater wisdom, compassion, peace and happiness to our individual lives and out into the world.
PLEASE VISIT US ON FACEBOOK 
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CLICK ON UNDERLINED RETREAT TITLE TO SEE ON WEBSITE
For more information on all these retreats, you can contact us...
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Limited scholarship support available for all of our retreats. Application Necessary.
Extensive information on the website: www.mountainhermitage.org
NOTE: We now accept credit card payment through PayPal for retreat balance.
Contact TMH office for details.
May our practice serve towards the welfare, the happiness & the awakening of all beings.
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"For me gardening is a process that invites me to be fully engaged. It is also a constant exercise in letting go since so much happens that is not in my control. Strangely this duality seems to cultivate a joy that embraces impermanence and finds refuge in the invisible."
From the book A Mystic Garden: Working With Soil, Attending To Soul
by Gunilla Norris (2006, BlueBridge)
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