WHERE WE ARE

Sitting in my sunroom, watching the rain fall, reflecting on the year past and the year to be. Spring is whispering its arrival through the senses.

The sunroom is a well-built room, pleasing in design with its south-east exposure, opening up to a neighbourhood park that has a skating rink for fun in the winter, swings for the summer. It has plenty of sunlight when the conditions are right. Inside today the jade and eucalyptus are thriving, the hibiscus is flowering, and the aloe vera surprises with its determination to grow and flower.

I love spending time in this room. 

For a few years, many years ago, I lived in India. Winter months would find me in Bodhgaya, the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. A descendant of that tree is still in the exact same spot. Next to it is the Mahabodhi temple that was built over 2,000 years ago. In those days Bodhgaya was not so busy. You could go to the Mahabodhi temple early in the morning, before the crowds, just when the gatekeepers would open the temple grounds and sit in the stillness of the predawn undisturbed under the Bodhi tree, beside the Diamond Throne, on that piece of earth where the Buddha once sat and open up to the quiet vastness that was as real as the Bodhi tree itself. As the day awoke the temple grounds would come alive with butter lamps, mantras and chants by Buddhist practitioners from many different traditions and countries.

The Dharma Centre with its rich history and lineage--in my mind--has similar qualities; it is a physical space whose ground has been infused with the sacredness of the Dharma through the blessings and teachings of many great teachers. I think of these places as portals that allow us greater access to the Dharma. I knew one teacher who said,  “Oh the Mahabodhi temple is just a bunch of bricks and an old tree, nothing special…”, yet he went there every year to teach… hmmm.

This past year has been a challenge like no other we have seen in this lifetime. For those of us who have been involved in maintaining and developing our dharma inheritance at the Dharma Centre the challenges of the past year are no less true. We have managed to run a few courses during these times at the centre itself through the hard work and ingenuity of Marta and Marion, the board and resident teachers Mala and Terry.

Through the miracle of Zoom many of us who have been teaching have managed to adapt and lead online courses. I have been surprised at how this has unfolded. The online courses have been very well attended and have helped us maintain the momentum that has been developing over these last few years. It has given people a viable way to connect, receive teaching and practice within our community. The Zoom retreats have also allowed people to attend courses they otherwise would not be able to attend.

The underlying truths of who and what we are (and aren’t) remain true no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. Under a sacred tree, at the Dharma Centre, at home and yes even in the Zoom class. The blessings we have received through the lineage and teachers remain both present and true no matter where we find ourselves seated. We are all repositories for the teachings we receive. Little Bodhi shoots reaching for the sky. 

This year has helped us to open up to new ways of being and seeing. New ways of doing, teaching and receiving. May this always be so.  A heartfelt thanks to every one of those in this community who have helped us all through these times.  I look forward to when we can sit together amongst the trees and rest once again on that sacred land.

Jack Connelly