Dear friends and students,
Early this morning I went for a long walk
through the fields behind the Samadhi Meditation Center,
watching the beautiful sunrise on the horizon. The soft
whisper of the cool breeze and the singing of the birds
were the only sounds I could hear. I felt such a deep sense
of gratitude for everything that surrounded me.
In the trees, the leaves are turning vibrant
colors. Our orchard is full of delicious apples waiting
to be picked. It is a wonderful day to reflect on the summer
at Samadhi Center and share with you the blessings, happiness
and peace we experienced here this past few months.
My intention was to set up a meditation
center to spread peace and healing. We worked hard on this
for about four years. I am so glad to see the results.
As far as I know, everybody who passed through the Center
this summer felt and shared a beautiful experience of peace
and happiness. Groups form Malaysia, Ireland, the USA and
the Czech Republic came to Samadhi to participate in our
meditation retreats.
I feel so lucky that we had such a wonderful
staff, of mostly volunteers, who enjoyed working hard together
at Samadhi as brothers and sisters. Most of the staff hope
to return next year. At times, we had a lot of people here
at Samadhi. For example, during the Irish meditation retreat
we had thirty people at the Center for one week. At the
end of the retreat we only heard good things from them.
I am truly grateful to everybody who worked here and helped
us.
We are planning for 2007 and hope for
it to be a busy year. We have some great teachers, including
Venerable H. Gunaratana, who wrote Mindfulness in Plain
English, and Venerable Punnaji, who wrote the book Awakening
Meditation, coming to lead retreats.
While the retreats were going on this
summer, we were able to complete and open the second meditation
hall at the Center, which we call the Dhamma Hall. The
Dhamma Hall can hold up to 100 people. We have also opened
a new Dhamma Study Center in Prague for the students in
Prague who will be attending our weekly meditations.
In a few days we will be closing the Samadhi
Center for the winter. We are planning to open the Center
again in April 2007. Martin and Vlastha will stay on to
take care of the Center and Jennie (Jana) will be working
twice a week while attending school.
I want to share with all of you the wonderful
Karma, the blessings and peace we shared with so many people
who visited Samadhi during the summer. May you all be blessed
with peace and harmony and happiness in life.
In two days, I will be leaving for Africa
to distribute more wheelchairs and to visit some hospitals
and schools as continuation of our humanitarian projects
there. After the 3rd of October, I will be going on a lecture
tour in the USA. Please refer to our Web page bhantewimala.com
for the information.
with love and blessings
Bhante Wimala
