Thanks to retreat participants, teachers, staff, board members, volunteers, and contributors
for your participation and contributions during 2006.
The seasons change, the weather fluctuates, but without TV, newspapers, or radio, Southern Dharma is truly isolated. "But that’s the point!" exclaimed one person. "Nothing ever happens at Southern Dharma. Nothing is supposed to happen at Southern Dharma. If Southern Dharma weren’t here, where would we go who have too much happening in our lives?"
The single "tradition" that unites all Southern Dharma retreats is that all have "meditation, contemplation, and silence as underlying threads" – to quote the mission statement – with the purpose of "creating an atmosphere of silent reflection where one can nurture a sense of peace and uncover the truth within the heart."
Here is an excerpt from a recent letter written to Southern Dharma founder Elizabeth Kent: "I
had a wonderful experience at my first retreat at Southern Dharma and wanted to express my
appreciation. Through your generosity and thoughtfulness you have made a very positive
difference in the world. . . Your vision is still true in 2006: that programs continue to be
offered that help us in this journey we have undertaken to explore the workings of our minds
and hearts."
The financial picture for 2006 is not yet complete, but income from retreat fees will be approximately $85,000. On the expense side, the major categories are these: Employee stipends and benefits for three full-time staff account for less than 40% of expenses; food and supplies about 22%; buildings, grounds, equipment, and road 11%; advertising including the printed program 5%.
A high priority is the scholarship fund. During 2006 we’ve been able to fund all who have requested a scholarship with an average of more than one for each retreat. As a nonprofit organization, with staff serving as "stipended volunteers," (official IRS category) and with much work done by volunteers, retreat fees are intentionally kept low.
Southern Dharma relies on contributions for a third of its income. Among all the worthwhile ventures – from abused animals to international peace – perhaps Southern Dharma’s mission to offer retreats that bring some amount of serenity, composure, and compassion into this world is worthy of your support.
Southern Dharma has been graced with many volunteers during 2006. Since the staff is small in number and the work load is sometimes heavy, the volunteers have been much appreciated. Several responded to the volunteer webpage at our website. Others on retreat inquired about combining work with retreat attendance at another retreat. Still others helped between retreats. In fact, there have been more volunteer requests than we’ve had space and, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to accommodate all who apply.
Here is the list of volunteers in 2006: Rob & Sarah Danzman, Jennifer Lucas, Steve Creech, Cheryl Luckner, Laura Aiken, Elizabeth Hoeffel, Courtney Wright, David Heckel, Susan Lee, Deborah Shell, Anne Craig, Nicole Blouin, Judith Anastasio, Leslie Gipple, and Luann Bridle. Our apologies if we’ve forgotten anyone. Let us know. And of course there have been all the participants in the two Work Weekends – thirty-seven in all. One volunteer wrote, "Volunteering offers a unique opportunity to integrate mindfulness into everyday life."
A description of the Volunteer Program can be found at our website.
(After one retreatant’s comment about the hardness of the round cushions in the Meditation Hall, we plan to restuff them this winter. Would you like to come up for a day to do this?)
Guess which cushion is flat and hard
and which is fluffy and comfortable
10 Fruit Trees + 1 SD Cook |
September 2004: Hurricane knocks down almost all the apples before fully ripe.
April 2005: Late spring frost kills apple and cherry blossoms. Summer and Fall 2005: No apples or cherries, therefore, at Southern Dharma. Summer and Fall 2006: A bumper crop of apples and cherries from three cherry trees and seven apple trees. Products: 40 quarts Applesauce 16 loaves Apple Bread, 8 pints Apple Butter, 6 pints Apple Chutney, 6 big pans Apple Crisp, 6 Cherry Pies, 2 Apple Crumbles, and enough apples left for retreatants to take home. |
"How many times have I actually experienced an enlightened moment? They say that all moments are enlightened moments, but mostly I don’t realize they are. Mostly I’m a "comfort junky." I settle for food when I’m hungry, warmth in winter, entertainment when bored. Only when I forget my self are there intimations of enlightenment. I recall a time of great pain when a window opened. Since then I’ve kept this quote from the Buddha in my wallet:
‘O monks, there is the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned. Were there not the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned, there would be no escape for the born, grown, and conditioned. Since there is the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned, so there is escape for the born, grown, and conditioned.’ ”
is planned to go on-line at our website www.southerndharma.org in mid December and the printed brochure mailed in late January. For a couple days in early December the Southern Dharma website will be down as we change web hosts.
Bob Rose joined the Southern Dharma staff in August. He brings building maintenance skills as
well as years of Zen practice. Here is his response to our Newsletter’s request for a
contribution.
"Why is silence so important? In today's fast paced world we have more opportunity, and therefore are often required, to talk, dialogue, interface, and share information. All this intellectual stimulation excludes dialogue with our innermost selves.
"Silence, when it is not drowned out by social chatter, becomes the inner voice, the 'light unto ourselves' introduced to us by the Buddha. In the silence of a retreat our 'self-talk' is illuminated. Self-talk is the thread that stitches the kleshas, or negative habit energies, together into the mental fabric of our lives.
"Instead of talking about the kids, the war, the weather, or trying to impress someone, we are forced to hear the thoughts that work silently behind the veil of worldly distractions. These thoughts keep us mired in ignorance. In silence, and nowhere else, is there an opportunity to see the nature of our suffering and the path beyond."
Completed since the Spring
Two new lawn/gardens with benches and grassy areas for walking meditation are being developed – just below the Meditation Hall and just below the Lodge. A wood rail fence, lined with flowers, now provides an aesthetic separator between the parking lot and the big lawn area. Lights were added between the Meditation Hall and the Lodge. Also: much road work, more composting, enlarged flower beds, a new storage bin for firewood.
During the 2006 retreat season there have been:
- 7,500 person-hours of meditation
- 420 retreat participants
- 33 teachers in
- 25 teacher-led retreats
- 15 private individual retreats
- 8 private group retreats including
- 6 school group retreats
- 2 work weekends – 37 participants
- 48 feet of meditation hall fascia board replaced
- 24 times has the front lawn been mowed
- 20 trips to the quarry to haul rocks for the road with
- 13 tons of rocks
- 15 new lights on the path to the meditation hall
- 7 screens replaced
- 3 doors fixed
- 2 big mirrors mounted by the road to help see around those tight curves (idea and mirrors supplied by neighbor Mary Boltz)
In August Rainbow Mountain School – a preK through 8th grade private school in West
Asheville – held their values exploration/planning/meditation retreat for the second year at
Southern Dharma just before their school year began.
On October 14 Professor John Wood and ten students in his Zen Anthropology class at the University of North Carolina at Asheville participated in a work/meditation day at Southern Dharma. In the morning: road work, path construction, preparing a new area for planting, and clearing the view from the knoll; then an afternoon meditation session.
The following Saturday Jeff Metee – a Humanities teacher at the Asheville School – an independent college preparatory school – brought two other teachers and thirteen of his high school sophomores up for an introduction to vipassana meditation session.
Heard or overheard by the Staff this past retreat season:
- Retreatant: If only I could stay on retreat. I’ve experienced such peace and tranquility at Southern Dharma. Teacher: You say the retreat ends when you drive down the mountain. Whether here in this idyllic setting or amidst heavy traffic, you’re on retreat as long as you stay mindful of the present moment. Your location may change, but this retreat need never end.
- There’s a difference between spiritual entertainment and spiritual exercise. In the former we get high on beautiful emotions – joy, love, etc. When we go home, all that evaporates like a beautiful dream upon awakening. When you’re doing spiritual exercise during the retreat, things may be difficult at times, but when you leave Southern Dharma, you’ve ratcheted your life up a notch. Life is lighter, more joyous, for good.
- I used to think there was a hierarchy with the teachers more enlightened than the rest of us and the monks and nuns the most enlightened of all. I still think some people are more enlightened than others, but I don’t think it has anything to do with roles. The difference is that the monks and nuns are the ones responsible for passing on the traditions and the rest of us are responsible for manifesting the teachings in the world.
- Teacher: Meditation is good but meditation is just a band aid on your spiritual life if your life is cluttered. Simplify your life: that’s the most important practice.
- In the silence I really saw for the first time how my mind creates projections and illusions. Once I saw these, I saw that I could go beyond them.
Here is a phtograph of Warren Wilson College senior Casey Burger who participated in
the College Work Week last March and returned to attend the Pat Coffey - Dori Langevin retreat
in October. Casey writes,
"Nature is such an important part of my meditation practice because it is a constant teacher and reminder of mindfulness and presence. Southern Dharma is in the heart of nature and it is a powerful experience to practice in that heart. There is an intention, a silence, a restfulness, and a patience that exists at Southern Dharma because of all the love and care that are put into it. "
Eliza Lynn – Southern Dharma cook of five years ago – was voted this fall by readers of Asheville’s Mountain Xpress as the Best Local Singer/Songwriter for 2006.
- Phil Simmons was diagnosed at age 35 with the degenerative neuromuscular condition ALS and
died some months later. Here is a quote from his book Learning to Fall: The Blessings
of an Imperfect Life:
"The present moment, like the spotted owl or the sea turtle, has become an endangered species. Yet more and more I find that dwelling in the present moment, in the face of everything that would call us out of it, is our highest spiritual discipline. More boldly, I would say that our very presentness is our salvation; the present moment, entered into fully, is our gateway to eternal life."
- We came across this quote upon re-reading Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Book of Living
and Dying
"Despite this massive and nearly all-pervasive denial of [the existence of the unconditioned], we still sometimes have fleeting glimpses . . . These could be inspired by a certain exalting piece of music, by the serene happiness we sometimes feel in nature, or by the most ordinary everyday situation. They could arise simply while watching snow slowly drifting down, or seeing the sun rising behind a mountain, or watching a shaft of light falling into a room in a mysteriously moving way. Such moments of illumination, peace, and bliss happen to us all and stay strangely with us."
- At 10:30 on the first night of the Rodney Smith retreat two barking neighbor huntin' dogs chased a bear down the driveway. Said bear took a swipe at a garbage can and the three went loudly barking and galloping up the upper road and, apparently, over the hill at the end of the knoll – the barking receding into the distance.
- A favorite meditation focus for retreatants has been the bird feeder outside the dining room. They’ve become so tame (the birds, not the retreatants) that one can sit on the bench four feet away and watch them come and go (the birds, not the retreatants). For the birds there’s always a free lunch at Southern Dharma!
Help the Retreatant Find Enlightenment
