latest news
- 22/07/08 - Could you garden for world peace?
- 09/07/08 - Meditation, food & good company
- 28/06/08 - World Peace Garden project gets underway
- 26/06/08 - Summer Fayre attracts 2000 people
- 20/06/08 - UKDC web site now live!
- 02/06/08 - Spring Post Festival Retreat at Tara Centre
14/05/08 - Manjushri Empowerment weekend - 12/04/08 - Book online!
22/07/08
Could you garden for world peace?
A few weeks ago we posted some pictures of our new World Peace Garden (click here for a look), a project that is currently under way to create a garden overlooking Derbyshire’s beautiful countryside where people can find a bit of peace of mind. We thought you might be interested to see how it’s getting along & so have taken a few pictures for you to look at. As ever the main thing we’re missing to move this project along further is people!
So if you’ve got green fingers, or are simply willing to grab a spade and have a go, why not get in touch and come along for a working visit? Whether you’d like to stay for a week, or just have a few hours to spare here and there we’d like to hear from you.
Click here to go to our working visits page where you can fill in on online application form (please mention that you particularly want to do gardening), or just give us a call.
Thank you!
09/07/08
Stop the Week: meditation, food & good company
On Friday the 4th Tara Centre hosted another of her occasional
‘Stop the Week’ events. Starting at 6:30pm those attending engaged in a simple meditation class, comprising of breathing meditation and a talk on an aspect of Buddhist thought which can be practically applied to daily life.
Then it was time for a 2 course meal in our World Peace Café which on this occasion was a starter of spring roll, tortilla & guacamole followed by a main course of stuffed pepper, roasted sweet potato & courgette with a sweet chilli sauce and a side salad of orange, rocket & fennel head.
Reports are that all plates were picked clean! Our resident photographer, Khechog, was slow off the mark & missed getting any photographs of the event, but was in situ’ for an impromptu barbeque held in our grounds the following Friday. As this is in keeping with the culinary theme of ‘Stop the Week’ we thought we’d include some of these photo’s here:
If it’s got salad on it, then it’s healthy
Gema & Vanessa share their food with the ants
Paul, Steve & Alan practice their ‘catalogue’ poses
28/06/08
Garden for peace:
World Peace Garden project gets underway
Tara Centre was privileged to have the assistance of two kind groups of people in kick starting our ‘World peace Garden’ project.
This project will see us landscaping the area behind our Barn B&B to create a beautiful and tranquil garden overlooking the surrounding countryside. On Friday afternoon students from Abotsholme School came & enjoyed a school visit before sampling community life with a spot of gardening.
They got stuck in, shifting a massive amount of compost and preparing the ground for our next group of helpers, the ‘Helping Hands’. The Helping Hands are a group from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who offer their help to a different project each year. We were very happy that this year they chose to help us. The group worked very hard alongside the Tara Centre community and by the end of the day, where before there had been empty ground, now a fledgling garden could be seen. They also helped us repaint the doors & window frames on the Barn B&B, keeping it beautiful for our visitors. We were pleased to hear that the Helping Hands enjoyed their day & that they expressed an interest to return & see how the garden was progressing; we thank both them and Abotsholme on behalf of the many, many people who will enjoy this garden over the coming years.
The students from Abotsholme get stuck in
‘Roll out the Barrow…’
Kindness bridges the generations
Pulling together as a team
Kelsang Gewang approves of the colour scheme
Paul has a significant stake in this project
This gentleman brought along a pogo
stick to keep the day interesting
We’ve installed a life size water feature
modeled on our treasurer Ruth
A garden appears
Admiring the good work & imagining the future
Imagine yourself here
26/06/08
Summer Fayre attracts 2000 people
It was Summer Fayre day last Sunday & somehow after a week of rain the sun came out to set the scene. Theeeko (sic) the clown was in presence as were a host of stalls selling a multitude of colourful and interesting items and delicious and nutritious food. We’re not sure what happened to the bloke who was supposed to be playing the didgeridoo but we wish him well wherever he is!
The turn out was again superb, with over 2000 people attending over the day, many of whom attended one of the free meditation samplers on offer. Many people thanked us for bringing a bit of peace as well as a smile to their weekend; to this we say, "it’s our pleasure!". This year the Summer Fayre raised a total of £6000 towards our New Meditation Hall project (wondering what the ‘New Meditation Hall project’ is? More information on this coming soon!)
Kay picks out a frock for her next dinner party
No, we don't know what they are either...
So much choice, so little time...
Alice tried to copy her name sake,
but the rabbit hole just wasn't big
enough
The kids really enjoyed whacking these old prayer drums
(they're still for
sale by the way...)
Theeeko will jump through hoops to entertain the kiddies
Your'e being followed ...
Our calculations show that enough cake was eaten
on Sunday to build an 800ft
Buddha statue
Kelsang Gema makes a new friend
20/06/08
UKDC web site now live!
Click here to go to the newly opened UKDC 2008 web site and find out more
about the teachings and empowerment planned for the event later this year.
Online booking will also be available via the web site very soon!
02/06/08
Spring Post Festival Retreat at Tara Centre
Over the last week Tara Centre has been home to Kadampa Buddhists from all over the globe as she hosted her annual post Spring festival retreat. Following on from the empowerment and teachings given by Venerable Geshe-la at the Spring festival, the international crowd spent the week meditating on the Yoga of Buddha Vajrapani. Geshe-la first gave this empowerment only three years ago and has since reworked the accompanying practice to make this ancient and profound tantra even more accessable to contemporary people. Tara Centre’s Resident Teacher Gen Kelsang Jigme gave concise reminders of Geshe-la’s instructions at the beginning of each session so that those attending could begin to gain familiarity with the practice. Familiarity, Geshe-la explained, was the second of ‘five forces’ which would make our practice successful, the others being motivation, faith, purifying obstructions & aspirational prayer. The retreaters showed their sincere wish to engage in these five forces by volunteering around the centre when they weren’t meditating. It is always inspiring for us at Tara Centre to see the joy with which people apply themselves to every day tasks around the Centre, transforming the mundane into the spiritual.
Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed the retreat – we hope to see you again soon!
Nicole from Hong Kong cleaning inside the
Dorje Shugden shrine during the Spring post festival retreat
Manjushri Empowerment weekend
Last weekend Tara Centre hosted a weekend event with her Resident Teacher Gen Kelsang Jigme, which included teachings on ultimate truth and the blessing empowerment of Buddha Manjushri. Empowerments are ceremonies where the participants receive a special blessing from Buddha which ripens our potential to become enlightened. We also need to receive empowerment in order to practice the ‘sadhana’, or ‘method for accomplishment’ of a particular Buddha. The sadhana of Buddha Manjushri is a tantric method for attaining enlightenment and over the weekend Gen Jigme gave commentary to the practice, explaining for beginners and more experienced practitioners alike how to engage in this very special practice. Gen Jigme followed Venerable Geshe-la’s example in explaining how success in tantra requires a firm grounding in Buddha’s sutra teachings, in this way ensuring the purity of the
practice and guarding against its misuse. It is our hope that all who
attended found the weekend meaningful and enjoyable and make swift progress along the path to enlightenment.
Gen Kelsang Jigme teaching during the Manjushri Empowerment May 2008 |
Kelsang Pagma offering traditional Tibetan Katag (white scarf) as a thanking for the teaching |
Traditional Tibetan Katag (white scarf) offering |
A member of the Tara Centre community receiving the blessing empowerment of Buddha Manjushri |
Tara Centre teacher Paul Harrison leading a Meditation during the Empowerment weekend |
12/04/08
Online booking system
For your convenience, we are pleased to announce that our secure online booking system is now fully operational. You can now book for all Tara Centre's upcoming courses, retreats and events directly from the website using any of the following cards:
For your peace of mind, all Tara Centre's online payments are handled securely by WorldPay.