A Message From John
Dear Friends in Meditation,
Trusting this note finds you well with the warming weather of Spring.
Our Vassa Retreat period for 2025 has now ended.
Of this period from the Full Moon of July to the Full Moon of October, a period of 3 months (12 weeks), we had four monthly Sunday Retreat Days, the last being Sunday 5th October.
I trust that this period of time for those that were part of our Vassa Retreat, found it a helpful period of time to both develop and deepen your Meditation Practice as well as taking time to study and reflect upon the theme of our Vassa Retreat, The Ten Spiritual Virtues – Paramita.
The four Sunday Retreat days were all well attended with around 20 people in attendance as well as several people connecting online for the livestreaming of the sessions.
The weather for all four sessions was also favourable for us, allowing us to practice our Walking Meditation outside in the gardens of Ratanagiri.
I always find that this designated time frame is a great support to dedicate and devote time and energy to a most significant and special endeavour, developing the quality and clarity of our Mind.
I also find that the 3 month period does pass quite quickly indeed.
As I mentioned to the participants on the last Vassa Retreat Session, what remains important is to now continue to develop and maintain the good practice that we have done over the last three months.
Some of you may have attended all of the 4 Vassa Retreat Days, some of you maybe only some, and others maybe none.
However we still do have our Vassa Retreat Period for next year 2026, and maybe you are already looking forward to this!
During the Vassa Retreat Period, we also had our Thursday Night – weekly Meditation Group, which provided extra explanation and discussion on the Ten Spiritual Virtues.
Our Thursday Night Meditation Group will continue for the rest of the year as usual.
The next and also last Sunday Meditation Day Retreat for the year will be on Sunday 7th December 2025.
This will be a Half-Day Retreat with a shared lunch at the end, as a way of finishing the year.
I came across a lovely verse in my notebook that I used when I was a Buddhist Monk living at Amaravati Monastery in England in 1990.
The verse expresses the beauty of deep inner Peace and Presence when we stop the mental creating of stress and worldly issues; waking up to profound Peace which is the foundational experience behind all the stress.
The verse was written by an American Buddhist Monk at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Northern California, the monastery of Master Hua; who I visited in 1990 together with other monastics from Amaravati Monastery. During that visit I also met Reverand Heng Sure, another American disciple of Master Hua, who spends half the year in Australia at Dharma Realm Buddhist Monastery on the Gold Coast.
Last month several of us from the Ratanagiri Meditation Group visited Dharma Realm, and just last week Rev. Heng Sure and two visiting monks from USA visited me at Ratanagiri (see photo above).
Please enjoy the verse below and use it for your own inspiration for your Meditation.
I hope to see you at our Thursday Night Meditation Group and also our last Retreat Day for the year, which you can register for now: info@wellawareness.com.au
Life is truly a dream.
All of its troubles I alone create.
When I stop creating, the trouble stops.
With a single mind, with an unbounded heart,
We can wake up to the wonderful existence
In true emptiness that we are
In the middle of right now.
When all in the world ceases to exist,
Only the wonderful remains.
Bhikshu Heng Ch’au
