Monthly Archives: June 2014

A visit from Chamtrul Rinpoche

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Today we welcomed Chamtrul Rinpoche to our school. Rinpoche talked about the meaning of the mantra Om mani padme hum – Mani means “jewel” or “bead” and Padme means “the lotus flower”, the Buddhist sacred flower. Rinpoche said a prayer for world peace and answered some of the children’s questions; we found out that he enjoys both teaching and listening, has many friends and also likes football!

Since 1996, Rinpoche has been teaching in numerous Buddhist institutes around the world, and regularly at the Bodhicitta Dharma Centre in the Indian Himalayan town of Dharamsala. Over the years he has taught thousands of students from about a hundred different countries and frequently travels the world, giving teachings, empowerments, transmissions, and lectures:

“Teaching is what I do in this life, wherever someone asks me to teach, I am there. Without discriminating against anybody based on their gender, race, creed and so forth, I wish them to enjoy excellent peace and harmony. I try to the best of my ability to promote the view, meditation and conduct of non-violence, which is the indispensable source for the spread and enhancement of the inner peace of mind.”

Find out more about Chamtrul Rinpoche at chamtrul-rinpoche.com.

Lotus class write their own guided meditations

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Our Acting Head Teacher, Bea Harley, has been leading guided meditation sessions with Lotus class (Years 5 & 6) which has inspired the children to create their own meditation journeys:

“Are you comfortable? Well, if you are, good. Now we can begin. Imagine you are lying on a rug. A very fluffy, very warm rug. But your stay on your very fluffy, very warm rug is not long because now you can feel the floor sink beneath you, and you just keep slowly falling down and down.

But you stop and when the darkness clears you realise you’re on a cloud, floating in the air, and just in the background, just ever so faintly is the noise of a busy city below you but you choose not to hear it. And it’s just you and your cloud up in the sky and it’s peaceful and quiet. you sit there for a while, just peaceful and quiet.”

…………………………..

“Relax. make sure you are in your most comfortable position. Imagine you are flying, gliding around the clouds. You look around and see one cloud that looks like a horse, one that looks like a wheelbarrow and another that looks like a rabbit. You then dip down below cloud level over a city turns into countryside, which turns into beaches, which turns into ocean. A pair of bottle-nosed dolphins leap below as you soar through the sky. As you turn to go home you see a mother whale with its young swimming below you. They stay with you until you near the beach and then they leave, tails flapping goodbye to you. As soon as you touch down gently, the smell of home overwhelms you. You go inside with a smile on your face.”