Welcome to the October 2013 Marpa Monthly Update, letting you know about events, volunteering opportunities and more at Marpa House.
EVENTS – OCTOBER 2013
Meditation Practice Day
Sunday 6 October – 10.30am and 2.30pm
The Calm Abiding meditation sessions will be led by Daniel Bradley, who has been a student of Chime Rinpoche and Ato Rinpoche for eight years. The day is ideal for beginners as well as more experienced practitioners. It is a wonderful opportunity for the Sangha to practise together and to spend a day in the tranquillity of Marpa House. Free of charge but if you would like to have lunch (£5), please let the Secretary know.
Celebration of Lama Chime Rinpoche’s Birthday
Saturday 12 October – 2.30pm
You are all cordially invited to join us to celebrate Rinpoche’s birthday. This will be a very special occasion as Rinpoche has confirmed that he will be with us on the day. We will start the celebrations with the offering of khataks to Rinpoche in the shrine room. Afterwards we can all enjoy a nice tea party. Please bring some vegetarian food to share.
In the morning, at 11am, Rinpoche would like to give a teaching for his older students. Younger students may attend but the teaching will specifically focus on the needs of Rinpoche’s older students who are now retired.
Young Sangha Weekend
Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October
The Young Sangha Weekend is open to anyone between 18 and 40 who is interested in Buddhism and meditation. Newcomers are particularly welcome. The weekend will follow an informal structure including meditation, chanting and discussion. All the cooking will be done communally. Please contact Ben Henriques, who organises the weekends, via Marpa House if you are interested in attending.
Tibetan Language Day
Sunday 27 October – 10.30am and 2pm
If you can read and write Tibetan and can use a Tibetan dictionary, you are welcome to join in a day of reading and translating.
Fee: £5
NEW YOUTUBE INTERVIEW WITH RINPOCHE
Rinpoche’s latest video is a fascinating interview about Chogyam Trungpa. You can watch here.NEW WEBSITE
VOLUNTEERS GARDENING
Last weekend Pete led a merry bunch of volunteer gardeners who came to Marpa to weed, prune, tidy and watch the fruit in the garden grow. They did a great job and the garden is now looking beautiful as we move further into the fine autumn weather. An added bonus at the weekend was the marriage blessing of Donald and Iwona here at Marpa, a privilege and delight to be able to participate in their happy moment. Thank you to everyone for making it such a wonderful weekend.
40/40 NEXT STAGE – BUILDING WORK BEGINS!
We will also now carry out significant upgrading to our fire protection services, in conjunction with advice from a recently appointed Fire Safety Consultancy. This upgrade will require significant work over some years. The obvious changes will be a new fire alarm system, improved or replaced exit doors, upgraded emergency lighting, new signage. This will have inevitable consequences of inconvenience, but it is unavoidable. We plan to have the more important aspects of this work completed by February. Again, it is unavoidable, and is for the future of our House, our home, our centre.
Our builders have been carefully selected and have already shown great sympathy to the House and its functioning, cleaning up meticulously at the end of each day, and working around our routines. Sila. Patience.
STAFFING OPPORTUNITIES
We are again looking for staff to help in the house. Please contact a member of the House Committee or the Secretary if you would like to volunteer to be on staff in early 2014 for a short or long period.VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CELEBRATIONSVolunteers are needed for this autumn’s events, such as making decorations on Saturday 2 November, at 3pm, at Marpa House, in preparation for the celebrations next weekend, 9 – 10 November. On that weekend, we will need more volunteers to help out before and during the events. We also need jam jars to hold tea lights, and loans of electric fairy lights. If you are able to help please contact Sian Rabi-Laleh sianrabilaleh@hotmail.co.ukGARDEN STRIMMER
There are still a few tickets left (£20 each) for the Marpa House 40th Birthday Black Tie Celebration on 9 November. If you would like to buy a ticket please go here.DONATE
It is easy to donate to Marpa House and to help ensure that Marpa House is here for at least another 40 years. All you have to do is click this link: here
Thank you for your ongoing support and interest in Marpa House!
with best wishes,
Marpa House Committee
