October 14, 2009

Milarepa
Center

1344 U.S. Route 5 South
Barnet, Vermont  05821
(802) 633-4136

www.milarepacenter.org
milarepa@milarepacenter.org

Affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT)

Greetings from Milarepa Center!

 
We hope you are enjoying a nice autumn. The weather offers up
some lovely gifts at times such as the rainbow that graced our skies
just the other day.

Milarepa Center recently hosted an autumn work party to prepare
the center for the winter. We cleaned up most of the garden, harvested
a monstrous amount of squash, took down our event tent, organized
our workshop, put more shingles on our tiny house, cleaned the stove
in the kitchen, and mowed and raked the lawn, among other things.

The joyous garden clean-up crew.

Our newly organized workshop: before and after.

Jeff, Amy and Rosanne attended the Light of the Path retreat in
North Carolina with Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and it was a most
meaningful and somewhat riveting experience. Jeff and Amy will be
team teaching on Tuesday evenings through November 17, 6:30-8:00pm
on topics from this wonderful retreat.  Feel free to drop by.

Fred Fickera left to go to Laos for the winter after a magnificent month
working with Jeff on our tiny house (see photo of Jeff, left and Fred below).  We are most grateful to Fred for his warm expertise and hope
to see him next spring to work on constructing our second retreat cabin.
See the Tiny House update below for more details on our progress of
completing our first cabin. If you are a skilled carpenter or construction
person and would like to help us finish this cabin by the winter,
please call us at (802) 633-4136.



We had a wonderful weekend with Ven. Gyatso who came up to
Milarepa following his leading the Light of the Path retreat and had
a number of longtime members attend.

Our "How to Meditate" Series on Wednesday evenings has attracted a
number of participants eager to get settled on their meditation cushions.
If you're interested to explore this course on a correspondence basis,
it's free at www.fpmt.org.  Just go to the home page, go down
a bit and click on  "Online Learning Center," click on "Discovering
Buddhism," then click on "How to Meditate" and if you need an
enrollment key, it's calmabiding07. There is a wealth of interesting
courses and materials available, so feel free to explore and enrich your
Dharma learning experience.


Our Stupa recently got copper banners hung on it (thanks to the expert
metal work of John Bieling who also created the gau -- the front metal
piece -- and other metal components) that will be gold-leafed in the
future, so we are on our way to completing this important project.

Ven. Choden Rinpoche has confirmed to come to Milarepa in July,
2010 so we are working together with Kurukulla Center to plan a
very nice program for the area.

  The hardest part of going
  into the winter is that our
  wonderful cook, Rosanne
  Hebert, and her wife, Elisa
  Lucozzi (at left), who has
  been running our office, will
  be leaving Milarepa Center at
  the end of October.
  Rosanne will be traveling to
Nepal to attend the month-long Kopan course and then meeting Elisa
in India at the end of December when they will attend the teachings
with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya. We're very excited
for them and hope they will come back, but due to the center's limited financial resources, it's very difficult to fully support them. We wish
them well and, knowing they will always be part of our Milarepa
Family, hope to see them following their trip to hear of all their
adventures.

Without Rosanne and Elisa's valuable help, our center will be returning
to Jeff and myself, so please contact us if you are available for cooking
and cleaning for some of our upcoming programs through February
as we could really use some support.

 In addition, we are looking for a full-time administrative manager to
 run the day-to-day activities of the center. Jeff is working well covering
 all of the facilities management, while the administrative manager
 would handle the overall center operations and office. Ideally, we are
 looking for an experienced person who can start March or April 2010.
 We are offering a stipend of $500/month, room, board and participation
 in the center's  Dharma programs.  We are flexible about
 arrangements, however, and will consider off-site options so if you
 have interest, please e-mail a resume to us at
 milarepa@milarepacenter.org.

 Don't miss our upcoming Death and Rebirth weekend over Halloween
 that I will be leading if you have interest in the Tibetan Buddhist
 approach to death and dying and would like to prepare yourself for the
 inevitable, but mainly to lend more meaning to your life.

  Sending best wishes for a glorious autumn and hope to see you soon!

  Amy Miller, Director

Please see below for information on:
      :: Upcoming Program Highlights
      :: Tiny House Fundraising and Construction
      :: Thank you . . .
      :: Practice Days
      :: Wish List  
  
 

Upcoming
Program Highlights

Light of the Path:
Teachings and Mindfulness for Everyday Life
Tuesday evenings, 6:30-8pm, Ongoing through November 17
with Amy Miller and Jeff Garnette. By donation.
      Classes highlighting the essence of the recent retreat with Milarepa
      Spiritual Director, Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche, in North Carolina.
      Meditation and exercises for daily life included.

 
Halloween Weekend, October 30-November 1:
Death and Rebirth: Preparing for Life's Ultimate
Transition with Amy Miller.
     Lend more meaning to your life by exploring the challenges we face in
     death.  Join this insightful workshop combining lecture, discussion,
     meditation, and quiet reflection along with a thorough explanation
     of the death process in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This program is
     designed for a variety of caregivers, as well as those actively involved in
     hospice work.

     Perfect for all levels of spiritual practitioners and those new to the
     Buddhist path who have a particular interest in understanding the
     death process according to Tibetan Buddhism.

      The Program

     Friday:   6:00p        Registration and Dinner
            7:15p        Orientation
            7:30-9:00p   Introductory Session
 
  Saturday: 7:00-8:00a   Meditation
            8:00a        Breakfast
            9:30a-12:00p Session with short break
            12:00-2:30p  Lunch and break
            2:30-5:30p   Session with short break
            5:30-7:00p   Dinner
            7:00-8:30p   Session or short video
 
  Sunday:   7:00-8:00a   Meditation
            8:00a        Breakfast
            9:30a-12:00p Session with short break
            12:00p       Lunch and clean-up
 
    Meditations will be included in various sessions.


November 8, 9:30am-4:30pm, Last Meditation Daylong for the year with Amy Miller.  By donation. 

      If you have been curious about meditation and would like to begin,
     or if you have been meditating for some time, but would like to
     fine-tune your practice, please join these monthly events. A perfect
     component for our Wednesday evening How to Meditate series or
     weekly study groups, the meditation daylong affords you the
     opportunity to get to know your mind while exploring some relevant
    discussion.

Suggested donation for weekend courses: sliding scale $225-$100
per person (includes all meals and shared accommodation).
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Private cabins also available.
 
Pre-registration required for all programs other than the
Tuesday evening classes by calling (802) 633-4136 or via e-mail
at milarepa@milarepacenter.org.

 November and December programs

   Thanksgiving Nyung Né led by Amy Miller, November 26 evening to
   November 29, morning.

   December programs with Ven. Geshe Gelek Chodha, resident teacher
   from Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, December 4-13.

   New Year's Vajrasattva Retreat, December 31, 2009 to January 3, 2010.

· Tiny House Fundraising
 and Construction

 
Our first tiny retreat cabin is coming along just fine. It's been just over one month since we started and you can see our progress from the photo here. Thank you to all involved in working on the cabin, as well as donating funds to build the two cabins. The second cabin will be built next year.  Fred Fickera and Jeff Garnette have been unbelievable in their work on this wonderful dwelling.



We are urgently wanting to complete this cabin by winter so Jeff can move in and start a winter retreat there. However, as our summer work study crew has now gone, Jeff is working mostly on his own with some great assistance from David Scribner and our recent work party participants. If you have some carpentry skills and time (even a day, a weekend, etc.), we would love your help and can give you a place to stay and wonderful meals. Please contact Jeff Garnette at (802) 633-4136 or via e-mail to milarepa@milarepacenter.org to make arrangements.

 Thank You  . . .

 Please rejoice at the wonderful spirit of generosity that
 has been gracing Milarepa Center.  We are SO grateful
 to all of you for your tremendous support:

:: All additional donors to the Tiny House retreat cabin construction project;

:: All donors to date to our end-of-the-year fundraising appeal: Anonymous
   (2);
   Ann Tabor, Thomas Beach, Greg Chilenski, Charlene Dobbins, Katarina
   Hallonblad, Robert Neill, James O'Hearn, Donna O'Malley, Ingrid Reade,
   Michael Scanlon, Janet Wormser and Deb Zuk;

:: All donors who contributed to Milarepa Center buying a truck: Herb Hale,
   Jim Johnson, Yi-Fang Li, and Claire Zurawski;

:: All of our members;
 
:: Troy and Mer Stafford for our super-duper coffee maker;
:: Bob Zimmer for stupendous help bringing electricity to the tiny house
    and the stupa;
:: Martha Tack for fantastic continual gardening work;
:: Dick Herbert for helping to print part of our fund-raising mailing;
:: John Bieling for creating and hanging the banners on the stupa;
:: Mark Winwood of the Chenrezig Project for his skillful production of our
    e-letters;
:: Ross Lasley for timely and wonderful website updates;
:: Our wonderful staff: Jeff Garnette, Rosanne Hebert, Elisa Lucozzi,
   for their tremendous hard work and harmonious spirit.

Practice Days

Please join us for these auspicious ceremonies.  All are welcome.
Please bring an offering of food to share.

October 26, Tara Puja, 6:30pm
October 28, Lama Chopa Tsog, 4pm

November 2, Medicine Buddha Puja, 6:30pm
November 9, Lha Bab Duchen, The Anniversary of the Buddha's Descent from
      Heaven, a major holiday in our tradition.  Please join us at 6:30pm for an
      offering practice to commemorate the day.
November 11, Milarepa Tsog, 6:30pm
November 25, Tara Puja, 6:30pm
November 27, Lama Chopa Tsog, 6:30pm
 
December 2, Medicine Buddha Puja, 6:30pm

Wish List

If you are able to help with any of the items below, please contact us at (802) 633-4136 or via our e-mail at milarepa@milarepacenter.org. Thank you for your kind support.
 
Four-wheel drive truck - we are have raised $3000 so far toward a truck and feel that we can get something decent for $7,000. If you are able to donate toward this essential vehicle for the center, we greatly appreciate it. Checks can be made payable to Milarepa Center and mailed to us at PO Box 51, Barnet, VT 05821. Please designate on your check that it is for the truck. You can also donate with your credit card via our PayPal account online at www.milarepacenter.org.
 
Center Administrative Manager to oversee the day-to-day running of the center and office. $500/month, room, board and participation in Dharma programs.
 
Cooks and house-cleaners for programs through February.
 
Snowmobile in good working condition.
  
 

www.milarepacenter.org

(802) 633-4136