Generating True Presence
A Meditation Retreat With Therese Fitzgerald and Wendy Johnson

Wednesday, March 21-Sunday, March 25
Camp Mitchell
Petit Jean Mountain, Morrilton, Arkansas
 
This retreat will be dedicated to generating presence or intimacy with ourselves and our lives. Daily Dharma talks will reflect on the Buddhist teachings of the “Dharma Seals”–impermanence, interbeing, dissatisfactoriness, and extinction of concepts–as fuel for the practice of being present with ourselves and all beings.

Participants will also practice 25-minute periods of meditation interspersed with indoor walking meditation several times a day, as well as outdoor walking meditation, mindful meals in silence, yoga, focused discussion groups, and private practice interviews, which will encourage and ground us.  Partial silence will be maintained throughout the retreat.

This will be a four-day retreat. In special cases participants may attend for three days, but the teachers would like to wholeheartedly encourage participants to set aside the time to attend the full retreat and benefit from the entire program of meditation, study, and contemplation. This is the first retreat of this length since 1994, when Therese Fitzgerald first gave a retreat in Arkansas.

Therese Fitzgerald trained at the San Francisco and Tassajara Zen Centers with Richard Baker-roshi, and then with Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who ordained her as a teacher in 1994. She works as a Dharma mentor and meditation retreat leader, and she offers weekly meditation sessions at Maui Community Correctional Center.      

Wendy Johnson has been practicing Zen meditation since 1972. Ordained as a lay Dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh, Wendy has also trained at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in northern California for more than three decades, combining engaged meditation and organic gardening practice. Her book, Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate, will be published by Bantam Books early in 2008.

You are also invited to attend a public talk that will be held Tuesday, March 20, 2007,  from 7:00 –8:30 P.M. at the Ecumenical Buddhist Society, 1015 West Second Street, Little Rock, Arkansas.

For more information and registration, visit http://www.ebslr.org/event_fitzgerald_johnson.html

The date originally published for Anam Thubten Rinpoche’s visit to Fayetteville was incorrect.  The correct date is Thursday April 5.

FAYETTEVILLE - April 5, 2007
PUBLIC DHARMA TALK with Anam Thubten Rinpoche
Thursday April 5, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
St. Martin’s Episcopal/Lutheran Chapel
814 W. Maple Street in Fayetteville
Suggested Donation: $10.00 for students/seniors and $15.00 for adults

Anam Thubten Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama rooted in the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, returns to Arkansas for a public talk and a weekend retreat at the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock, and a public talk in Fayetteville at St. Martin’s Episcopal/Lutheran Chapel.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche was born in Tibet and undertook Buddhist training in the Nyingma tradition at an early age. Soon after entering the monastery he was recognized as the reincarnation of Anam Lama. He has studied with many dharma teachers in Tibet. He has been teaching in the West since the 1990’s and currently serves as the spiritual advisor and dharma teacher for the Dharmata Foundation. Anam Thubten is also a writer, Buddhist scholar and a lover of the true dharma.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche Returns to Arkansas
April 5 - 8

Anam Thubten Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama rooted in the teachings of the Nyingma lineage, returns to Arkansas for a public talk and a weekend retreat at the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock, and a public talk in Fayetteville at St. Martin’s Episcopal/Lutheran Chapel.

Anam Thubten Rinpoche was born in Tibet and undertook Buddhist training in the Nyingma tradition at an early age. Soon after entering the monastery he was recognized as the reincarnation of Anam Lama. He has studied with many dharma teachers in Tibet. He has been teaching in the West since the 1990’s and currently serves as the spiritual advisor and dharma teacher for the Dharmata Foundation. Anam Thubten is also a writer, Buddhist scholar and a lover of the true dharma.

FAYETTEVILLE - April 5: PUBLIC DHARMA TALK
Thursday, April 5, 7 - 8:30 pm
[Please note the corrected date above; the original date published was incorrect.]
St. Martin’s Episcopal/Lutheran Chapel
814 W. Maple Street in Fayetteville
Suggested Donation: $10.00 for students/seniors and $15.00 for adults

LITTLE ROCK - April 6: PUBLIC DHARMA TALK
Friday April 6, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Ecumenical Buddhist Society Center
1015 West 2nd Street, Little Rock
Suggested Donation: $10.00 for students/seniors and $15.00 for adults

LITTLE ROCK - April 7 - 8: RETREAT
Retreat Teaching: “Your True Nature”
Ecumenical Buddhist Society Center
1015 West 2nd Street, Little Rock
Saturday, April 7th 10 am - 12:30 pm; 3 - 5:30 pm
Sunday, April 8th 10 am - 12:30 pm; 3 - 5:30 pm
Cost: $60.00 for one day or $108.00 for both days

For additional information and to register, visit http://ebslr.org/event_anam_thubten_retreat.html

UARK Students for a Free Tibet Present
An Evening with Jeff Donovan
Return of the Snowdragon
March 15, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main, University of Arkansas

Jeff Donovan, noted photographer of sacred sites around the world, will visit the Arkansas campus on March 15 to share and discuss images of Tibet from his “Return of the Snowdragon” project. Sponsored by the University of Arkansas chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, this event is free and open to the public. 50 years of Communist Chinese occupation has had a devastating impact on the people and culture of Tibet. The “Return of the Snowdragon” project is a collection of stunningly beautiful and poignant images documenting the current state of that culture. DATE: March 15, 2007 LOCATION: Giffels Auditorium Old Main, University of Arkansas TIME: 7:00 pm

Images from Return of the Snowdragon © 2007 Jeff Donovan; used with permission.

Jeff will also attend Geshe Dorjee and Professor Sidney Burris’s class earlier that afternoon from 12:30-1:50. Interested parties may attend that as well. The class meets in Old Main 319.

Jeff Donovan is a freelance photographer who currently resides in Philadelphia. His work involves documenting the many diverse landscapes, cultures, and peoples of the world. In Jeff’s own words:

I choose as subjects, the people who still maintain a spiritual dialogue with the natural world. As humans we are creatures still bound to the earth, yet our modern lifestyles are increasingly severing the ties that bind us to it. The dichotomy of direction between our modern existence and a traditional way of life has always troubled me. We must act swiftly to observe the fleeting glimpses of those cultures and lifestyles that have existed for centuries, but are rapidly approaching extinction. There are many lessons to learn that risk being assigned to history unless we act to document and assist to preserve them.

You can see a sampling of Mr. Donovan’s work, including sample images from the Return of the Snowdragon project, at www.jeffdonovan.net/

For more information about the University of Arkansas chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, visit http://www.uark.edu/ua/tibet/