Down Under

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Comment by Modgala Duguid on September 10, 2009 at 3:52pm

Nice to hear from you Tony. One day I hope to visit Melbourne and would be delighted to visit your class. Namo amida bu
Modgala

Comment by Anthony David Foster on August 22, 2009 at 12:43pm

Hello to everyone in Melbourne and in Australia. My name is Tony and each week I hold a Zen Buddhist class in Melbourne. As a Zen Teacher our activity includes aspects of Pure Land and the traditional Chan meditation such as sitting, walking and standing. Our group meets every Tuesday evening and as always new people are very welcome. May you allways be well and peaceful and happy.

Comment by Katrien Sercu on August 9, 2009 at 6:14pm

Meeting eachother on ning opened my world in more sences, Robert. When i was younger i red books about Australia, but i never talked or wrote with someone from there. So you brings this beautiful and hard country more near and alive. This enlarges my interest in this part of our world. Thanks for your 'historical' comment from 7 april. Interesting and chocking.
I hope once there can be a sangha in Melbourne; it's good and supporting to be close to a sangha, even in the knowledge that the inspiring is limited when all members are lay!. Namo Amida Bu

Comment by Modgala Duguid on May 9, 2009 at 10:42am

It would be very nice for people to come together in Melbourne Namo amida Bu!

Comment by Robert McCarthy on May 9, 2009 at 5:53am

I am living in the south east of melbourne. I wonder if there are any people interested in practice together.

Comment by Modgala Duguid on April 9, 2009 at 3:28pm

Welcome Dr Arbind Namo amida bu

Comment by Dr. Arbind on April 8, 2009 at 4:25pm

Hello to all of you, my dear friends !

Comment by Modgala Duguid on April 7, 2009 at 9:28am

I find it hard to find adequate words to respond to both things you are talking about. having travelled now in Zambia and India i feel deep shame on behalf of my colonial ancestors and how many indiginous and aboriginal people around the world are still treated. and how in many countries the land has been depleted and ruined in the search for resources and ways of making money. My stomach still curls when i remember being in zambia, starving with the people and walking through their cotton and tobacco crops...
I can try to empathise with you and the people living in kingslake at the loss of your mini paradise only by imagining the loss of the places I love.
and yes we are fortunate compared to the majority of people in the world and yet we in the more affluent regions may have lost much as well. despite the poverty, hunger and AIDs Zambia is the safest and happiest place I have ever lived in!!! Namo amida bu
Modgala

Comment by Robert McCarthy on April 7, 2009 at 5:18am

Each part of our globe has its own uniqueness and its own challenges due to this uniqueness. Amida members living in colonized lands have less reason to be attached to "their land" than our european members. In historically recent times ancient civilizations have been decimated by our acquisitive white ancestors.
This pattern of violent theft has continued into the very present times. Only in 1967 were aboriginal people for the first time even included in the census. The evil practice of taking babies from aboriginal families to be raised as white people continued after this time. Each year white Australia has a major celebration on 26th. January- Australia day. Aboriginal people and caring white Australians call it invasion day- the date the first fleet landed in 1788. Generally the theme has been to have people dress in colonial costume and reenact the arrival. Modern politics here wrestled for a generation to even find the words to say sorry- this was the greatly overblown and terribly late apology the new government gave last year.
Australia has been a safe and wealthy country for me to live a very privileged life in. I could choose to live a simpler life, always with a safety net if needed. We always are well fed, have had fairly minor issues of warfare on our land and do not even seem to have tragedies on any scale that compares to the terrible natural disasters that afflict many parts of the world.
But i became attached to one part of australia. A beautiful mountain wilderness, winter snow, summer heat. We built a very sweet little mudbrick cottage into the forest some twenty years ago and cohabitated with lyre birds, koalas, kangaroos, echidnas, wombats, possums and oh an average population of 30 deadly snakes to the acre. Raising children, making pots, meditating, partying and loving. Kinglake is the most special place.
This is how even given the reality of this years horrific weather conditions, a disaster remained unimaginable. One hundred metre high wall of flame travelling at some 150 kilometres an hour had destroyed most of the homes, killed some 150 people and turned the forest into black stumps and white ash- before even the first warning came that kinglake was under threat.
So the sadness comes to this land. My loss is of my attachment, no loss at all there. Several people i used to know did not survive, but its over ten years since I moved back into the city. But the sadness is so stark and palpable. We go and help friends clear their wreckage. In this street all the houses- more than forty- were totally destroyed and more than twenty people died. just a short little street some 100 metres long. many people are rebuilding their homes. but its going to be a different and special place always.

Comment by Robert McCarthy on April 6, 2009 at 12:53am

This is i think the first move to create some structure for amida pureland in this region. i very much welcome any other members who want to have a presence within this group.