May 2001
Newsletter
After a wet and freezing first week, May has settled down to that lovely autumn time of the year, with warm days and cool nights, and the slow but steady shedding of leaves from the trees - leaving a textured, rustling carpet of reds and yellows and browns scattered on the ground. Over the past few weeks narrow strips of burnt grass have been snaking their way across the veld as we establish boundary lines from which we will burn firebreaks in June. Many of the trees are in seed now, making it easier to discover the names of the bushveld family sharing this land - Jacket plums, Red ivory, White stinkwood, Bushveld resin tree and many others.The Natural Unfolding retreat over Easter went well and provided a time to be quiet as well as some interesting encounters with nature. Rocky, our dog, caught his first rabbit and presented it to us, half eaten, after the early morning meditation on Sunday - one of our retreatants remarked that he hoped it wasn't the Easter bunny! On a long walk up the mountain we were fortunate to see a total of 6 antelope and a troop of baboons at Boekenhout kloof.
Over the Wesak weekend we had a lovely surprise when a group of about a dozen Sri Lankan's, headed by the High Commissioner to South Africa, came from Pretoria on the Sunday to celebrate the first Wesak at Emoyeni. The Sri Lankan, Thai and Myanmar delegations are sponsoring another Wesak day to be held at the Nan Hua Temple, Bronkhorstspruit on the 20 May - everyone is invited to attend.
The Environmental Impact Study has been processed by the Department of Conservation and they have asked for some more detailed information before giving their approval. So we have to have the borehole capacity tested, say how we will dispose of the sewage at the meditation khuti's higher up the mountain, give assurances on the quality of the road up to the retreat area, etc. A little more work for us and a little more patience, before this process is completed.
In these early days at Emoyeni we really enjoy discovering the differing ways people hear about the centre, and nowadays the bungalow next to the main house is starting to be used quite regularly. This means we start to panic at the thought of more than 3 or 4 guests..… so we have begun work on the old, derelict house 50m past the vegetable garden, which with some creative renovation, we can convert to having 3 double rooms, a small lounge and a bathroom. After a major clearing operation, a beautiful stone wall below the house was revealed and with lovely indigenous trees around, the area is rich in birdlife.
The vegetable garden is going great guns! We are already eating the spinach from seeds sown late March, and have carrots, beetroot, peas, brussel sprouts and lettuce at varying stages of growth. What a delight to pick'n eat! Thanks to everyone who helped in getting the veggie garden into shape. Mario Olckers, who has been with us since December, is about to leave us to ordain as a monk at the Burmese Monastery in Pietermaritzburg. We will miss his cheerful presence at Emoyeni, and wish him well in his monastic life.
WEB SITE
Since the previous newsletter Johann has managed to get our website started. It is still "under construction" and will, I am sure, undergo many revisions, but take a look. The internet address is: emoyeni0.tripod.com
Let us know what you think!
Mervyn