September 2002
Newsletter
The beginning of Spring is always a time of great energy, as Nature emerges from its time of quiescence into the explosion of new growth that bursts forth in Spring. There are those special moments …. sighting the first Swallows…. watching the first buds open on the bare branches of the Live-Long tree… and the landscape awakened by the brilliant scarlet flowers of the Coral trees alongside the creamy, white of the Wild pears. The firebreaks were completed in July and the early smattering of spring rain has greened up the veld grass in these strips, looking as though a giant, with great brushstokes, has painted green necklaces across the rocky mountain slopes. With the help of retreatants, we are continuing to open up the woodland area around the living areas - removing thickets of Kharkibos, Lantana, Sickle bush and goat apples. Gradually, that which was thorny and inpenetrable becomes open and spacious, inviting one to enter and explore, creating space to plant new flowering bushes and shady trees. Sounds rather like a metaphor for our spiritual practice doesn't it!
The Retreat Centre was featured on the Verve page of The Star newspaper early in July, giving Emoyeni wide exposure in Gauteng. The feature, excellently written by Marika Sboros, generated a lot of interest in the centre and all the retreats since then have been fully booked. Many thanks Marika! We have also had excellent support from the visiting teachers to Emoyeni over the past few months, and we look forward to broadening the range of good quality retreats in the months and years ahead.
Two friends of Emoyeni are very interested in purchasing the neighbouring farm, which has been up for sale for some months now. However they do not have sufficient capital to purchace the property on their own and are very keen to find another partner (or two) to participate in the purchace. If you are interested in having a place in the Magaliesberg next to Emoyeni, read the caption below giving more details of the farm, and let us know.
NEIGHBOURING FARM FOR SALE
± R600 000
The farm neighbouring the Emoyeni Retreat Centre on its western boundary is still for sale. The area is about 24 hectares, and is a narrow property stretching more than 1 km up the mountain. What makes it especially interesting is that it has 4 dwellings on it, which lends itself readily to joint ownership of the property. These dwellings are:
Two-bedroomed, 1 bathroom house with thatched roof and stone walls
A one-bedroomed, 1 bathroom thatched cottage linked to a two-bedroomed brick house with kitchen & lounge.
"The Castle" - castle-like appearance, with 2 spacious bedrooms, 2 small bedrooms, lounge, bathroom, kitchen & a balcony with outstanding views.
A one-bedroomed flat, with kitchen and bathroom.
There is also a rondavel, a lapa with stone walls and stone paving, and several other outbuildings. The farm has a borehole higher up the mountain and a spare unused borehole. There is about 3 hectares of flat land in front of the houses which could be used for agriculture.
JOIN THE RESIDENT COMMUNITY!
Are you interested in coming to live and work at Emoyeni? As the Centre is much busier these days, we would like to find someone to join the Resident Community. Some cooking experience and an interest in gardening would be a big plus for the Centre. If you are interested in joining the community please contact Mervyn or Johann at Emoyeni (014) 574-3662 for more information.
EMOYENI LIBRARY
Books for the Library: Any books on Buddhism or related subjects that you would care to part with would be much appreciated to improve our library.
Mervyn
JOHANNESBURG SANGHA
111 12th Street, Parkhurst ~ Tel: 788-8276
You are invited to join the Johannesburg group in Parkhurst on Sunday evenings for meditation practice and some discussion. Please give the group your support - a strong group benefits everyone, it provides an opportunity to practice with spiritual friends, to find out about good books to read and to discuss with others any topic that is relevant to your practice.
WEEKLY MEDITATION: Sundays at 6.00 p.m.