|
Locations - Virupa Retreat Centre
The
Tibetan Buddhist Society of Canberra hosts retreats at its
peaceful, rural, hill top centre near Queanbeyan.
For
many years Sakya Losal Choe Dzong had been looking to acquire
land to set up a permanent home for the Dharma in the Canberra
area.
Various
plots of land were viewed and plans to build gonpas, huts
and community buildings were designed.
The
Society then decided to buy an already established property
and the committee members set out in earnest to find something
suitable.
In June 2002, then-president
Jaki Lowes discovered a rural property with potential near
Queanbeyan.
As
soon as Rinpoche set eyes on it he was delighted.
His
enthusiasm was quickly matched by that of the committee members
who realised that this spacious home and triple garage on
50 hectares could easily be transformed into a centre to provide
much-needed retreat facilities to service the needs of Sakya
Losal Choe Dzong and her sister centres.
The
purchase arrangements were all finalised quickly and Sakya
Losal Choe Dzong established Virupa Retreat Centre with an
official house-warming party and consecration on 30 June 2002.
We moved in at
Easter 2002 and quickly made ourselves “retreat shape”
to host a Vajrayogini Retreat, a Calm Abiding Retreat and
a Soor workshop.
By the time of
our official house warming party and consecration, we knew
Virupa Retreat Centre would be a true bastion for blossoming
of the Dharma.
From
garage to gonpa
Initially
we managed to establish a gonpa in the current dining room
but then our eyes turned to the triple garage and Rinpoche
suggested we transform this into a gonpa.
Angelo Rossi took
on the task of gutting and relining the gonpa with a team
of volunteers armed with paintbrushes and ladders.
The current gonpa
arose and is now constantly in use for both retreat and daily
practice.
The
huts
Our
next project was that of establishing retreat facilities.
Thanks
to the kind sponsorship of our dedicated members and the tireless
efforts of Angelo, Nick, residents and visitors to VRC, we
have three substantial retreat huts.
While
their final coat of paint was drying, retreatants were booking
in.
The main
house
The main building
houses the dining room, lounge, kitchen, office and living
quarters for the resident Sangha and retreat guests.
Jambala
Bookshop has been set up in a former shed.
A
three-bedroom cottage with bunk beds is available for rent
when not being used for retreats.
To
date we’ve had Ngondro, Calm Abiding, Vajrayogini and
Vajrapani retreatants retreating – some in full silence
and others engaging in semi-retreat (establishing for themselves
a more stable pattern to their current commitments).
Members
- and Lama Choedak Rinpoche’s students -are always welcome
to book for weeks, months or even just the weekend.
During the past
three years Virupa Retreat Centre has hosted all of our retreats
and monthly workshops.
We also had the
honour of hosting His Holiness Sakya Trizen and His Eminence
Ratnavajra and their entourage in May 2003 and His Eminence
Luding Ken Rinpoche in 2004.
In October 2003
we hosted a special ordination breakfast for the historic
Gelong-ma ordination with an amazing assembly of 105 Australians,
Vietnamese and Tibetans followed by auspicious 16 Arhat Puja
in the gonpa.
Virupa Retreat
Centre is a beautiful haven for Dharma, nestling in the hills
behind Queanbeyan on the way to Captain’s Flat –
a jewel in the crown of Sakya Losal Choe Dzong’s activities.
Address
Virupa is at 179
Douglas Close, Carwoola (off Captain's Flat Road near Queanbeyan)
in NSW - about 30 minutes from Canberra.
You can phone the
retreat centre on (02) 6238 2088.
|
