Events

The Rev Gelong Karma Jiga will be in Orkney the weekend of the 27th-30th  November to give a weekend of teachings and discussion to The Orkney Buddhist Group on the topic of Living and Dying.

If you are not a regular member of the group but would like to attend or to know more about the weekend, please call Sue on 01856 731269 or Julie on 01856 731674 for full details.

The Rev Gelong Karma Jiga will be in Orkney the weekend of the 11th - 13th September to give a weekend of teachings and discussion to The Orkney Buddhist Group on the topic of Mindfulness.

If you are not a regular member of the group but would like to attend or to know more about the weekend, please call Sue on 01856 731269 or Julie on 01856 731674 for full details.

You don’t have to be a Buddhist to enjoy a weekend at the Strond with the Venerable Karma Jiga

The topic will be How your mind works – exploring inner space.

Karma Jiga will give a talk on Friday evening March 13th starting about 6.30pm. Entrance costs £5, and all the contributions are donated to The Rokpa Trust. On Saturday and Sunday, 14th and 15th March, there will be talks and meditation sessions from 10.30 - 12 and  1.30 – 3pm on both days.

All are welcome and you may come to all or any of the  sessions, whether you are experienced or a beginner.

There is no fixed charge, but the suggested minimum donation is £5 for each session, to cover the cost of Karma Jiga’s expenses.
For more information tel: 781700 or 781442

You are welcome to bring your lunch and a cushion.
Tea/coffee/biscuits will be provided.

Many thanks to Eileen MacDonald for this account of Lama Jiga's Teaching during the weekend of 14th-16th November 2008.

Compassion was the theme for Lama Jiga's weekend of teachings at the Strond.

Lama Jiga told us that we must learn to be compassionate, both within ourselves and for ourselves. Real compassion is much more than that fleeting pang of pity we feel when watching some disaster on the television. To find real compassion within ourselves we must meditate and look into our minds. There we will see how much negative thinking really goes on.

The way forward on the spiritual path is through meditation, as we have all found this is not easy.. There are so many distractions that can make us give up. But if we continue to practice meditation regularly, even if it is only for a few minutes every day we will eventually begin to see things differently. We will realise how many thoughts we have that interfere with our natural mind, creating negative imprints on our mind. These negative thoughts can adversely affect our true happiness and state of health.

Much of what Karma Jiga said we have heard before. It is only by repeating things that we come to realise how important they are. Often we do not pay full attention and so miss things. By practising meditation regularly every day, as often as we can, we will see things clearly and become more positive. We will not become so involved with our emotions, we will learn how to deal with them and let them go. It is then that we are able to feel real compassion for others while remaining, relaxed and comfortable within ourselves.

Lama Jiga also talked about the value of prayer. He explained that the reciting of prayers, written by highly realised beings, contain positive energy and guidance. These positive imprints on our mind help counter all the negative imprints.

The dedication prayer recited after meditation or other forms of practice release the positive benefits generated. We give away all we have achieved for the benefit of all sentient beings. This removes our ownership and reduces our ego in relation to our spiritual achievements. They are no longer ours so we cannot alter, ridicule or lessen them in any way.

Compassion helps us to remember that as our minds change through our meditation practice and we think more clearly and positively and see things differently, other people remain the same. Real compassion helps us to treat all sentient beings the same regardless. Humans and animals are all the same in wanting happiness and avoiding suffering. Working towards this and progressing along the spiritual path together in a group such as ours in the Strond is enormously helpful and supportive.

Over the weekend Lama Jiga also taught us four visualisation meditations. One of which was to imagine breathing in the clear, bright, healing light of positively then breathing out the black smoke of our negativity. Imagining the smoke dispersing completely to avoid polluting the atmosphere.

Jiga also guided us through another meditation in which we visualised someone we loved in front of us then we began to imagine we were breathing them into ourselves, first their bodies then their mind and thoughts. WhiIe at the same time exhaling ourselves, mind and body into them. We could then truly see the world from another person's point of view. We were then guided to do the same with someone we did not like, someone who had harmed us. This was a much more difficult exercise but a worthwhile exercise in generating compassion for our enemies.

Once again we had an interesting weekend with Lama Jiga. We all hope his health continues to improve and we look forward to his return to Orkney in March of next year.

Visit of Lama Jiga 14 - 16th November 2008 

We are all very pleased that the Ven Gelong Karma Jiga has recovered sufficiently from his recent operations to come up to Orkney for a weekend of teaching and meditation.

Lama Jiga will give teachings on the subject of Compassion Begins at Home at the Strond in Holm.

We all feel that real compassion is a truly wonderful thing, but tend to think of it in relation to things outside us. However true compassion is something which grows from within. If we understand what we need to do!

So come along and try it for yourself.......and lighten up about it all.

This teaching is suitable for everyone from any tradition, or from none at all.

There will be a teaching on Friday evening 14th November from 6.30 pm. Cost is £5.00. All money from this evening will go to The Rokpa charity http://www.rokpa.org/

There will be two teaching and meditation sessions each day on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November; from 10.30am until 12 noon and then again from 1.30pm until 3pm. There will be no charge for this, but donations towards the cost of Lama Jiga's travel and accommodation costs would be greatly appreciated. Suggested donation is £10.00 per day for those who can afford this.

There will be a shared lunch on Saturday and Sunday, just bring some food and join in if you would like to.

Refreshments are also available.

Everyone is very welcome, come to all the sessions or just one, whatever you can manage. 

Sunday August 23rd at The Strond, St Mary’s, Holm

As Karma Jiga is recovering from illness he is unable to be with us this weekend. The Orkney Buddhists are therefore organising a day for themselves on the topic of

COMPASSION

Everyone is very welconme. The day starts at 10 – 10.30 am with coffee and chat, and then at around 10.30 we will have a sitting meditation on compassion, followed by a walking meditation which will be outside if the weather is fine.

Around mid-day we will prepare and eat lunch (please bring something to share). We would like lunch to be eaten quietly.

After lunch we will liven up with a  creative activity, and then continue with a short talk or discussion on the topic of compassion, and a final meditation session, finishing about 4pm. Those who would like to are invited to  stay for a cup of tea and a slice of cake afterwards..

Drinks are available and the cost for the day is £2.

Please let us know if you would like to come -  781 700 is the Strond number, or ring Sue on 731 269 or Julie on 731 244

As some of you may know when Karma Jiga was in hospital last month for his kidney operation a serious heart condition was discovered. Jiga will be having a triple heart bypass operation tomorrow, Thursday 19th June. Please can I ask that everyone pray for Jiga, in whatever way they consider appropriate, and keep him in their thoughts.

This is an email message I received from him that he wished to be passed on:

Hello Everyone.

Will be having an operation in Edinburgh on Thursday…..all going well…..and then the path to recovery…..around 3 months apparently….

Your all in my prayers

Keep practicing

There's nothing else to do in this life

Look forward to seeing you all soon

Love and prayers

Lama Jiga

Long Life Prayer for The Venerable Gelong Karma Jiga Kon cho, rin chen, soom tang, tsa wa soom Chay parra, chee may, tsay-ee, lha tsok kyee. Den pay, chin too, cho kee, lop ton pa Karma jiga, yoon ring, tso shay sho. By the beneficent power of the truth of the Three jewels, Rare and Sublime that of the Three Roots, and especially that of the deities of long-life and immortality, may the Dharma teacher, Karma Jiga, be blessed with long life.

Here is an update on the Dundee trip. There are five of us going now so if anyone else would like to come please email and let me know. Click here for full details (You will need Adobe Reader to view this document).

The Visit of Karma Jiga to Orkney March 21st-23rd

Many thanks to Eileen MacDonald for this account of Karma Jiga’s teaching this weekend.

A snowy and windy Easter weekend set the scene for the forth visit of the Ven Gelong Larma Jiga to the Strond in Holm.

A group of 16 people welcomed him on Friday evening when Karma Jiga gave a talk entitled Myth to Magic. He spoke about us all wanting happiness and to be free of suffering but in fact suffering is what a lot of us do, mainly due to the fact that we do not see things clearly in our minds. We think we do but our attention span is very limited, we only grasp about 18 seconds in every minute. This leads to confusions and the rest we just make up, our minds fill in the gaps with what we thought we heard or saw or understood.

Going on a spiritual journey can help us to see things and ourselves with clarity. We find this difficult and we do not always like what we find when we look into ourselves but we must try hard and always admit to ourselves and others when we are in the wrong.

Over the weekend we learnt about how we miss much of what of going on around us.  As with the TV we only see the pieces we want to see.  Anything too disturbing is left out so we are not aware of the real picture of events.  We see the disastrous consequences of this lack of clear thinking when heads of state and other powerful individuals fail to accept reality.  Much misery and loss of life often results.

There is much attachment to material wealth and people are not caring for their minds and bodies as they should due to addictions, eating the wrong things and many other forms of physical and mental abuse. This affects us as individuals, society in general and even threatens the whole planet.  We must remember that Karma means what we did previously affects us now and what we do now affects us in the future.

Meditation is the way to see things clearly, as they really are.  Go into it very gradually, little and often is more beneficial than once in a while for a longer time. Meditation is being here now and becoming aware.

Prayer is important and it can have a positive effect on us and all those around us. We should say our prayers out loud and listen to them at the same time as this creates even more positive imprints on the mind.

On Sunday afternoon Karma Jiga spoke of the Buddha and what it means to become a Buddhist. This led up to a memorable ceremony during which three members of the group took refuge and became Buddhists.

This involves a commitment to a number of precepts the most important being a commitment to protect and preserve life and to refrain from and not to consciously aid in the killing of any life form.

Sunday February 3rd at 7pm there will be a Buddhist Film evening at the Strond.

Film choices are:

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Tibet: a Buddhist Trilogy, The Dalai Lama on Compassion.   

There is no charge for this but donations please if you can.

Professor Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is teaching at Rokpa Dundee on the 21st and 22nd of May, full details on the Rokpa site http://www.dundee.rokpa.org/may.htm. His teaching is world famous and this is a rare opportunity to hear him. A trip to Dundee is being arranged and we have 3-4 people already booked. If you are interested in coming please contact Sue on 731269 to book a place and for travel and accommodation information.

30th January 2008

The second meeting of the Orkney Inter-Faith group met last night at the Baha'i Centre in Kirkwall. Sue and Julie attended from the Orkney Buddhist Group.

The Inter-Faith group aims to promote understanding and co-operation between the faiths and a number of faiths were represented at the meeting. Everyone were asked to talk about prayer and what it meant to them and it's place in their faith. Pictures, books and other prayer related objects were also brought to the meeting their meaning shared.

This was a very informative and interesting evening and we would like to thank the Baha'i Centre and its members for their hospitality.

The next meeting of the Orkney Inter-Faith Group will be on Tuesday 4th March at 7.30pm at The Strond in St Mary's. The topic for this meeting is Visual Images. If you would like to, please bring a visual image of any kind that has had a spiritual influence on you. Everyone is most welcome.

The weekend of the visit of Ven, Gelong Karma Jiga was bright. sunny and calm throughout. This was especially important as, straight after his arrival in Orkney on Friday, he and several members of the Orkney Buddhist Group took the ferry to the island of Shapinsay to take a life size sculpture of the Buddha to its home in the Buddha Garden at the Haughland House Retreat Centre

The Buddha is the work of group member, sculptor and artist Julie Switsur and was a gift to retreat owner Lesley McKeown. Karma Jiga kindly blessed the Buddha and performed ceremonies to ensure that the Buddha benefits all who visit the garden.

Karma Jiga with Sculptor Julie Switsur

Many thanks to Eileen MacDonald for this description of Karma Jiga's teachings over the weekend.  

Over the two days Karma Jiga spoke further about the benefits of meditation, not only for ourselves but for all sentient beings. Becoming positive improves our health, our outlook on life and our attitudes and relationships towards others.

Advising us to take one step at a time, slowly, like a feather falling to the ground. Then gradually increasing the time spent meditating, also the position of the body is important, the spine should be straight and limbs relaxed.  Be aware of your position, how you are sitting,lying, standing or walking. When thoughts arise acknowledge them but do not become attached, let them go.

Karma Jiga also gave interesting and amusing accounts of his life as a Buddhist.

For more information on forthcoming events please call 01856 731269 or email info@orkneybuddhists.org.uk