Reflection on activities for 2009

 Print

2009 was a very busy year for Chagtong Chentong full of many and varied wonderful harmonious activities.

  • Dr Sonam Takchoe once again offered his great kindness and generosity in teaching the continuing commentary on the most loved and important Mahayana text Shantidevas Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Many, many students benefited from these fortnightly teachings and we look forward very much to this course of study resuming again on 6th March 2010
  • CTCT was very blessed to host visiting teachers offering many topics of interest for the community. We welcomed Ven Tony Beaumont to open our 2009 program and again in November to close for the year. Each of these visits were well attended, generally offering the ever essential essence of the Buddha dharma -topics of the Lam rim, the Graduated Path to Enlightenment.
  • Ven Tenzin Choyni ( Diana Taylor) presented a weekend workshop exploring our addictive patterns of behavior -positive and negative and how best we can work with this recognition within our daily activities.
  • International CPMT Meetings + Mani Retreat for one month with Lama Zopa Rinpoche in France was attended by Director ,Lindy Mailhot, representing Chagtong Chentong Centre.
  • Happiness and its Causes Annual Conference hosted by Sydney Vajrayana Institute was attended by CTCT member Sarah McCue representing and supported by Chagtong Chentong Centre.
  • We offered a weekly program of guided meditations and Lamrim topics via the FPMT Introductory Discovering Buddhism Course home study materials.
  • Golden Light Sutra 108 Project recitations dedicated to Lama Zopa Rinpoches long life and all success for CTCT was introduced on alternate Sunday mornings and this opportunity is offered ongoing to anybody to participate at home and pledge their recitations via email.
  • Visiting teacher Jampa Gendun was with us for one week during early August delivering wonderful heartfelt presentations, guiding us towards living a more authentic life developing the good heart
  • Nyung Na, in praise of compassion, Avaloketshvara Retreat was hosted again this year at Niche in Cygnet. CTCT was able to support the family & funeral service of member, Karen Stevens whom passed away shortly after completing this retreat.
  • Medicine Buddha Puja was introduced ,weekly, on Sunday mornings at the Centre and will continue in the program into 2010
  • CTCT Open Day - Benefit of the Buddha Event -was hosted at Friends Meeting House, raising awareness of our weekly activities, CTCT planned activities and the opportunity to support the endeavors in progress of bringing our new big Buddha statue to Hobart. Aspects of the Preservation of Tibetan Art, Culture and Tradition were on display via Rugs of Tibet - successfully hosting a fundraising raffle of a Tibetan carpet ( kindly sponsored in part by Paul Thomas) all proceeds towards the costs of the Buddha Statue, and also we showcased examples of appliqué art work from the Norbulingka Institute as a prelude to the ....
  • Sacred Arts of Tibet Exhibition hosted during His Holiness Dalai Lamas visit to Hobart in December. A very beneficial exercise for 10 days at the Henry Jones IXL Atrium, many peoples passed through this exhibition, wonderful new contacts and friends made , beautifully manned by CTCT dedicated team of volunteers each day offering immense benefit...we even witnessed wedding parties, also in the Atrium space, having their photos taken with the Tankgha display as the background !!
  • A successful Bookshop stall was held (at very short notice) during HH Dalai Lamas Public Talk at The Derwent Entertainment Centre. We also were able to support the Kopan Nuns Community and the Enlightenment for dear Animals project on this stall also - raising almost $2000 combined on behalf of these 2 projects.
  • Part 1 of a Strategic Planning Program for the development of Chagtong Chentong Centre was hosted very successfully in November. (Part 2 is in the planning for the New Year.)
  • A new Centre Information Flyer was designed and is now in circulation and a page on Face Book is current for day to day updates, information and input from the wider community of fans.
  • Chagtong Chentong website has been launched although is still under ongoing construction with much work still to be actualized to bring the site to its fullest potential...a work in progress, please be patient as we continue this building project.