WHAT WE OFFER
At Shantikula we attempt to offer a broad spectrum of activities that may appeal to both beginners and more experienced meditators and Buddhists. Please be aware that our approach to fees is flexible and that money should not act as a barrier to participation in our programme or courses.
MEDITATION CLASSES
PUJA OR DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP
DHARMA STUDY
BUDDHIST LIBRARY
FEE STRUCTURES
MEDITATION CLASSES
Monday evenings at Shantikula are an opportunity to practice meditation in Johannesburg in a group environment. If you are totally new to meditation then you are more than welcome to join us too. The meditations are guided and you will be prompted as we move from section to section through the particular practice.
Monday night classes start with a meditation practice, and is followed by either puja, a lecture, or perhaps a discussion. Details are shown in the programme. Classes start at 19h00, but if you would like to arrive early for a cup of tea and a chat, you are welcome to come anytime from 18h30 onwards. We have a comfortable reception room that provides a congenial environment for meeting up. It would be helpful if you are new to our centre to arrive a bit earlier to become acquainted with the meditation practice that we are doing that specific evening, and to relax into the space, beginning to quieten your mind after what may have been a busy day.
Two main meditations are taught in the FWBO. The Mindfulness of Breathing and Loving Kindness or Metta Bhavana. These are both samatha practices. They are so called because they cultivate mental integration and mental health, as manifested in qualities like concentration, calm and positive emotion. The term samatha has both a broad and a specific meaning. Specifically, samatha refers to any meditative practice aimed at developing higher states of consciousness. More broadly, it applies to any means of achieving higher states of consciousness, whether through meditation or otherwise. The general notion of samatha would also include ethics, since ethical actions create a foundation for positive mental states.
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PUJA OR DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP
'Imagine a world without colour, beauty, poetry, myth, celebration, or ritual. Such a world will be a very dull, drab , dead world indeed. Such experiences are essential to human life; they cultivate our emotions, refine our senses and enrich our imaginations. Poetry, symbol, myth, and ritual carry us - as Shelley suggests in his 'Defence of Poetry' - 'to regions of light and fire, where the winged faculty of calculation dare not ever soar'. We cannot live in the realm of rational thought alone. To feel fully and vibrantly alive, we must feel in touch with the different aspects and levels of our being.
Buddhism is a spiritual tradition and as such speaks to us in our wholeness. Its various practices can help us to bring into being a harmony of body, speech and mind. Throughout its history, therefore, many forms of ceremony and ritual have been developed. These range from the simplest recitation of a few verses to the most complex and lengthy rituals.
Devotional practice is multifaceted, often involving the simultaneous recitation of verses of worship, physical activity, and the conscious development of positive emotional states, as well as the mental creation of and reflection on images and symbols. Such practices clearly demand our total attention and allow no time for distraction.
All Buddhist traditions up to the present day have given a central place to ritual and devotional chanting, often in a mixture of local language and the inherited Buddhist languages Pali and Sanskrit. In keeping with this tradition, these practices in FWBO centres throughout the world are also conducted in a mixture of local language and Pali or Sanskrit. This deliberately ensures that some ceremonies which are conducted in the common, locally shared, language provide an easily and readily understood focus for devotion. By chanting Pali or Sanskrit we are participating in a ritual that takes its inspiration from history and at the same time provides our international Buddhist movement with rituals that have a language in common. This is a strong factor in building unity and harmony.
The poetic words recited, the images invoked, and the emotions cultivated, are grounded in a coherent value system. They express our most deeply held ideals. Thus ritual practice, involving as it does the whole person, enables us to begin the task of translating our intellectual understanding into emotional experience: in other words, to transform knowing into being. They are usually performed with a number of people in a room that is focused on the beauty of a shrine, with its Buddha image, flowers, candles and incense. In such an atmosphere our devotional feelings more freely find expression, enabling us to be receptive to our higher ideals and accordingly enriched.'
Quotation from the Introduction written by Dhammadinna and Suvajra to 'Puja the FWBO book of Buddhist devotional text'
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DHARMA STUDY
The first three Thursdays of most months study is held at Shantikula. It starts at 18h15 and usually is finished by 20h00.
We are currently studying the White Lotus Sutra. If you would like to join us, please contact Achalaraja.
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BUDDHIST LIBRARY
We have created a small Buddhist reference library where study can be pursued at Shantikula. There are sections devoted to Sangharakshita's writing, authors from the FWBO tradition, some Sutras, Zen, Mahayana, Theravadin, Vajrayana, Pure Awareness, Mindfulness-Based practice, Buddhist magazines and more. The library is a quiet space that profers the opportunity to delve deeper into the Dharma for those seeking out some of the vast treasure house that forms Buddhist literature.
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FEE STRUCTURES
The membership fee of R140 per month allows members to attend any of our regular weekly activities on Monday and Thursday evenings, as well as lunchtime meditations on Wednesdays. There is a discounted rate for members on weekend retreats.
A suggested fee of R40 per meditation session is recommended, and course fees are available with each relevant course.
We remind you that the fees for all our activities are suggested amounts. The fee for any event is negotiable for those who would be prevented from coming for financial reasons. You are genuinely welcome to pay more or less than the suggested amount, depending on your circumstances. As part of our recent re-examination of our fee structure, we did consider whether it may be more helpful and effective to introduce a system of scaled fees, perhaps with 3 levels depending on circumstances. We have decided not to do this, both because of the complexity of such a system and the wide variation in income levels in South Africa. We would ideally like to engage with you on the basis of mutual generosity, but in this globalised consumer culture for many people coming along at the beginning that is not a familiar concept. We do aspire towards transparency in our finances, and are happy to answer any questions about our income and expenses. Friends of the Western Buddhist Order Johannesburg is a not-for-profit Section 21 Company. We publish annual audited accounts which are subject to formal review and approval at our Annual General Meeting.
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