Retreat at Deer Park

We left home around 6:40am after a light breakfast.  We brought along two mugs (one with tea, the other with coffee), a bag of Ritz crackers and some almond chocolate for snacks on the way home.  It was a cloudy, chilly and windy day, typical of fall in North America.  There had been a thunderstorm the night before, and it was still drizzling when we were driving to the gas station before heading into the express.  The roads were not bad.  People usually do not want to get out and travel in such a cold and dreary day.

We didn't get lost, and arrived at Deer Park in time for registration.  The temple was hidden among trees.  Some organizers were already there.  One was vacuuming the lobby entrance.  The Community Room was clean, and spacious with big glass windows along one side, so one can enjoy the view of surrounding colorful trees and walls of rocks, although it was hazy and misty outdoors.  Breakfast was served on two rows of tables in the center of the room, opposite the entrance.  A few people were sitting, quietly sipping their coffee with mini apple struedels or muffins.  We signed in, got our name tags, selected our spots for the day's tasks, then went upstairs to find our seats in the main temple.

The main temple is spacious.  There is one huge gold statue of Shakyamuni Buddha in the center of the shrine, with numerous smaller statues of Buddhas arranged in rows, and some medium ones of Bodhisatvvas on both sides of the huge Buddha's statue.  All the gold statues shine brightly against a deep blue background.  There are also many glass bowls of holy water on the long shelf decorated with small holders of electric candles  A big photo of the 14th Dalai Lama is right below the huge statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, just above and a little over the podium, which is actually a chair for the monk who would give the Dharma talk.  To the left of the chair is a glass case of the human-sized silicon body of the founder and spiritual guide of the temple, Geshe Lhundub Sopa.  The display looks very realistic.  There is another altar table to the left of the display for a senior monk, probably  the late abbot.
Besides the electric candles, bowls of holy water, the main shrine and temple are also decorated with some vases of white orchids, long and short Tibetan drapes and khatas.  On the floor are rows of meditation cushions, some with wooden props in front for bells, chimes, sheets of daily prayers or books of sutras.  Opposite the main shrine and altars, at the other end against the walls are the storage area for cushions and wooden props.  There are also chairs and small foldable tables along the walls for those who cannot sit on the floor.

Ven. Geshe Dorje gave the morning teachings about guided meditation.  This was the first time I had a chance to learn Buddhist meditation directly from a Tibetan geshe  (before I have learned from the 14th Dalai Lama, and other Lamas/geshes online).  We were guided through many mini sitting meditation practice, each lasted about 15-20 minutes and focused on a specific topic of the Four Immeasurables (love, compassion, joy , and equanimity).  The Geshe struck a small bell to let us know when to start and when to end each time for a specific Immeasureable topic.

After that we had a short break followed by a long sitting period which lasted about an hour.  Then came lunchtime in the Community Room.  We had rice, salad, baked curry cauliflowers with carrots, and some deep fried stuff that I couldn't tell what it was.  Coffee and tea, and water bottles were also served along with fruits and some cookies.

There was a short break after lunch.  People were free to choose either outdoors free time or walking meditation.  Most stayed indoors, walking in meditation as it was still raining.

The afternoon teaching was by Geshe Sherab, including questions and answers about meditation.  As in the morning session, the translation from Tibetan into English was well done by a young Caucasian resident translator who fairly mastered both the subject matter and the languages.  The afternoon session focused more on practicalities than on topics or subject matters during sitting meditation.  Like the morning session, we chanted some English verses from the sheets we were given both before and after the teachings.

We didn't sit as long as in the morning.  After the monk left the temple, a woman organizer led the group's last short sitting session.   Finally, everybody got up and prostrated to the Buddhas and the Bodhisatvas.  Before we left the temple, we sat in a circle and chatted about 10 minutes about the day experiences.  Some expressed their gratitude for such a retreat, while organizers mentioned signing up for email notification about upcoming events.  I learned that there are usually 3 to 4 retreats per year at Deer Park, and that the next one would be in March.    

The day ended about 4:20-4:25pm.  I got some free books, DVDs and brochures about the site and its current construction project.  It already stopped raining, so we decided to stroll along the path to the stupa behind the main temple.  Along the path, to the right, there are two buildings: the bigger one is the residential area for monks, and the other is a historic site under construction. 

My overall impressions about the day was that it was a serious group of meditation practitioners of various meditation experiences.  It gave me an opportunity to learn meditation from Tibetan Buddhism.  The day also provided me some new insights about my own sitting meditation experiences.  For the first time, during the morning sitting session, I noticed I felt very happy and smiled.  As usual I closed my eyes while sitting meditation, but this time I noticed some sparks of light across my eye brows, which lasted about two seconds.  I also felt my body so warm, I sweated a bit, and had to unbutton my sweater after I stopped sitting.

We arrived home around 6:20pm.  To me, it was a productive and beneficial retreat, but definitely not a social event, because there was not much talking or sharing about personal sitting experiences among participants.