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8th Karmapa Retreat

HRC celebrates its 8 year anniversary with national 8th Karmapa Retreat It was a completely magical weekend at the Heartland Retreat Center as we celebrated our place in the lineage with great style. Friends from throughout the continent came together to dive deeply into our main yidam practice. Dozens of longtime practitioners spent the extended weekend doing the 8th Karmapa meditation several sessions per day. Everyone present had completed their Ngöndro, which means they’ve all invested thousands of hours in meditation over the years. Most have known and supported each other as very good friends for many years. Our special guest from Germany guided our time with meditation sessions, answering questions and giving teachings. Folks were eager to share this type of experience with Andrea especially, due to her experience of over 30 years as Lama Ole’s student, including 6 years of retreat. During breaks people either hiked the land or enjoyed daily field trips to Amish Wal-Mart, Amish bakeries, Amish Bent-N-Dent. . . Such a gathering, for such a purpose was a feast of joy, arising from the bonds and power of the practice. It also bodes well for the future. This past summer in Karma Guen, Gyalwa Karmapa said that the fact that we do our practice regularly is a form of protecting the lineage. Everyone returns to their cities hugely inspired to continue with even greater confidence. Lama Ole was quite glad to hear about the event. He wrote, "I enjoyed to see your pictures and read about the retreat and your fine work together. It’s an important and historical work and the connection with the Amish will be good for all." Thank you to everyone who came, shared, and supported. May we all meet soon and often!

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Coming soon to a retreat center near you

It's already May and HRC is buzzing!  In a little more than 4 weeks Lama Ole and hundreds of friends will arrive for 4 days of meditation, teachings, and an incredibly joyful time together.  It's the only course with Lama Ole in all of the Americas this spring, so don't miss it!  Find all the details here and register by May 15 for a discount.

The midwest sangha and visiting friends are working together every weekend to make the place shinier than ever.  For anyone who may have concerns about ticks, you'll be glad to know one of our big projects this year is to mulch several areas that will help keep the tiny bugs at a distance.  And the more hands we have the more we can mulch!  All are welcome to come out and help anytime, and there will be another big weekend of work, meditation, and teachings just before the course - May 27 to Memorial Day.  Enjoy some photos below of what we've been up to and check out the HRC Facebook page for more. See you soon and often!

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Making the most of our time

One can really feel that Lama Ole and hundreds of friends will come soon to the HRC. Energy has been gathering as the snow melts. Old friends representing all our centers in the midwest gathered this weekend, and it was simply a joy.  The weekend was focused on preparing for the time together with our lama in June – on both an outer and inner level.  

After a morning meditation, the work began outside: cleaning the garage, digging trenches, hauling logs, cutting back invasive plants, and feeding the affectionately-named yardbeast (our new wood chipper) to make mulch.  This mulch is being used to create a sitting area alongside the creek, revealing a lovely aesthetic feature of the land.  The buzz carried on inside the cabin as well: lama support items were inventoried and registration websites finalized for the North American tour group. More people signed up for course teams, and there are still plenty of opportunities to join one!  If you’re interested to know how you can help, email Vicky (vicky@diamondway.org).

In the evening, we enjoyed a lecture on the topic of “making the most of our time with the lama” which was aptly summarized by the statement “we make the most of our time with the lama by making the most of our time when we’re not with the lama.”  Ian and John reminded us how developing each aspect of our practice – meditating, deepening our friendships with the sangha, keeping the view in daily life, and carrying out the activity of the lineage – each increase our confidence and gratitude, creating the openness to receive the teachings and blessing Lama Ole offers every time he’s with us.  As we continue polishing HRC on an outer level between now and June, we look forward to keeping a focus on the inner development as well, through meditating and deepening the feeling of connection between friends across the Midwest.  Since almost every center in the region will be busy with preparations this year and we may not meet in person as often as we have in the past, we’ve decided to connect online every other week for a virtual pub – enjoying updates on the latest happenings in the centers and sharing a few laughs to continue deepening the family feeling.

We’re still hoping to see many shiny faces here at HRC any time people can make it out!  Two big work weekends are scheduled April 29 and May 27, and the regulars will be out every weekend in between.  There is so much to do and no special skills are required!  Feel free to email us (hrc@diamondway.org) and we can find the perfect job for you – before or during the course.  We can’t wait to see you – soon and often! P.S. We hear people are excited to sign up and pay for the course. You can rest assured (and tell your friends) that registration will be available soon.

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Information, meditation, and landscaping activity with Chason

The beginning of spring brings a time for growth and development at the Heartland Retreat Center. With a national course with Lama Ole coming up the first weekend in June, we would like to showcase the beauty of the land, as well as keep our friends safe and free from ticks. Diamond Way teacher, long-time friend, and landscaping professional, Chason Giester paid the HRC a visit during the first weekend in March. The schedule was complete with lectures, meditation, catching up, and Chason sharing his expert opinion on best ways to develop the land. He gave advice about general land maintenance, managing invasive plants, conducting controlled burns, and best ways to use our new woodchipper (a.k.a the yardbeast). The following weekend offered beautiful weather and the opportunity for a small crew from Madison, La Crosse, and Ontario to put Chason’s advice to good use. Swails were dug, garages were cleaned, the yardbeast was released, and wood was chipped; and, there is still much to be done and plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty before the course in June! We have a weekend of meditation, lectures and course prep activity scheduled for April 1-3, and two big work weekends April 29-May1 and May 27-30. All skills are useful and all hands are welcome, so see you soon at our beautiful Heartland Retreat Center.

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Retreats at HRC

Have you ever thought about doing a meditation retreat at HRC?  Here’s the experience of two friends who retreated last week during our midwestern blizzard.  If you’re inspired to make your own experience, write to us at hrc@diamondway.org to reserve one of our two cozy guest rooms. After an inspiring weekend of meditation and fun with Diamond Way teacher Klaus Kaltenbrunner and friends from around the region, we decided to stay at the HRC for the week and experience the space from another perspective. With two open rooms in the cabin, it was easy for us to be spontaneous and stay as long as we wanted. The forecast was calling for heavy snow during the week, so Ian and Athena took us into town on Monday to stock up on supplies. We couldn’t imagine more ideal conditions than being snowed in at the HRC for a meditation retreat. 

Living in a busy city, it’s easy to become unaware of the constant noise and general buzzing that is always abundant. On Monday morning, when we started our first session, the silence was profound. Not only was it easier to focus, but there was no longer this constant pull of artificial business that so often distracts us when we practice in more urban conditions. I’ve often day dreamed about going to the HRC for a meditation retreat and what was so amazing was that the experience really lived up to my fantasies! Time seemed to slow down and space kind of just opened up. Because we can both work remotely, we were able to take care of business throughout the day too (incidentally, most of my clients cancelled throughout the week so my workload was significantly less than usual!).  We stayed until Thursday evening and then began our quest to get home. We didn’t drive ourselves to the HRC, so our amazing friends pulled together to help us out. After transferring our luggage between 6 different cars, we found ourselves back in Chicago!

All in all it was an unforgettable week. Sharing meals with Vicky, Ian, and Athena, doing prostrations in front of the completely inspiring 16th Karmapa statue, and spending quality time with so many good friends on our way back home was such a great reminder of why Sangha is such an integral part of what we do. We can’t wait to go back and do it again soon and often!

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Weekend with Klaus

The last weekend of January 2016, the HRC hosted Diamond Way teacher Klaus Kaltenbrunner, a pediatrician from Austria.  He took refuge with Lama Ole in 1998 and has been causing trouble in Diamond Way centers ever since. 

The conditions for Klaus’s Midwest retreat were sunny, 40°, with a beautiful blanket of snow. The friends starting arriving on Friday and began the weekend retreat with an evening of Diamond Mind meditation followed by many good conversations and jokes. Klaus had the idea to start Saturday morning with a 7:30am meditation, and everyone tentatively agreed. Although 7:30am came pretty quickly for our late night friends, it made for an excellent day of meditation and everyone appreciated it after all. By noon the group had completed a personal practice, a lecture, and a group meditation.  What a great morning! After lunch many of our friends strolled through the land and played in the snow. The bravest friend (a 3 year old) spent her afternoon sledding down the many hills at the HRC. After enjoying the fresh air we gathered to discuss our Lama’s upcoming visit to the HRC and all the exciting projects we get to do together. 

One of the underlying themes of the weekend was “Finish what you Start”. Klaus explained that this also means to be mindful of what you start. If you decide to start a practice in Ngondro, you should finish it; if you start a mala, you should finish it.  If you don’t finish – you may be left with a negative feeling. These are good words to remember when starting something new. And as friends from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Russia enjoyed each others’ company - whether at meals, on walks or sitting together meditating, many found inspiration and motivation. These weekends are a good way to re-energize your intentions and inspiration.

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Happy New Year

May 2016 bring happiness and freedom for all.  And may it bring you to HRC to share the joy with Lama Ole and hundreds of friends May 20-23!

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A weekend of broad connections

The HRC is in full force as it gears up to host Lama Ole and hundreds of friends in May. As we gathered this past weekend, the sense of family having done many good things together over the years naturally arose every time another car pulled up - a great, simple, and deep feeling. Dozens of old friends who have been involved with the HRC since the beginning as well as several new friends met and enjoyed teachings by Nik from Bulgaria. Meditation, information, and activity were on the docket as usual. Our regional program planning meeting opened up with an update from every center, and we had a look at the program over the next six months. The highlights include: a road trip to Texas for New Year’s, a tour by Slava from Ukraine in January, time for Hannah movie showing weekends, International retreat centers meeting weekend (hopefully with Chason) March 4-6, and April and May open for course build up. More events will surely appear naturally, but for now it was important to keep some time free. It was a weekend of broad connections. Each center in the Midwest region was represented at HRC, a few friends from here were out in Boston with Chason and the Northeast crew, and a few from there were out at Dakini Ranch. Inspiring to see this kind of unifying exchange taking place! 

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Más Americas, Más alegría

This past weekend we enjoyed one of our favorite activities at the HRC: deepening the connection of our sangha across the Americas!  Friends from Colombia made the trek north for a program packed with meditation, teachings, and joyful activity.  The HRC family home feeling was in full effect, with over 20 friends who came to enjoy a precious, powerful, and easy time together. 

After meditating together in the morning we took a walk on the land in the afternoon, talking about ideas for what can be done to improve the course experience for everyone in May. In addition to the usual aspects of putting it on, we could spend some time this fall and next spring establishing trails, setting up campsites, and exposing some of the natural beauty features (such as the creek or spring.) During the walk everyone enjoyed a nice auspicious sign. When the first group was on its way back, a group of folks who had just arrived were coming out. As the two groups converged on gompa hill, we noticed a rainbow around the sun ;+) Full of good feeling, possibility, and excitement, we had a conversation back in the cabin about hosting the upcoming course with Lama Ole in May. Main takeaway - we are already in course prep mode!

Our guest for the weekend was Diamond Way teacher, Juan Franco, from the newest retreat center of the Americas, Karma Palsang Ling in Villa de Leyva, Colombia. He was deeply touched to observe how smoothly we operate together, and his teachings and stories definitely gave that inspiration back. In continuation of the connection between retreat centers, everyone was warmly invited to attend the Americas Course at Karma Palsang Ling. Friends were already checking flights, and found round trip tickets from Chicago for around $500. Imagine traveling there together, connecting with everyone, and sharing what we can from our experience over the past 6 years. What a blast!

In our traditional style, we ended the retreat by sharing our joy with the locals at our favorite (and only) pub in town :) Check out more photos on the HRC Facebook page.

What's next on the calendar?

The annual HRC budget meeting held every October will take place October 10-11 and anyone who's interested in a meeting-focused weekend is welcome to join . Then we look forward to getting together over Halloween weekend (October 30-November 1) for a program with Diamond Way teacher Nik from Bulgaria, where we'll also take time to plan our 6 month regional calendar.  Don't want to wait that long to soak up HRC's good vibrations? There are two guest rooms ready and waiting for friends to enjoy using for a personal meditation retreat. Open 24/7, 365 days a year!  Reserve your room today by emailing hrc@diamondway.org.  See you soon and often!

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More Space, More Joy

One often hears of two seasons in Wisconsin: winter and construction.  As we do every year at HRC, we've been spending each weekend since the grass turned green focusing our joyful effort on new construction and working outdoors to keep the 84-acre jewel shining.  Friends from the nearby centers continue to come regularly to meditate and work, while we've also enjoyed visitors throughout the summer from Colorado, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, and two couples from Germany. Construction has focused on building a 750-square-foot addition to the cabin, offering private living space for residents and improved accommodations for Lama Ole when he visits.  With this addition, HRC now has two guest bedrooms, two resident bedrooms, and THREE bathrooms!  Plenty of space and even a bit of privacy for visitors.  Friends are welcome anytime to come for a personal retreat and enjoy meditating with the radiant 16th Karmapa statue in the midst of Amish country, quiet and serene.  (Unless there is a large group of friends here, then it is more accurately described as joyfully humming with boisterous laughter.)  Along with the added space came a tiny new resident, and the midwest sangha is getting to explore what it is like to have a baby living in a center.  So far, the strategic layout of the addition has created the perfect conditions to allow residents to enjoy family life while protecting the space in the cabin to continue being used for meditation and joyful activity.

The next big focus for the regional sangha will be preparing to host a course with Lama Ole at HRC May 20-23, 2016.  Mark your calendar! And the grass is still green, so we'll take advantage of the next several weekends before winter hits to work on preparing the land for accommodating hundreds of friends next spring. If you're itching to roll up your sleeves and break a sweat, feel welcome to join anytime.  We're also looking forward to getting together this fall for two weekend programs with Diamond Way teachers: September 18-20 with Juan Franco from Columbia and October 30-November 1 with Nik from Bulgaria.  We'll enjoy meditating together, hearing teachings, and learning from these teachers' experience in South America and Europe.

As always, we love to know you're coming so we can prepare the right size feast and reserve your private room, so shoot an email to hrc@diamondway.org with your plans.  We can't wait to see you!

P.S. Enjoy more photos of the construction on the HRC Facebook page.  You may notice a lack of photos from the second half of the summer (when the photographer was distracted by a little beauty and forgot to take them).  Many thanks to the unseen friends who came to help from Madison, La Crosse, Whitewater, Denver, Cincinnati, Grand Blanc, Austin, and Germany!

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A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend at the HRC

Around year 2000, we asked Lama Ole for advice about how to improve our centers in the midwest.  His response was to appreciate the friendships we have, stay informed about the world, and develop strong connections with the practitioners and centers in Texas. In December 2009, three weeks after the purchase of the HRC, over a dozen Texans drove north in weather colder than most of them had ever experienced, spending as much time on the road as they did on site, for the first program at the retreat center. A few weeks later, over a dozen Midwesterners reciprocated with a long weekend trip to Texas. This past Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated the results of a similar statement of priority when again over a dozen Texans made the trek north for a weekend program with 70 friends enjoying teachings from Eugene, Sergio, and Diamond Way teachers from the midwest. Their presence was a highlight of the course, and the exchange was meaningful in so many ways. One theme that ran throughout the program was the practical aspects of practicing Diamond Way Buddhism. Lectures focused on the importance of the student-teacher relationship, meditation, life in Buddhist centers, maintaining a pure view, and retreat centers and their function. This year, the Texans are making several road trips to learn from the experience of our Diamond Way retreat center projects across the country, as a step in the process to create a Texas Retreat Center. With several friends who help run the HRC and Eugene from the WRC on site, there was a lot to share on this topic. Over the past couple years our retreat center projects have been uniting more and more through the natural friendships and connections that develop by spending quality time together (meditating, hiking, working, talking . . .), and this weekend continued to deepen the exchange. When Lama Ole heard an update from the weekend, he shared how proud he is of the way we work together throughout the US. Working together meaningfully definitely brings satisfaction, as could be felt through everything that took place during the course, whether it was the meditation sessions in the cabin or on the land, the series of panel lectures, how the meals were prepared and served, how the place was cleaned up afterwards, or by the crew who stayed on for several days to assist with building the new addition. We are all grateful that such a powerfully joyful event could take place, and look forward to many more of the same! Enjoy a full album of photos on the HRC Facebook page and stay tuned for more updates.

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Shovels in the ground.

"It's good to have a place where you can put a shovel in the ground."  In response to the first email Lama Ole received about the idea to get a  retreat center in the midwest, he shared this practical wisdom that we've taken to heart from the very beginning.

What you see here are the first steps for building an addition onto the existing cabin.  By the end of June, HRC will have more space for residents, a second guest room, and a third bathroom!  We can't wait to host our Lama and friends in the fine conditions that keep getting more beautiful each year. Friends are welcome to join in the merit building excitement any weekend in May or June and can write to us at hrc@diamondway.org to find out what's on the task list or to let us know you're coming. We'll give our backs a little break over Memorial Day weekend when we'll be hosting a 4-day program with Eugene and other Diamond Way teachers.  We're expecting a dozen Texans to join the fun and are crossing our fingers to see some friends from the northeast.  Check out the schedule here and let us know if you plan to make it out. 

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Join us Memorial Day weekend at HRC

As we continue to gather each month to practice together, listen to dharma teachings, and share our latest inspirations about the future of HRC, the joy just keeps growing.  We invite you all to join us for another joyful program over Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25. The program will include teachings with Eugene Trak and Diamond Way teachers from the midwest, along with plenty of time for meditation and activity together with the sangha.  

The program will take place inside the cabin with the one-of-a-kind life-size statue of the 16th Karmapa -- a sight worth seeing!  Floor space is available for sleeping, and many friends will be tenting in the beautiful spring weather.  We'd like to make it as easy as possible for friends to join from other regions, so if you need help with transportation, sleeping arrangements, or anything else we haven't thought of, email us at hrc@diamondway.org.  

We hope to see you soon and often!

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We've fallen in love again!

Well, it happened again. We've once again fallen in love with our Heartland Retreat Center and the great people that make it happen. This last Valentine's Day weekend, we celebrated our six-year anniversary of the day we found what would become HRC.

At the beginning of 2009, the centers of the Midwest between Chicago and Minneapolis created a scouting team to search for a retreat center somewhere in Wisconsin. We wanted to provide a place for the regional and international sangha to meet, connect, meditate, and develop together.  On February 14, 2009, the scouting team found the land, fell in love, and the rest is history. This history was celebrated and re-lived joyfully over the weekend, and once again we strengthened connections across the Americas with the visit of Macarena Gonzalez Costa, a Diamond Way teacher from our center in Buenos Aires. 

Macarena gave inspiring teachings about working together in the sangha and the importance of the teacher in Diamond Way Buddhism. At night she shared hilarious and inspiring stories about the hard work and dedication that has gone into building up our retreat center in Uruguay, Karma Dechen Ling (KDL), and local friends added to the retreat center exchange the following evening, sharing memories and videos showing the joyful development of HRC over the last 5 years. During a panel lecture with teachers representing KDL, HRC, and our Dakini Ranch in Colorado,  we dove deeper into the values and activity that each of these precious places stands for.  Throughout the weekend we enjoyed meditating together with the remarkable 16th Karmapa statue and continued strengthening friendships, new and old.

Please enjoy these pictures of the weekend's events, and feel free to come visit and fall in love as well!  You'll find our upcoming schedule of events at diamondway.org/hrc.  We hope to see you soon and often!

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Countdown to New Years

Mark you calendar!  It's the 5th Anniversary of the first New Year's Course at HRC and we'll be ringing in the new year with 16th Karmapa!

You'll find more details about the course schedule and pricing here.  Highlights will include: 

Meditating with the life-size 16th Karmapa statue 

Talks by Dakinis, Texans, Latinos, and more

Sledding and late night campfires 

Deepened friendships, new and old

If you're wondering what it's like to celebrate at HRC, here's a quick look at what our first New Years Course entailed:

Want to join the fun? Email hrc@diamondway.org

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". . . Totally Lineage . . ."

This weekend marked a turning point in the history of the Heartland Retreat Center. Years of collective wishes and working together for our great lineage manifested in a beautiful expression. The life-sized 16th Karmapa statue that was commissioned four years ago was installed with 30 friends who enjoyed meditating together afterwards. A sense of stability, focus, space, and possibility warmly filled the cabin while a light snowfall fell outside.

Everyone looks forward to spending a lot of time here, practicing and enjoying time together. You are all welcome any time, but we’d like to especially encourage friends to come and celebrate the five year anniversary of the HRC during the New Year’s Course Dec. 31 - Jan. 4.

More photos at facebook.com/HeartlandRetreatCenter

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Autumn Apples at HRC

The fruit is ripening on the apple trees at HRC, as new levels of development and inspiration are coming to fruition.

With an increased feeling of unity and clarity around our work together nation-wide, we left the Living Buddhism course last month with a solid foundation to build on as we enter a new phase of development in planning for the long-term future of Diamond Way activity in the U.S.  While we continue to gain and share inspiration with friends thousands of miles away related to our national vision, we’re preparing our minds for furthering the conversation with our Lama and friends in Texas this November. 

In the meantime, we continue to make progress on plans for HRC site development, the latest draft of which can be viewed here.  After the plans were presented at the national Living Buddhism course, HRC membership experienced a burst of growth, with a current total of 73 members.  If the enthusiasm has hooked you too, take a minute to sign up here.  The plans have been and will continue to be discussed during weekend programs throughout the region for everyone to give feedback, and we look forward to sharing our excitement with the national sangha again in November.

In late September, we enjoyed a weekend program with Diamond Way teacher, Holger Schmidt, where it was clear the EC summer course theme, “Enjoy Space”, carried through.  Unstructured time for natural and open exchange allowed opportunities to hear about the Braunschweig center, an example of a project that has required extensive coordination and decision-making, all while maintaining a good feeling amongst friends.  With the inspiration fresh in our minds, we discussed the plans for developing HRC, and shared reflections on how activity naturally functions here.  While joking about our lack of any formal decision-making process, it became clear that we do, in fact, rely on a process that is intuitively understood by the regional sangha – one that simply hasn’t yet been put into words. 

A few weeks later, friends came together for planning and reviewing the annual HRC budget, and we’re pleased to report that with a healthy profit made on the last course, HRC is right on track with financial projections for the year.  We spent time clarifying financial processes, and some initial components of a document that outlines our functioning began to take shape.  Together we are gaining a deeper understanding of how we use dynamic processes which are highly productive and still maintain the flexibility needed to adapt to new insights as they arise.  As we continue to refine these processes, we hope to capture our way of working together in a written document that will further clarify our own understanding and can be shared with others. Through this work, we aim to bring together principles of efficiency and transparency, while remaining flexible and spontaneous, and continuing to function on the basis of trust.

Sound like fun?  We’ll be together again at HRC October 24-26 to stream the International Centers Meeting from Braunschweig and continue playing around with exciting ideas.  Another boisterous weekend of information, meditation, and activity – please join us!