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1. Course Announcement

 

A short 8 weeks Mindfulness Course 

Feb-April on Saturday mornings 9:30-11 am.

at Westdyke Leisure Centre, Westhill. 

The course is free although, as a charity, a modest donation of your choice to support what we do is always welcome and appreciated. 

more info: meditationatvmc@gmail.com

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Events:
1.  Saturday 13 Apr 24: Songkran: Asian New Year Celebration

2. Saturday 18th May 2024: Interfaith Mindfulness Day

Program: 

       10:00 am: Gathering and Mindful wall

       11:30 pm: Luncheon.

       13:00 pm: Reflection and Sharing.

Ajahn Sujan's Travel : 

3-24 June 24: USA tour.

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VARAPUNYA MEDITATION CENTRE – HELLO WESTHILL!

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Here at the Varapunya Meditation Centre in nearby Kinmundy, a 20-30m walk from Westhill town centre or a 10m drive, we sometimes can feel rather isolated. Even though we are so near, our regular community and visitors, often are from Aberdeen and even further afield, as far as Dundee, Perthshire, Fife and Inverness. We recently held our annual Kathina celebration (more on that later) and we had visitors from all over – even Southend in Essex! Yet, while our engagement with the small Kinmundy community is now well established, walkers on the local lanes and paths will often wave and walk on or stop for a short chat, some interested about the goings on at the cottage or ‘temple’ and others not. Sometimes astonished to see our monk/teacher Sujan walking with his food ‘alms’ bowl in the ancient tradition, visiting local (mainly Thai or Sri Lankan) Westhill families who wish to make food offerings. 

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Having been  based in Aberdeen City before we moved, we have now been in Kinmundy for five years and the Centre is well settled in our small cottage with surrounding fields, stables and barn.   So, more recently, we have been ‘reaching’ out more, visiting the Rotary at their kind invitation, and some of their members have been to visit us. Schools also visit from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. And we hope to visit the Men’s Shed soon and they will come to see what we are up to too we hope. If you or your organisation or charity would like us to visit, tell you more of what we do and even, as charities together collaborate locally on projects, do get in touch. Our motto is ‘Helping Hands Healing Hearts’ and we reach out to all communities of whatever faith or non-faith with that in mind. 

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A new venture we hope, starting late January, will be our first Mindfulness Meditation Course in central Westhill so watch this space for news of that! This is at the heart of all we do at the Centre – in this crazy world our minds become cluttered, anxious & stressed. And so we live our lives worrying about what will be in the future and lots of blame/self-blame about the past. Our mental health is a huge challenge these days. The ancient teaching of Mindful Living and Meditation Practice offers knowledge, skills and practices which help us cope with this in everyday life. Even science & health professionals are accepting this and we often work in collaboration with NHS Grampian & others in Aberdeen. Our courses are free simply because we believe the knowledge, skills and practices are so useful for our mental health in the world we live in. If you might be interested simply register an interest (with no commitment at this stage) by emailing meditationatvmc@gmail.com with just your name for now.

 

Back to our Kathina Celebration. On 5th November we celebrated the end of the rainy season. The period August to October was traditionally when monks in Asia would stop wandering from village to village until the rainy season came to an end – usually around the end of October. This year it seems to have coincided with the end of the rainy season in Aberdeenshire too! The ceremony involved morning chanting, teaching and meditation followed by a community lunch. After lunch the community offers a new robe to the Abbot to start the new year of ‘wandering’ again. These days an Abbot of a temple is usually based there but will travel for teaching, for his own personal spiritual development & by invitation to other temples in the UK and overseas from time to time. Normally, he has no personal possessions nor food other than what is donated by the community to him or bought through donations made for those purposes. 

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Finally, we do, of course, also teach and practice the spiritual teachings of the Buddha in the SE Asia tradition. If you want to know more contact the Abbot. And we are always in need of volunteers. If you feel able to help us in any way – web site editing/development, plumbing, electrical work, roof repair, grass cutting, general maintenance & repair, again do get in touch with the Abbot on his mobile 07446 545545. And our web site is here: https://www.varapunyacentre.com

 

The Varapunya Meditation Centre is an established Buddhist centre near Westhill for learning meditation, the Buddhist way of living and connecting with like-minded people. It is open to anyone who wishes to learn and practice. Teachings, courses and classes are free. We run on a donation basis only. 

• Daily Chanting at 7am and 7 pm (contact centre to attend)

• Weekly meditation at the centre on Wednesday 7-9pm, no booking required.

• Weekly online meditation on Wednesday 7:45-8:45 am (contact meditationatvmc@gmail.com)

• Monthly in person meditation at Aberdeen Health Village, last Monday of month.

• Monthly online meditation on 2nd Monday of month at 1-2pm. (contact for details)

• Also if you would like to learn practical meditation skills on one of our courses starting late summer please contact meditationatvmc@gmail.com

 

Current Project: 

On 28th May we also organised a very special blessing & ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony and installed a time capsule for a new Meditation Hall to accommodate those who are enthusiastic to learn meditation and/or the Buddhist way of mindful living. We are raising funds for this cause and look forward to whatever support you may feel able to give. Our next special event is the annual Kathina Robe offering on Sunday 5th November.

 

You are welcome to visit us, preferably contacting us beforehand as we are sometimes away. We also welcome volunteers for general garden and maintenance support. If you have some time and wish to help, please contact us at Easter Mains Cottage, Kingswells, Kinmundy, AB15 8RB

Facebook: Varapunya Meditation Centre

Website: www.varapunyacentre.com

Email: varapunya@gmail.com

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