Aotearoa Buddhist
Education Trust

Support Eric Kolvig’s visit

This will be Eric’s first ever visit to Aotearoa New Zealand, and we hope the first of many. He will be offering a retreat at Riverslea Retreat Centre from 8 to 15 April 2011 at which he will connect the practices of insight meditation with engaged Buddhism, a public talk in Wellington at St Andrews on The Terrace, and a half day workshop in Christchurch.

 

Donate now

You can make a donation by internet banking by making a transfer into the ABET bank account at SBS Bank. The account number for the fund to pay Eric Kolvig’s travel costs is 03 - 1355 - 0600085 - 03. Or go into any New Zealand bank to make the payment -- preferably SBS Bank, or Westpac.

Clicking the Donate button below opens a new window to a secure website through which you can make a donation to the fund for Eric Kolvig by credit card via givealittle. 

Whichever country your card was issued in, your donation will be in New Zealand dollars.

The figure above for the amount raised is what has been donated through givealittle. The fund for Eric Kolvig currently contains $750.89 (17 April 2011). If this figure is lower than the givealittle figure that’s because it can take up to two months for donations to arrive from givealittle.

About Eric Kolvig

Born and raised in New Hampshire by his Cook Islands mother and Danish-American father, Eric Kolvig, Ph.D., has been teaching in the vipassana Buddhist tradition since 1985, leading meditation retreats and giving public talks around the United States.

He has a particular interest in grassroots dharma, building spiritual community in democratic, non-authoritarian ways.

During the past decade, Eric has also led retreats in the wilderness, both backpacking and canoeing; he is interested in the special value of spiritual practice in the natural world. 

He has worked with many teachers but primarily with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, in the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma, and also with Richard Clarke in the zen lineage of Roshi Philip Kapleau.

Eric lives in a rural intentional community in northern New Mexico. Some of his writings, and other material can be found on his website at www.erickolvig.com

You can download and listen to three dharma talks he gave at the Insight Meditation Center in Palo Alto in 2000, 2001 and 2002. They are:

 

• Living With Ease
• Wisdom
• Applying Dharma to World Tragedy

 

A further 30 talks are available online at www.abqsangha.org/recordings.html

 

 

New Zealand programme

Sunday 3 April • 9am to 12.30pm

Mindfulness of the Mind, and Mindfulness of the Body in Challenging Times

A post-quake community gathering

at Waiora Trust, Te Ahi Kaa Conference Centre, 48 Watson Rd, Harewood, Christchurch

Southern Insight warmly invites you to an opportunity to come together as a sangha following the recent earthquake.

This half-day event will involve a talk, a time for practice, and a discussion led by Eric Kolvig, an insight meditation teacher with over 30 years experience who has specialised in bringing dharma to times of trauma in people's lives.

This event is FREE to all thanks to Eric generously donating his time and to the kindness of the Hamilton Insight community who have contributed to the cost of the venue.

Programme:

9am : cup of tea and informal catch up

10am : Talk, guided meditation and facilitated sharing

12.30pm : Lunch -- bring your own, we will provide free hot drinks.

Please bring your own cushions if you can as there will be a limited number available.

Registration: It would be helpful if you could register to let us know you're coming, either by clicking HERE to send an email or by phoning Paul on 03 381 0444.

If you can offer accommodation to people from outside Christchurch who may wish to attend, let us know as soon as possible -- click HERE to send an email.

• a Southern Insight event - http://southern.insightmeditation.org.nz

 

Thursday 7 April • 6pm to 8pm

Engaging With World Tragedy

a talk reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001

at St Andrews on The Terrace, Wellington

 

With our minds we make our world. Our minds have made most of our tragedies: personal ones like ruined relationships, social ones like injustice and war, and global ones like earthquakes and climate change. Eric Kolvig will suggest how we can master these all-important minds, moment by moment, in order to create wellbeing on our planet, and also in our societies and in our personal lives.

Some of Eric's writings, and other material can be found on his website HERE. Of particular interest are his reflections on a journey to the Cook Islands in search of his mother's roots, and his piece Crazy and Free, on living as a gay man with mental illness.

 

 

Friday 8 through Friday 15 April 2011

Practice for Hard Times

A meditation retreat with a focus on socially engaged buddhism

Riverslea Retreat Centre, Otaki

Cost: NZ$635 plus teacher dana

The earth's environment degrades faster. Species go extinct. Enmities and wars, both inner and outer, seethe on. If you have eyes for it, you may see that injustice occurs more often than justice in many places.

We feel the urge to respond, and we want to do in ways that will make a real difference. So how can we be, and what can we do, in such circumstances?

We can work deeply with our minds and hearts by learning to balance, awareness, compassion, and equanimity.

These three powers, along with wisdom, can help us to live more at please in unpeaceful times. They can also help us to act in ways that heal both ourselves and the world.

During the days on this retreat we will silently practice mindfulness (vipassana) and compassion meditations, training ourselves to be present, open, and skillful in the face of harsh social realities.

• To download a flyer with more information to share with friends, click here.