Winter Retreat

It was another cloudy day at Sydney when around 20 Unibuds members gathered at central station to go to Bundanoon for winter retreat. The retreat was a 3-day 2-night stay at Sunnataram Forest Monastery. Some new faces appeared and, of course, most of the good old buds were there as well. Many of us busied ourselves talking to each other and introducing oneself to the other while some sat quietly reading. At about 11am, we finally got on the train.

The retreat was a great setting for getting to know people. Everyone at Unibuds is very friendly and the trip has motivated me to practice meditation and become more mindful.

~ Siv

A while later, the sun greeted us peeking from behind the clouds in the blue sky as we left grey Sydney behind. We had to change the train at Campbelltown and we had a bit of a hassle since no one knew where the platform 4 was. Turns out, it was hiding in the corner of the station.

It was a long long train journey. Most people were lively. Some were playing cards and some were talking. A few were sleeping. As we approached Bundanoon, our destination, we got excited. At the station, we could taste lungful of icy fresh air. Phra Ratsami was at the station to greet us. We all crammed into a small bus. Bundanoon was a fascinating place leaving some of us speechless by the beauty of the nature.

Chien Hoong It was a fascinating experience practising the dhamma in a natural forest monastery environment.

~ Chien Hoong

When we got to the monastery, our organiser, Wililin and Ching were already there waiting for us. We went to our rooms to leave our bags and gathered at the Dhamma Gallery to pay respect followed by welcome speech by the monks and novices. Phra Ratsami gave us a short Dhamma talk and we all went our own ways - group one went to the kitchen to help with preparing dinner.

Whole lot of carrot chopping, egg cracking, potato peeling went on in the kitchen producing some of the best vegetarian dishes I've ever tasted.

Thank you for taking me along.

~ Arlene

After dinner, we chanted and meditated then gathered outside for campfire. The campfire was one of my favourite bit of the retreat when we got to listen to some of the interesting experiences from one of the monks back in Thailand during bush walk. After the story, we got to stand around the fire singing.

Alex The experience was good – very casual, not as I expected before as that serious. Anyway, I hope Unibuds can organise certain retreat where we actually go out and help people.

~Alex

On the following morning, everyone woke up at five with sleepiness still hanging over in our eyes. It was raining. I took shower earlier that morning and had to face an impossible mission to get the water to the right temperature. Most of the girls had to settle for way-too-hot water. We chanted and meditated - frankly speaking, I was closer to sleeping than meditating. Then we went to the gallery for some morning exercise - yoga.

Food was great – it’s my favourite bit of the retreat.

Later that morning, we had to present some sketches - small plays. Star City seemed to be the topic of the day. There were so many hidden talents among the members and some of them were really funny filling the gallery with laughter. We had a short bush walk in the rain where Phra Ratsami showed us the proof that the mountain we were standing on was once under the ocean. The place was magnificent. Unfortunately, the soccer match between the monks and Unibuds had to be cancelled due to the rain. During the free time after the bush walk, some gathered in the gallery for some game. I played some charades and had some good laugh when people were trying to act out things like prawn or jellyfish.

The place was beautiful and I’ve learnt a lot.

Thanks.

~ Xin Lin

After the chanting and meditating, the rain stopped and a sense of thrill passed through the Unibuds members, as we were to go watch the glow-worms. Yet, the rain came back and it had to be cancelled again. However, we got to sit around the monks and ask question and get a better insight into Buddhism. Before the bedtime, we passed the endless light and the one with the light gave a small talk. Some of them were really good but I had some problem trying to think of what to say - and I'm sure I wasn't alone on this.

We are all pebbles, thrown into the pond or lake.

It creates ripples and these create waves.

I hope these waves and ripples are good ones.

~ Russell

The following morning we got to wake up at 5am again. The girls had pleasant sleep but turns out that the guys almost burnt the place down. Luckily, Wai Loon woke up in time to put the fire off with some water. We busied ourselves packing up and cleaning the place. Before we knew it, it was already time to say goodbye. Everyone enjoyed their stay at the monastery. After saying farewell, we were all on the way back home - promising to come back sometime soon.

By: Ann Choi

“Winter Retreat”