Crestone -- Meditation-thon 2005 -- Claire Givens
Crestone(Part I) | Meditation-thon (Part II) | Givens(Part III)
Medition-thon 2005 Introduction by Lama La
The KTC Sangha warmly thanks all of the patrons who sponsored 135 hours of the 168 practice hours during this year’s Meditation-thon. This year’s Meditation-thon raised over $8,000 to benefit our operating budget, an increase of 32% over last year. We live in a profoundly non-contemplative, non-monastic society. A key element in the accomplishment of Tibetan Buddhist adepts - mystics and yogis - in Asia is dedicated patronage from the lay public. As Alan Wallace said about patronage from the lay public in a Snow Lion article, Tibetan Buddhism in the West: Is It Working?, it’s a mistake to think that Tibetan Buddhism will flourish in the West without a similar commitment on the part of the community. The fruition of authentic Tibetan Buddhist practices in the West is invaluable to all of us - from the standpoint of wisdom, and sanity, health, global viability. Thank you very much, to our patrons, for playing a critical roll in our solvency this year.
Medition-thon 2005 by Stu Webb
It’s 2:00 am on a crisp February morning week before Losar---the Tibetan New Year. I am coming to our KTC Buddhist Center to do my first two of twenty-two hours of meditation during this week. As I enter the Center, I note gratefully that the hot water is on for tea and snack table is loaded with everything from tangerines to Oreo cookies, to sustain the meditators completing their round.
I relieve the meditator on the midnight to two am shift silently with only a short bow.
As I begin my meditation period, I review who is sponsoring that portion of my meditation. Sponsors have agreed to donate one dollar per minute for a designated period of meditation. The first hour of my meditation is dedicated to a friend of my sponsor who has an advanced stage of breast cancer. The shrine room in which I am sitting is lit only by sixteen “butter lamps” sitting on the shrine. They cast off a “buttery” glow. My only companion is “Sunny” our resident cat and veteran meditator laying on the cushion beside me. I experience a peaceful energy as I hold the subject of my meditation in my thoughts. During the first 30 minutes of the second hour, I am meditating on that sponsor and her husband who have been experiencing martial tensions. And finally I finish with holding the family of that sponsor in the meditation energy.
Five minutes to four, I hear the outer door open. My relief has arrived right on time.. A short bow is again the quiet acknowledgment. A tangerine and an Oreo cookie await me!
An experience like this took place approximately 84 times during the Meditation-Thon week as each of the meditators took their turn meditating at the Center 24 hours a day for the 7 days preceding Losar. We members asked our friends and relatives to sponsor our meditation at the rate of $1 for each minute sponsored. In addition, several businesses gave generously as well.
The event result in over $8,000 of much-needed funds raised for the Center. The money raised is only one of the positive outcomes resulting from the Meditation-Thon. The team meditation effort enhanced the bonding between members. Sponsors became more aware of meditation practice. We have all noted that the physical Center itself experienced an energy enhancement as a result of the meditation activities.
Thanks to all who supported this event.
Missing the Meditation-thon? by Marva Bohen
One of the remarks I heard often at our Losar celebration was: “I loved the energy from the Meditation-Thon. I really miss it.” I thought about this as the White Tara Puja began, and I continued to think about it after the Puja, because it seemed to me that the energy is not missing. It is something that each of us has imprinted within us. It has always been there, but the Meditation-Thon and the White Tara Puja make it manifest. Most of the time we have it buried under layers of the ego and the mundane. Practice is what brings out the energy and allows us to glimpse the Buddha within and without. The Meditation-Thon is so powerful because the whole Sangha is manifesting at the same time.
More of us are taking on the responsibility of advanced practice. Each year I think the Meditation-Thon becomes more powerful because we can more easily manifest the divine energy that is part of Sangha. Think of the phenomenal power of that.
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