Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
SUNRAY NGO/UN UPDATE
Sunray continues to support the indigenous world internationally through its presence at the United Nations and the NGO Community. Many wonderful events have unfolded this past year including The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007. Treaty rights, land rights and self-determination of Indigenous peoples are recognized internationally with this declaration. It has political and moral force and delineates states' obligations to uphold these rights of Indigenous Peoples around the world. Indigenous peoples will be able to use the Declaration to redefine their relationship with states, address their grassroots human rights issues and struggles and call upon states to put the rights it recognizes into practise. We have see the Declaration at work in several countries already. In Belize the Supreme Court quoted the Declaration to justify its decision upholding 2 Mayan villagers' rights to their traditional lands. This victory is expected to result in more protection and land rights for indigenous people of Belize. In Bolivia in November 2007 National Law 3760 or the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was passed (This legistration is an exact copy of the Declaration). Bolivia is the first country to adopt the Declaration as national law.
The Declaration has been translated into various languages besides the official UN languages. The other languages include Cha'palaa (spoken in Ecuador), Crimean Tatar (Indigen. of Crimea), Danish, Greenlandic, Italian, Japanese, Kitchua(spoken in Andes), Guarani (Paraguay), Maori, Miskito (Nicaragua & Honduras) and Portugues.
Sandra Sheridan
Sunray NGO/UN Representative
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The Declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007. Treaty rights, land rights and self-determination of Indigenous peoples are recognized internationally with this declaration. It has political and moral force and delineates states' obligations to uphold these rights of Indigenous Peoples around the world. Indigenous peoples will be able to use the Declaration to redefine their relationship with states, address their grassroots human rights issues and struggles and call upon states to put the rights it recognizes into practise. We have see the Declaration at work in several countries already. In Belize the Supreme Court quoted the Declaration to justify its decision upholding 2 Mayan villagers' rights to their traditional lands. This victory is expected to result in more protection and land rights for indigenous people of Belize. In Bolivia in November 2007 National Law 3760 or the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was passed (This legistration is an exact copy of the Declaration). Bolivia is the first country to adopt the Declaration as national law.
The Declaration has been translated into various languages besides the official UN languages. The other languages include Cha'palaa (spoken in Ecuador), Crimean Tatar (Indigen. of Crimea), Danish, Greenlandic, Italian, Japanese, Kitchua(spoken in Andes), Guarani (Paraguay), Maori, Miskito (Nicaragua & Honduras) and Portugues.
Sandra Sheridan
Sunray NGO/UN Representative
Monday, February 16, 2009
End of the year Achi practice, Losar and Million Merit Days
Today begins the end of the year Achi practice at Vajra Dakininunnery. You are welcome to join us at 7 pm at Vajra Dakini this week for Achi recitation. (The closing of the year is viewed as a time of karmic debts ripening and therefore a special time for protector practice)
Tibetan Buddhist Lineages often have a grandmother protector figure. In our lineage it is Achi. She is a historic enlightened woman who, due to her foresight, became the great grandmother of Lord Jigten Sumgon , founder of the Drikung Kagyu. She promised to assist all practitioners throughout time. We do an offering to her every evening, remembering her courage. She walked her truth in a time when is was considered outrageous for a woman to determine anything about her life, much less become a spiritual teacher. One of the reasons we are interested in preserving the woman's lineage within Buddhism is because there is a long line of such courageous women.
This year the Tibetan Government has asked for Losar festivities to be canceled on this 50th anneversary of the dispora due to the tremendous suffering in Tibet this year. Prayers are always good but the festivities world wide will not be offered. At VDN we will celebrate Chotrul Duchen the first 10 million merit day of the new year- on March 11th. In this tradition we particularly celebrate Marpa and Milarepa on these days. We begin March 10th when we will read selections of their enlightened poetry from The Rain of Wisdom. March 11 will begin with a dawn smoke offering and tsok. Readings and prayers continue through the day,
Beginning of Lunar New Year Ceremony
ALL ARE WELCOME AND WARMLY INVITED TO
THE BEGINNING OF THE LUNAR NEW YEAR CEREMONY
SUNDAY, FEB. 22, 2009 at the PEACE VILLAGE, LINCOLN, VT
8:00 AM
We will begin the day of Ceremony with the Lighting of the Sacred
Fire, making prayers and offerings. Through the quiet time of
this Feb. New Moon, we rededicate ourselves to a year of good
relationship. This midwinter ceremony sets the pace for the entire
lunar cycle, embodies our clear intention with the planting of seeds
of good cause.
8:00 AM Lighting of the Fire
8-10 AM Offerings, prayers and practices of dance and meditation
10-4PM Practices continue in the Temple of Adawees-The Wise
Protectors and at the Fire in the Sacred Arbor
4 PM All gather in the Temple for Sacred Dances.
Followed by Potluck Feast. Location to be determined--local community
home.
THE BEGINNING OF THE LUNAR NEW YEAR CEREMONY
SUNDAY, FEB. 22, 2009 at the PEACE VILLAGE, LINCOLN, VT
8:00 AM
We will begin the day of Ceremony with the Lighting of the Sacred
Fire, making prayers and offerings. Through the quiet time of
this Feb. New Moon, we rededicate ourselves to a year of good
relationship. This midwinter ceremony sets the pace for the entire
lunar cycle, embodies our clear intention with the planting of seeds
of good cause.
8:00 AM Lighting of the Fire
8-10 AM Offerings, prayers and practices of dance and meditation
10-4PM Practices continue in the Temple of Adawees-The Wise
Protectors and at the Fire in the Sacred Arbor
4 PM All gather in the Temple for Sacred Dances.
Followed by Potluck Feast. Location to be determined--local community
home.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo tele-teachings -- starting this Thursday
~ VISUALIZE
~ CONSIDER THE BENEFIT TO YOURSELF AND ASSOCIATES
~ ENERGIZE WITH PRAYERFUL AFFIRMATION AND
~ DO WHAT NEEDS DOING
"The opportunity to speak via the tele-class through the Masterful
Living Course reveals the wisdom within and the way it applies in
one's life today. Individuals together establish through thought the
ideals and outcomes which are life force and wisdom enhancing. Each
one is inseparable from the master Wisdom Being within. Through our
explorations we observe the pathways of actualizing vision as joyous
accomplishment."
Please join Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo for teachings offered through the
Masterful Living Course. Venerable will offer these tele-classes
approximately once a month for 10 months. This is a wonderful
opportunity to stay connected with the BeautyWay Wisdom teachings in
an ongoing way. For more information or to sign up for one or more
tele-classes, please visit this link. COURSE LINK.
The first tele-class is this coming Thursday evening, February 19, 2009, at 9:00 pm, EST, 6:00 pm, PST, 7 pm, MT, and 8 pm, CST.
~ CONSIDER THE BENEFIT TO YOURSELF AND ASSOCIATES
~ ENERGIZE WITH PRAYERFUL AFFIRMATION AND
~ DO WHAT NEEDS DOING
"The opportunity to speak via the tele-class through the Masterful
Living Course reveals the wisdom within and the way it applies in
one's life today. Individuals together establish through thought the
ideals and outcomes which are life force and wisdom enhancing. Each
one is inseparable from the master Wisdom Being within. Through our
explorations we observe the pathways of actualizing vision as joyous
accomplishment."
Please join Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo for teachings offered through the
Masterful Living Course. Venerable will offer these tele-classes
approximately once a month for 10 months. This is a wonderful
opportunity to stay connected with the BeautyWay Wisdom teachings in
an ongoing way. For more information or to sign up for one or more
tele-classes, please visit this link. COURSE LINK.
The first tele-class is this coming Thursday evening, February 19, 2009, at 9:00 pm, EST, 6:00 pm, PST, 7 pm, MT, and 8 pm, CST.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Peace Villages around the World
There is a place where you and I can go for refuge. In this place, there is a sacred fire, it burns brightly and it shows us the way. We can see who we are, we can see who we are in right relationship with all that is. It is a physical place, and it is also a place within the heart.
There is a place where children can go to learn. There is no school, no classroom, and yet they learn because they already know who they are, what their purpose is. Their school is the natural state of mind, and that place of learning is also in the heart.
There is a place where the young ones come of age, at that tender time, exploring. They fall asleep by the fire, sleeping upright, cornmeal in hand, resting while learning to tend the bright and dancing flames, dreaming their future and what is good for all generations. Their dreams arise from within the source of all that is, their prayers are expressed through the heart, with few words.
There is a place where the Elders speak their wisdom, the precious Elders carrying their ways and their teachings, painstakingly, for many generations. They share generously, and are supported in return by the breath and by the kind actions of the people. They show community how to stand in a circle, a circle around the heart.
There is a place where those who feel the need to come to balance once again, to be in right relationship with self, with family, with community, may return again to the waters of forgiveness. Cleansing, wiping away the tears, and making joy again in their beings, their actions benefit all.
Actually, the Peace Village is in many places around our planet at this time. In the Green Mountains of Vermont, in Indiana, in the forests of Poland, on the volcanic mountains of Hawai’i.
In the tradition of the Cherokee people, the Peace Village was a mother village, energizing the sacred ceremonial cycle, a powerful magnet to bring benefit to community. To send gentle waves of compassion to those who cry, even to those who are unseen. Thus, it also was a place for those who had broken clan law to seek refuge, to go through ceremony, to make right. Living in these Peace Villages would be precious ministers, guiding the people again to right relationship. At the conclusion of a person’s time at the Peace Village, he or she might be given a new name, and returned to their home community as a new person. All grievances were forgiven, and that person would be accepted once again as whole and new. In the 1800’s, even white men who were outside of white man’s law were welcome at the Peace Village.
About 40 years ago, it was seen by the Elders of the Ywahoo lineage of the Cherokee people that it was time to bring the sacred practices of making right relationship out into the world. Many were called, a few were tested, and the Elders found this to be good medicine. About 30 years ago, the Sunray Peace Village was founded by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, her family, and a few dedicated students, in the sacred mother valley of Lincoln, Vermont. The valley is shaped a bit like a bowl, and so prayers resonate out from that place in a specific way, as prescribed by the ancestors. Each year, many return to this sacred fire to give and receive blessing, to practice together, and to hear the words of the indigenous Elders who gather there.
Also, other Peace Villages have since been founded by other Cherokee Elders: by Grandfather Warren Ramey, in Indiana, and by Grandfather Silver Fox Mette and his wife Danuta in Poland. Founded on the same ancient principles of right relationship, these small villages now grow and flourish. The special medicine of the Kohana Peace Village in Poland seems to be the medicine of the wise family. Together they live, pray, eat, and share, and many beings benefit from their time together. They create around them a powerful family force that can be felt strongly upon first meeting them. They shape and fashion within themselves and within others, that powerful human being who understands his or her family medicine, knows a strength beyond what we perceive to be our small-circle limitations. So even though the members of the Peace Village families have perhaps not been born from the same bloodlines, the sacred bonds of that strong medicine are cultivated, in order to benefit all. In order to bring Peace to our planet.
In Hawai’i, there is a very strong tradition of the Place of Refuge, or the pu’uhonua. Again, the law was very similar. When a member of the community had broken a societal precept, or kapu, they could escape death by running, swimming, or sometimes crawling to the pu’uhonua. Within the walls of this Place of Refuge were also priests, or kahuna, who would assist individuals in the process of ho’oponopono, or making right. An individual might spend a short time at the pu’uhonua, or in some cases the rest of their lives, depending upon the transgression. So while the culture is different, and each culture shares its special gift, the precepts of the Peace Village seem to be generally the same.
Part of a modern entrance chant for one of the Hawaiian pu’uhonua has the following description:
He leo malie, He leo heahea,
E ha’alele na ha’awi kaumaha…
…He wahi pu’uhonu, o keia wahi la’a
He wahi a’o, o keia wahi la’a
He wahi ho’ola, o keia wahi la’a
A calm voice, a voice calling,
“Release the pain and sorrow that you carry!”
…A Place of Refuge, a sacred place,
A place of learning, a sacred place,
A place to increase life, a sacred place.
And so it is that the Peace Villages around the globe at this time, united by a common thread, call us again to softness of the heart, where much can be understood. And for all this talking today, actually, not much can be spoken!
All are welcome, all may come to sip from the sweet nectars, all may share in the Direct Experience of that sacred place.
**********************************************
Hi! My name is Eliza, I’ve been active with the Sunray Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont, for about ten years now. I’ve had so much fun and experienced so much joy with my Sunray family in this short amount of time we call life! Now I live across the globe, in Hawai’i, where I dance hula and practice lomilomi. I am also an interpreter for the Deaf. If you come to the Sunray Peace Village for our Elders’ Gathering at the end of July (it happens every year), I may see you there! I’m looking forward to it.
Peace,
Eliza ☺
http://sunraypeacevillage.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html#links
There is a place where children can go to learn. There is no school, no classroom, and yet they learn because they already know who they are, what their purpose is. Their school is the natural state of mind, and that place of learning is also in the heart.
There is a place where the young ones come of age, at that tender time, exploring. They fall asleep by the fire, sleeping upright, cornmeal in hand, resting while learning to tend the bright and dancing flames, dreaming their future and what is good for all generations. Their dreams arise from within the source of all that is, their prayers are expressed through the heart, with few words.
There is a place where the Elders speak their wisdom, the precious Elders carrying their ways and their teachings, painstakingly, for many generations. They share generously, and are supported in return by the breath and by the kind actions of the people. They show community how to stand in a circle, a circle around the heart.
There is a place where those who feel the need to come to balance once again, to be in right relationship with self, with family, with community, may return again to the waters of forgiveness. Cleansing, wiping away the tears, and making joy again in their beings, their actions benefit all.
Actually, the Peace Village is in many places around our planet at this time. In the Green Mountains of Vermont, in Indiana, in the forests of Poland, on the volcanic mountains of Hawai’i.
In the tradition of the Cherokee people, the Peace Village was a mother village, energizing the sacred ceremonial cycle, a powerful magnet to bring benefit to community. To send gentle waves of compassion to those who cry, even to those who are unseen. Thus, it also was a place for those who had broken clan law to seek refuge, to go through ceremony, to make right. Living in these Peace Villages would be precious ministers, guiding the people again to right relationship. At the conclusion of a person’s time at the Peace Village, he or she might be given a new name, and returned to their home community as a new person. All grievances were forgiven, and that person would be accepted once again as whole and new. In the 1800’s, even white men who were outside of white man’s law were welcome at the Peace Village.
About 40 years ago, it was seen by the Elders of the Ywahoo lineage of the Cherokee people that it was time to bring the sacred practices of making right relationship out into the world. Many were called, a few were tested, and the Elders found this to be good medicine. About 30 years ago, the Sunray Peace Village was founded by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, her family, and a few dedicated students, in the sacred mother valley of Lincoln, Vermont. The valley is shaped a bit like a bowl, and so prayers resonate out from that place in a specific way, as prescribed by the ancestors. Each year, many return to this sacred fire to give and receive blessing, to practice together, and to hear the words of the indigenous Elders who gather there.
Also, other Peace Villages have since been founded by other Cherokee Elders: by Grandfather Warren Ramey, in Indiana, and by Grandfather Silver Fox Mette and his wife Danuta in Poland. Founded on the same ancient principles of right relationship, these small villages now grow and flourish. The special medicine of the Kohana Peace Village in Poland seems to be the medicine of the wise family. Together they live, pray, eat, and share, and many beings benefit from their time together. They create around them a powerful family force that can be felt strongly upon first meeting them. They shape and fashion within themselves and within others, that powerful human being who understands his or her family medicine, knows a strength beyond what we perceive to be our small-circle limitations. So even though the members of the Peace Village families have perhaps not been born from the same bloodlines, the sacred bonds of that strong medicine are cultivated, in order to benefit all. In order to bring Peace to our planet.
In Hawai’i, there is a very strong tradition of the Place of Refuge, or the pu’uhonua. Again, the law was very similar. When a member of the community had broken a societal precept, or kapu, they could escape death by running, swimming, or sometimes crawling to the pu’uhonua. Within the walls of this Place of Refuge were also priests, or kahuna, who would assist individuals in the process of ho’oponopono, or making right. An individual might spend a short time at the pu’uhonua, or in some cases the rest of their lives, depending upon the transgression. So while the culture is different, and each culture shares its special gift, the precepts of the Peace Village seem to be generally the same.
Part of a modern entrance chant for one of the Hawaiian pu’uhonua has the following description:
He leo malie, He leo heahea,
E ha’alele na ha’awi kaumaha…
…He wahi pu’uhonu, o keia wahi la’a
He wahi a’o, o keia wahi la’a
He wahi ho’ola, o keia wahi la’a
A calm voice, a voice calling,
“Release the pain and sorrow that you carry!”
…A Place of Refuge, a sacred place,
A place of learning, a sacred place,
A place to increase life, a sacred place.
And so it is that the Peace Villages around the globe at this time, united by a common thread, call us again to softness of the heart, where much can be understood. And for all this talking today, actually, not much can be spoken!
All are welcome, all may come to sip from the sweet nectars, all may share in the Direct Experience of that sacred place.
**********************************************
Hi! My name is Eliza, I’ve been active with the Sunray Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont, for about ten years now. I’ve had so much fun and experienced so much joy with my Sunray family in this short amount of time we call life! Now I live across the globe, in Hawai’i, where I dance hula and practice lomilomi. I am also an interpreter for the Deaf. If you come to the Sunray Peace Village for our Elders’ Gathering at the end of July (it happens every year), I may see you there! I’m looking forward to it.
Peace,
Eliza ☺
http://sunraypeacevillage.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html#links
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