Monks Complete Four-year Retreat In Scotland

[camerata]

Monks complete four-year retreat

A Tibetan centre in southern Scotland has welcomed a group of monks emerging after a four-year Buddhist retreat.

The 20 men have been cut off from the outside world since June 2005 when they entered a special sealed-off study centre on the Isle of Arran.

They emerged at the weekend to be taken to the Samye Ling Centre at Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway.

One of the monks described it as "the most difficult thing I have done in my life, without question".

The format of the retreat was designed to achieve the deepest possible understanding of Buddhism and of their own minds.

Full story.

[camerata]

One of the monks who completed the retreat was an actor who got into Buddhism after auditioning for a part in The Little Buddha...

“It was a bit like Big Brother without the cameras,” said Gelong Thubten. “What did I miss? I missed my Mum and ice cream.”

What he found to replace them, it seems, was a profound inner happiness and an almost tangible aura of stillness and calm.

Full story.