Christmas Tree Forest: Viewing, Offerings & Aspirations
Saturday 16 December @ 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
All welcome! You don’t need to be religious, believer – or even a Buddhist – to celebrate the universal qualities of kindness and generosity! We invite you to enjoy this Christmas wonderland, have a chat, relax, and add your own prayers for your family, world peace and everything dear to your heart.
If you are the kind of person that drives around to look at the Christmas light garden displays, or enjoy the City Hall light show, our LTC Christmas Forest is something to add to your list! We have 12 decorated trees, all with their own theme and story, and a Buddhist wish-fulfilling tree to add your own prayers to.
Come along for a viewing, to just sit quietly and enjoy the ambiance, to add your prayers on our offering tree, or to simply just to have a chat with Eddie, Miffi, the LTC class leaders and volunteers.
We are also collecting food for a community pantry. We will offer them at puja and then on to charity (especially needed at this time of year!). Please make sure they are non-perishable and commercially packaged,
Christmas Reading for Buddhists:
Christmas Dharma is short talk from Lama Yeshe given to western students feeling unsure of what to do with their feelings of “missing out on Christmas.”
Silent Mind, Holy Mind (pdf) is the full collection of talks given by Lama Yeshe at Kopan, to Westerners on Christmas Eve.
Yes – you can just come along, but your RSVP helps us plan – thank you!
Jesus had exceptionally great compassion. It is very good to consider this deeply. If the thought comes to our mind, “I must gain his realizations and become as compassionate as he was,” then this is the most perfect basis on which to have a celebration of his birth. With this feeling in our hearts, a Christmas festival can be very meaningful and worthwhile.
– Lama Thubten Yeshe