We spent a couple days on the Sunshine Coast in Noosa, doing some well earned relaxing after the Outback. We enjoyed the beach, shopping, and a national park. On our hike to the beach, we were lucky enough to pass a pod of dolphins and a sea turtle.
Our next stop was Brisbane (or Brissy if you’re an Aussie). We spent that afternoon at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where everyone got to hold a koala. When it was my turn to hold the koala, I exclaimed, “It’s a koala!” The zoo employee, unamused, confirmed my acute observation. Other highlights of Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary were the kangaroos, platypus, dingoes, and a variety of birds and reptiles. Everybody fell in love with the kangaroos; we pet and hugged the ‘roos.
We finished this week off at Chenrezig Institute. Chenrezig is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center and one of the oldest of its kind in the Western world. We had a couple question and answer sessions with a monk named and Mike, an employee of Chenrezig, to learn more about Buddhism. We started off asking about the basics of Buddhism and by the end, we were having more complex discussions about reincarnation and the idea that each person creates his own reality. In addition to that, Thubten Chodron, a nun from Washington, was doing a seminar at Chenrezig and we were able to attend some of the teachings and meditations. She emphasized that every individual holds the power to find happiness and rid themselves of suffering. Our motivation for all actions is to find happiness. Her talks were very interesting. As a group, we decided to do a day in silence to gain a deeper understanding of Buddhism and reflect on ourselves and this semester as it comes to an end. Most of us were not able to stay quiet for the entire day, but here’s a shout out to Meg and Liz for not talking. Ray, an artist at Chenrezig Institute, gave us an art lesson. What I thought would be a quick drawing of the Buddha, turned into three hours of concentration and hard work. We started off by drawing a grid to help us accurately copy an image of the Buddha. Buddha’s face is supposed to be symmetrical and all images of him are supposed to look the same for good karma.
-Damielle