About two months ago I joined the Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) International Meditation Group (IMG) for the very first time. Though I had read some books by Ven. Sheng-Yen before and practiced meditation in my home country, it was a real pleasure to actually sit down here, in Taipei, with all those friendly people of DDM. During these last two months, I have almost every Saturday morning find myself sitting in Degui Academy (德貴學院), meditating and having educative conversations about Buddhism.

From July 19th to 21st, there was a three-day meditation retreat led by Dharma Drum Mountain’s Ven. Guo Chii in DDM Melbourne Chapter.

Three years after last visit, Ven. Chang Yen came visiting DDM Vancouver Center again to give a series of Dharma lectures.

Every retreat is different, this retreat was no exception. The venue for the retreat was situated in Northern Sydney, close to the water and also bush land. This was the first time for DDM Sydney to use this venue.

It was an honor to be invited to attend the “360 Degree Chan Retreat” this summer and I experienced the “speechless moment”.

Being curious and fascinated about the Surangama Sutra, there was no hesitation whatsoever to attend the Surangama Dharma Camp, for the second time.

On July 14th, 2012, Venerable Guo Xing, the Abbot of the Dharma Drum Retreat Center and the Chan Meditation Center in USA, guided a Living Ch’an Workshop at the Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver Center in Richmond, B.C. Canada. I was happy to recognize a few familiar faces from the Office and to meet some of my colleagues’ friends.

DDM Sydney organised a 3-Day Retreat from 1 – 3 October, 2011 attended by 15 participants at the Elanora Conference Centre.

I attended the DDM retreat in Sydney from Saturday 1 October to 3 October 2011. This is the first Buddhist retreat I have been on and am very thankful for the good guidance I received from three very kind and insightful Dharma teachers.

Pak agus told me to share my experience on the retreat but I told him that I am too old and nothing has changed much (the same old soul which still has a lot of attachment and selfish).