A Note on the Retreat, November 2005

The library sponsored Thanksgiving weekend two-day retreat, including the week-long evening lecture sessions, was held and completed from 11/26 through 12/04.

Regardless the severely cold weather in Chicago area around the Thanksgiving holiday, the two-day retreat was very successful and the week-long lectures were well attended, too; many friends drove a long way to participate the lecture every evening.

Among them, a family of five in three generations, including a 7-month infant, drove from University of Chicago to participate in every lecture.

One of the library’s goals is to promote harmony, and we have been doing so since its opening. There have been some visible effects. For example, in the Sunday morning practices and other activities, we often see friends from all ages harmonious participate. Especially those active and cute youngsters and babies, they miraculously do not make much noise when in the library.

Throughout the two-day event, at times there were baby talks mixed with sutra reciting and Venerable's speeches. This added a layer of warm atmosphere to the harmony. There were many Western friends attended the speeches by Venerable Wu Ling; she also brought with her many audio Dharma items. The speeches were well received; many participants delivered sincere thankful notes for her teaching.

The lectures by Venerable Wu He were audio recorded and will be made into CDs (in Chinese). The CDs are expected to be available for checking out after Christmas.