September 30 – Oct 2, 2011
I led a Buddhist weekend retreat in Monterrey, Mexico and it was a success. Some photos and videos are posted on my Picasa.com and Facebook pages. They invited me because the two organizers of the retreat are taking an online course with the International Buddhist College in Thailand. The IBC course has a section on Rebirth where they have a “Watch and Listen” section recommending my You Tube video called “Karma and Rebirth in Theravadin Buddhism by Brian Ruhe.” Alejandra Trevino is an acupuncturist and she works with Dr. Mariano Ramos who is a psychiatrist, an astrologer, an ex-Catholic monk and a man of wide knowledge. He has been teaching their group the Course in Miracles and now many were interested in Buddhism but some left who were not. They emailed me, then we talked on the phone and then I started teaching them by Skype and they invited me to come to Monterrey to lead a weekend retreat.
I flew down, stopping in Houston where a storm delayed my flight out for two hours. I took some cool photos and a video on my iPad 2 of 20 planes waiting in high winds to take off. Houston always gets storms like that. I was happy to arrive in Monterrey and Alejandra and her husband Marcello hosted me. She was the one I relied on and she graciously took care of every little detail for me. She’s a princess and they also have three kids. Their city is beautiful and surrounded by mountains. All of the 20 retreatants were very concerned about the drug cartel violence in their area which claims about 15 lives per day and has left them living in tension. Alejandra was impressed that I put my trust in them and went there. Our retreat was held in Alejandra’s beautiful clinic on a mountainside.
The Mexicans had many questions so I consulted with the co-host, Mariano, who also translated, about what to do. He suggested that it would be better not to give a lecture and then hold for questions so we allowed them to interrupt and ask questions anytime. This worked great! They went 35 minutes overtime before lunch before we noticed the time; they were really engaged. Afterwards they were impressed by the law of karma and still had many questions. Some worried about karma and some were kept up at night thinking about it. It was a new discovery for some of them because of the depth of the karma subject and our discussions.
On Friday we meditated for 25 minutes at a time and 45 minutes at once on Saturday. They found this too tough so we did 20Â minutes, two or three times, on Sunday plus walking meditation for 15 minutes. We planned a Vipassana meditation retreat with talks around meditation and cautiously introducing some Buddhist concepts, like karma and rebirth. But we changed the retreat dramatically by turning it into a study retreat. They loved it and their written evaluations were very positive and supportive.
I felt very good at the retreat, as I do at most classes. Most were about my age, 40’s and 50’s. Two thirds were women, married with children. Some were spiritually advanced. It felt like something powerful and wholesome came together within our group. This was the first time they had a Theravadin course and I wanted to plant that seed and help it to grow. I had some missionary zeal to establish the Theravada tradition.
Mariano is a great guy with a most impressive intellect and memory. His translation work is not an easy thing to do. On Saturday we started off with over an hour on Buddhist history and they were thankful to find out the truth and the difference between the traditions. On Sunday we did a 20 minute meditation then the four noble truths and then the eightfold path. After lunch we did walking meditation for 15 minutes and then we devoted about two hours to karma and rebirth for the finale. That was the best part for them perhaps, and me too, and we made some short videos on my iPad 2. The photos are very nice too.
We talked about planning another visit. They will discuss with the class what they would like to do next. I could plan anotherretreat concept for just a weekend, but not longer than that. They’re not ready for five days just yet. Alejandra wrote to me the next day, “Hi Brian!!! Thank you for your trust in us and thank you for sharing with us last weekend, especially with my family… All students are very happy talking about the retreat… Much metta… Alejandra.” Mariano wrote to me the next day, “We are deeply thankful and edified by your visit and testimony of a committed life to truth and honesty and transparency.”
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Brian Ruhe author of | A Short Walk On An Ancient Path and Freeing the Buddha
www.theravada.ca    | brian@theravada.ca
2 Responses
I have read your summary of the retreat in Monetrrey Mexico. It is interesting how a Psychiatrist requested your presence. I’m very familiar with that psychiatrist. However when he went into the seminary we lost touch. My family and he shared many months in New York where he did his residency. I was instrumental in getting him settled. I was wondering if you could either give him my e mail address or give me his. Both my son and daughter often ask if I have found him. I wrote to his old address where his parents lived and he is no longer there. I know how strange this sounds but it must be serendipity. Please let me know if you can do that or if you wish not to do anything. But please let me know either way.
Dear Brian,
You do these travels so seamlessly, as we hear about them from this side. We are glad you had a good trip to Monterrey and we got to find you were back home. We appreciate all you do.