Director's Report 2005
Annual General Meeting

The AGM is the opportunity for the members to participate in looking at the previous year and thinking about how we are going and where we want to go. In my mind, I often think of Sakya Choekhor Lhunpo as a small organisation that doesn't do very much, but whenever we actually measure what we have done, it's surprisingly impressive.

Jock and the Committee set up our first physical centre at the end of 2004 above the cafe in Balaclava. This took tremendous work and enthusiasm and has created a very beautiful place of practice which I feel we can all be proud of. It is not clear as to whether we wish to be in Balaclava forever, but whatever we decide, we at least have a place at the moment, where we have never had our own place before. It was a wonderful event to have our Centre opening with the Mayor of Port Phillip, Sister Virginia of RMIT and representatives from other Tibetan and Vietnamese centres. We must thank the wonderful Australian Korean nun, Ven. Chikwang Sunim, for her donation which enabled us to purchase the beautiful Buddha statue. It was also very kind of Khenpo to organise the statue in Kathmandu.

Deputy Director Genevieve, Dorethy and I have shared the responsibility of Sunday mornings, and I have to say how grateful and impressed I am with Genevieve's hard work, commitment and extraordinary dedication. She has really made the Centre happen as a place. I would also like to thank John for his reliable, patient and steady commitment to the extremely important role of Secretary. Without our Centre sponsors we would not have the rent to keep the place, so an enormous thank you to the sponsors. This is an interconnected world and everything depends on everything else.

Last year we hosted four visits by Khenpo including a Tara retreat at Mt Eliza, teachings by Dungyud Rinpoche, as well as the bulk of our work, which is the weekly practice. We have a good group of reliable friends and a shared commitment to the Dharma. We have also hosted non-teaching visits to the Centre by Lama Lekshe, Abbot of the Sakya Centre in Rajpur.

After the tsunami we held special Tara pujas, and this year have also hosted Dr Barry, a Tibetan doctor. This morning we had the good fortune of a special teaching on samadhi from Geshe Ngawang Gendun at the Centre. Last year I edited a booklet on Buddhist Care for the Dying, which was published by the Buddhist Council of Victoria and distributed by the Victorian Multicultural Commission. I attended the Sakyadhita International Buddhist Women's Conference in Seoul, Korea, and gave a paper on the booklet. We are small but we are well connected, and we are in touch with the wider Buddhist community both in Australia and around the world.

We don't have a resident lama yet and I would certainly be pleased to discuss what we can do about that. If anyone wants the job of fundraiser – it's vacant!! Otherwise I would like to say that I personally appreciate being a part of such a good group and working with everyone here to make the Dharma available.

Thank you.