Buddhist Spring Festival

‘Connecting with Kindness’ is the theme of our Buddhist Spring Festival on 9 and 10 November. This weekend event is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate how kindness and meaningful connection are essential to our health, happiness and community.

This spring festival has been a popular feature of Melbourne’s spiritual events calendar for almost 30 years. Hundreds of people visit each year to relax in the 10-acre gardens, hear talks, experience guided meditations and take tours as well as enjoy the café and shopping.

What's on:
All proceeds support the maintenance of the temple and gardens. This entitles visitors to:

- Four talks and three guided meditations held over the weekend, and children's storytelling and meditation—teachers include Korean nun, Chi Kwang Sunim, Japanese Soto tradition master, Ekai Korematsu Roshi, Tibetan Buddhist meditation and Buddhist philosophy teacher, Michael Joseph, and meditation and mindfulness expert Rod Lee from Sydney
- Guided tours of the beautiful gardens in their spring glory and tours of the magnificent traditional Tibetan temple
- The Ceremony for World Peace at 12 noon Saturday
- Sunday's panel forum at 1pm Sunday exploring Connecting with kindness and ask all your questions
- Photo display of old Tibet the newer Tibetan communities in India

Keynote speakers:
Hear keynote Ceremony for World Peace speakers, Gilbert Rochecouste and Marisa Debattista. Gilbert is recognised locally and Internationally as a leading voice in the art and skill of placemaking. His role in the creation of vibrant, resilient and loved places springs from a life-long belief in the value of connectedness to create community and individual happiness and wellbeing. Gilbert, the founder and managing director of Village Well, has worked with over 1000 cities, towns, main streets and communities over the past 25 years.

Marisa Debattista has had a special connection to animals since she was a young child which led her to open Hume's first non-profit animal shelter and community animal hospital as an adult. Her organisation, Second Chance Animal Rescue (SCAR), has been running for over a decade and has saved the lives of over 10,000 cats and dogs that would have otherwise suffered a sad fate. Her organisation focuses on creating meaningful connections within the community and helping underprivileged pet owners that are struggling to care for their furry family members due to financial difficulty, homelessness or other personal struggles. Marisa's organisation brings hope to many animals in crisis and to the people that care for them and focuses on kindness and empathy to help make important, life-saving changes in the community.

Garden walks, shopping, relaxation, café:
Other attractions include the opportunity to wander the serene and magical gardens full of flowers and trees, relax on lush lawns and by lakes, explore the festival market and the Enjoyment Shop, a courtyard café with delicious savoury vegetarian foods, home-made cakes and chai, and a local coffee cart.

Sunday panel forum:
Panel members at the Sunday Extra forum will talk and answer questions on how open minds, respect and kindness are vital for individual and group survival and wellbeing. The forum will be facilitated by long-time meditator and advocate, Hilary Lynch.

Visit Tibetan Buddhist Society website for more information and updates.