about open path meditation

Open Path Meditation is an open, not-for-profit collective, or sangha - a group of people committed to exploring and sharing the teachings about the path of awakening - the Buddhadharma.

The origins of the Open Path Meditation sangha emerged from the ongoing relationship between the teachers and a group of dharma students who, over the last three to five years in Melbourne, have informally maintained a commitment to the teachings and practice of Buddhadharma, as taught in the tradition of the late Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche.

Together, in early 2008, we decided to formalise our commitment as a collective in order to support the access of others to the Teaching, to broaden the scope of dharma exploration, to add a social element to dharma activities beyond that of meeting solely in a formal teaching situation, and to establish a dedicated teaching and practice space.

Our aspiration is to offer a dedicated space for practice, study and shared exploration of the path of awakening, as understood, shared and bequeathed in unique form by all the great spiritual traditions of the planet. In the spirit of the late Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, we will draw upon the teachings from the Buddhist tradition as our touchstone.

Our teaching space

Open Path Meditation sangha rent a teaching space in Auburn in Melbourne and have a teaching house in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula for the above purposes.

Join our sangha

The Open Path Meditation sangha welcomes people who share our aspiration to both practice and explore the Buddhadharma, to join in our activities and become involved with our group. In addition to dharma explorations, our group meets regularily to share the care of our teaching space and plan future activities. Please contact us for further information.

about the teachers

bill genat

Bill has been practicing and studying the Dharma since meeting his first teacher Karma Chime Shore in 1977, a senior student of the late Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche and the inspiration for the establishment of both the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre in New Zealand and the Origins Study and Retreat Centre in Western Australia. Bill was a foundation member of the Origins Centre and over the years served as coordinator and in other roles within that organisation. Bill received teaching directly from the Rinpoche himself on an almost annual basis over a period of twenty years in Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Wales and Switzerland. Bill's teachers also include a number of other senior students of the Rinpoche also recognised as profound teachers in their own right including Tarchin Hearn, Cecily Kwiat, and Sonia Moriceau. Bill also draws on his work experience and practice in the areas of community development, socio-drama, group work and health sociology in his teaching.

kathryn shain

Kathryn has been practicing meditation and studying with a number of teachers for over 20 years. For the first half of that period she followed a devotional path and spent many months on meditation and service retreats in ashrams in India, America and Fiji. In 1998 her focus of study turned to Buddhist Teachings when she was inspired by gifted teachers Chime Shore and Cecily Kwiat. About eight years ago she was blessed to meet her main Teacher Tarchin Hearn and since then has spent much time in meditation retreat and study with Tarchin, primarily at the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre in New Zealand but also in Australia. Kathryn has also studied under other inspirational Buddhist teachers such as Sonia Moriceau and Lama Mark Webber. Kathryn is greatly indebted to Leander Kane, with whom she studied Liberation Through the Body - a remarkable series of body movements that centre and calm the body/mind bringing physical and mental healing and liberating stuck patterning. Kathryn, like Leander, integrates these movements with her teachings of Buddhadharma to bring a rich awareness and greater understanding of the body/mind.

teaching

A huge blessing in the tradition of the teaching bequeathed by the late Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche is his emphasis on pith teachings of the Buddhadharma unencumbered by any particular cultural overlay. The Rinpoche devoted his teaching ministry to the development and transmission of the Buddhadharma in ways that could skilfully illuminate and liberate the western mind. To that end he gave great emphasis to craft and artwork, to the study of western teachings and practices of the mystical life. He interwove his deep insights in psychology, the sciences including physiology, microbiology, astronomy, geology, physics and zoology, and the arts within his teachings of the Buddhadharma. Nevertheless, the Rinpoche held up the classical teachings of the Buddhist tradition - the Theravadin, Mahayana and Vajrayana - as the most intact living traditions of awakening on the planet.

Bill and Kathryn are committed to sharing the rare blessings of this extraordinary teaching tradition to all levels of practitioners.