

We are thrilled to announce that registration is now open for the first session of our Calm Abiding Meditation Course for 2025, beginning this February!
As the new year begins and life continues to move at a fast pace, finding moments of stillness and clarity becomes more important than ever. That’s why we are excited to offer our Calm Abiding Meditation course, designed to support you in navigating the new year with greater peace and balance.
Starting in February 2025, this 8-week course, guided by experienced facilitators Ben Adcock and Jacky Howarth, will provide both in-person and Zoom options, allowing you the flexibility to join in a way that suits you best. Over the course of 8 weeks, Ben and Jacky will gently guide you through practices to cultivate calm, clarity, and inner peace, helping you connect more deeply with yourself, no matter how busy life may be.
Whether you’re new to meditation or seeking to deepen your practice, this course offers an opportunity to pause, reflect, and restore. We understand the demands of the new year, and if you’re seeking a path to greater peace and resilience, we invite you to join us.
Manjushri Buddhist Centre is committed to making Dharma teachings accessible to all. If you are experiencing financial hardship, please reach out to us at mbcmilton@gmail.com, and we’ll be happy to support you in receiving these teachings.
We look forward to practicing with you and supporting your journey toward peace and clarity in the new year.
Date and Times
Thursdays, 6-8pm, commencing 20 February 2025
Fridays 9.30 – 11.30am, commencing 21 February 2025
Reserve your place today by clicking ‘Get Tickets’ below!
We also hold weekly drop-in sessions on Monday at 6pm, Thursday at 6pm and Sunday at 8am. New and experienced students are welcome.
On Monday evening we also offer the practice via zoom – this link is the same each week.
About Calm Abiding Meditation
For twenty years, thanks to Lama Choedak Rinpoche’s vision, the practice of Calm Abiding Meditation has been at the heart of Manjushri Buddhist Centre. Throughout this time, we have seen this practice touch the lives of countless individuals who’ve walked through our doors. We owe our gratitude to Lama Choedak Rinpoche, Ben Adcock, Jacky Howarth and all those who’ve supported and practiced with us, enriching their lives with mindfulness and tranquility.
Calm Abiding Meditation is the very form of meditation practiced and taught by the Buddha himself. The technique helps our mind to become relaxed, focused and peaceful which enables us to recognise the cause of our unhappiness and to recover from stress, anxiety and tension.
In 1996, acknowledging the benefits as a popular secular mindfulness technique, and recognising the importance of its Buddhist origins, Lama Choedak Rinpoche started conducting Calm Abiding Meditation courses across Australia and New Zealand. In 2001, Rinpoche began training select students to facilitate Calm Abiding courses. Among those students was Ben Adcock, now the vice president of Manjushri Centre. Ben has now been guiding classes for 20 years, sharing the wisdom and techniques of Calm Abiding Meditation with sincerity and dedication.
We’re proud to announce that this tradition continues strongly in Milton. Our Centre hosts eight, 8-week Calm Abiding Meditation sessions every year. It’s an open invitation to anyone seeking a calmer mind and a more peaceful way of living.
Join us as we celebrate these two decades and embark on another chapter in the journey of Calm Abiding Meditation at Manjushri Buddhist Centre.
If you’re curious about what a Calm Abiding class is like, we invite you to visit our new YouTube channel. There, you’ll find a special recording of a Calm Abiding teaching by Ben. If you’ve never attended one of our courses, this is a great opportunity to experience a class.



About Your Facilitators
Ben Adcock is a long-term student of Tibetan Buddhist Master Lama Choedak Rinpoche and will facilitate the Thursday night course. Ben has been studying and practicing Buddhist philosophy and meditation techniques over the past 25 years. He has been teaching Calm Abiding Meditation for the past 20 years at the Manjushri Buddhist Centre as well as in workplaces, clinical settings, schools and other educational facilities.
Jacky Howarth is passionate about teaching meditation and yoga in group settings. Jacky has a myriad of training and personal experience teaching all ages how mindfulness in meditation and yoga practices can support both physical and emotional wellbeing. A scripture teacher in our local primary and high schools for 18 years, she guides students in the foundations of meditation and how to create their happiness from within. Jacky is a student of Lama Choedak Rinpoche and completed his Calm Abiding Meditation training in 2018.
Testimonials from Past Students
I haven’t made the time for my meditation journey in over 20 years. So when The Calm Abiding Course came around once again and being gifted the opportunity to attend, I knew this was my time to return.
Sitting on the mat every Thursday night has surprisingly come with such ease to me. To be in the clear teachings and calming presence of Ben has brought me a new understanding of how to listen and hear words differently.
I have felt a calmness within myself while being in the centre, always looking forward to my weekly teachings.
I am so grateful to be on this path and riding the waves with my new people.
Ramona
Sometimes we do things on a whim, with a prayer and a glimmer of hope. What I thought was a little wish to win a prize, has turned into a big, life changing, inspiring, beautiful, and soul-nourishing experience.
I consider myself truly blessed to have been chosen as the recipient for a free place at the eight week Calm Abiding Meditation program, run by the enigmatic Jackie on Friday mornings.
To feel so held in such a warm, healing, sacred space, has allowed me to grow, learn, connect, and appreciate life in new ways, for which I am incredibly grateful.
Heidi
Last year I attended the “Calm Abiding Meditation” course over 4 Fridays at the Milton Centre facilitated by Jacky. I was new in the area and in the middle of building a new house in the Shoalhaven and I had forgotten how stressful the process of building a home was, so I was looking for a way to help remain calm during this project.
The course was very good. Well structured, well presented and very inclusive of all of the different individuals who attended. It was a good insight into meditation and it’s many benefits. Doing the course rekindled my desire return Yoga practise as part of my everyday routine.
David
Thanks to Ben for leading such an amazing course. Thanks to Rinpoche for the wisdom required to put such a life changing course together. Thanks to all the committee for holding the space and supporting the community. I have now completed the course on multiple occasions and never fail to learn. The first time I did the course it changed my life and it has continued to surprise.
The depth of teachings continue to prove themselves each and every time I do the course. And each time I do the course I see other peoples lives change for the better. As a secular meditation course it teaches a technique that every person should learn… you have a mind, here’s the instruction manual.
Huw
Having seen how much our son benefited from the practice of Calm Abiding Meditation, we embarked on an eight week course in October 2023. Since then, we have practised meditation in accordance with the sequence of body scanning and qualified breathing taught by Ben. Personally, I find it a perfect way to begin the day, and a foolproof way of centring my thoughts when faced with challenging situations.
Marilyn and Don