I recently received two cassettes of recordings made of Godwin at the Nilambe Meditation Centre in 1992 giving talks and leading discussion at the evening meetings.
The material on the cassettes is various as they were spoken in an informal setting, not part of a set talk, I owe a big sādhu to CY Tan for help with making the conversion of these files.
The first cassette dealt with the subjects of attachment, vipassana, zen and dzogchen, before concluding with a short discussion with meditators and chanting from the Hindu tradition.
The discussion section, though short, is a good addition as these interactive sessions which Godwin led at Nilambe were a main feature of the Centre, and some of the most valuable insights for people who came there, and this is the only recording we have presently.
The second cassette is more like a straight talk on the topic of breathing meditation (ānāpānasati), though it appears it was also given during the evening discussion period. It is followed by chanting from the Tibetan tradition.
Both of the talks, like all the talks Godwin gave, had to be edited, but this time to exclude extraneous sounds, like heavy coughing and sneezing – February in Nilambe! – and to join the two sides of the cassettes.
The poems we have managed to collect were written by meditators in books that were kept in the library in Nilambe, which Godwin had had put there to encourage meditators to express their thoughts and feelings.
The early poems come from the 90s, we then have some after Godwin passed away, and then some poems by people who never met Godwin but have benefited from his creative spirit at Nilambe.
Some of the poems were written anonymously, but others have names attached. I was surprised to find that two of my own poems from that time were included in the collection, which was made by Ewen Arnold, who is one of the more recent poets.
Given the situation with my visa (or lack of one) at present, it is perhaps a teaching to myself from the past:
Nowhere to Hide
There is nowhere to go
and nowhere to be but here,
so why not relax
and be present to what is.
No movement of denial,
no holding what is passing
simply being true
and truly being simple.
This is the best place to be:
all life has led up to it,
so why not trust the moment?
Let tomorrow come when it will.
When there is only here and now
then what else is there?
Breathing, sensing, being;
and the immense silence beyond
– isn’t that enough?