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Retreats
jae
Veteran
What are your experiences of going to a retreat?
Is it something you would reccomend for a beginner? I'm really curious thanks for any replies in advance.
Is it something you would reccomend for a beginner? I'm really curious thanks for any replies in advance.
0
Comments
I wouldn't recommend a solitary retreat to a beginner.
Group? Go for it!
I think of a retreat is a pilgrimage where you have placed your practice above all other priorities. This applies as much to a "beginner" as anyone else.
My first retreat was at 20 yrs of age for 3 months in a zen monastery which I continued to return to for other retreats over the next 25 years.
The ideal of a retreat is usually anywhere you place yourself in circumstances that minimize worldly distractions so as to provide a conducive environment for potentially un interrupted practice.
A retreat though can also be a mindset, undetermined by external circumstances, where the determination of that mindset creates the retreat of potentially un interupted practice.
So, a retreat can be anywhere, for any amount of time.
My present favorite is for whatever moment is here..
Was your retreat to pass a kidney stone?
:eek:
Five hours meditating...WOW my first buddhist meeting, last week we did an hour with a little break in the middle...I enjoyed it but I was so distracted by my legs going numb and severe pins and needles...I tried really hard to concentrate but my mind kept drifting off into various scenarios of embarrassment (I was certain when I stood up I'd collapse in a heap, taking out any nearby ornaments in the hosts lovely house)
Inspiring comments from all...thank you
Of course I also had the contributing factors of choosing to do heavy outside work during the work period and wondering why we had to meditate inside when there was a beautiful mountain forest all around us hehe. But even still I'd like To meet the person who considers meditation retreats easy. Now that I've done so many they are easier, but I'd never call them easy.
I'll work, gadually, to two hour sessions and take part in the weekly Sunday Nyinthun (3 hours) at the local Shambhala center. The retreat center I visit allows for no more than 3 hours of private practice without a break, so my trainning schedule works very well. By the time retreat begins I'm in agreat place mentally and physically. Soreness is an issue, but I can get arround that by keeping a variety of cushions, stools and a chair in my room or cabin. The center I go to allows us to walk the 80-acre property at our leisure. All kinds of nice little spots to stop and practice. Well, I don't think they're hard, provided you're in reasonably good physical condition and are mentally prepared. I love retreat practice and never think of it in terms like hard or easy.
Pleased to meet ya!
This is a recent photo of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. In 2011 Rinpoche unexpectedly left his recently completed monastery in Bodhgaya with little or nothing on him and has been in a solitary yogic retreat ever since. He recently accepted a companion into his company. He will probably remain in retreat fo a couple more years
He sends occaional messages to friends, students and family. Here's a recent one that has some pictures.
http://learning.tergar.org/2014/01/17/new-photos-and-letter-from-mingyur-rinpoche-on-retreat/
Compoared to what Rinpoche is doing, the kind of retreat practice we engage in, is very easy.
Attachments have so many different forms.
The first retreat I went on was Christian. Long weekend. Left to my own devices. Just had to be there for the meals eaten in silence, whilst a non Christian reading was given. I seem to remember it was an autobiography. I found some liberty caps, which I had never taken before in the garden and had to calculate if I could have them after lunch and be OK by supper. Bad cructacean!
Did a dervish retreat studying the works of Ibn Arabi. The teacher lost his temper with me. Very bad cructacean! Ended up having to be taught by a less temperamental dervish . . .
http://www.beshara.org/courses/about-courses/retreate-courses.html
Last Buddhist retreat I almost went on, I booked the bus ticket. The Buddhist management considered me unsuitable, what was it something I said? . . . but I went anyway and did a solo retreat in nearby woodland. It was March and cold and I did a special shivering meditation all night in my summer sleeping bag. Should have learned Tumo. Ah well, went into town and got a winter bag. Mad cructacean.
http://gaiahouse.co.uk/
You could do a cyber retreat
http://www.interluderetreat.com/
not quite the same . . .
You will mix and meld. If you can - go. If you are daunted - Go anyway. You will be inspired. Good luck. Don't be naughty.
:wave:
Sounds like my type of retreat
I often do a retreat on a day off at home. I simply set the timer on my watch for 30 minutes and alternate sitting meditation with working meditation with Dharmic scriptural study and then back to sitting again. Meal prep and eating takes up one of the work periods.
Every 30 minutes, the alarm goes off and I just drop what ever I am doing and go on to the next activity.
Some of the times I've dropped off NB for retreat is just my computer being left off while I've done this type of practice for longer periods of time.
Maybe, this is where karma is relevant.
I'm not speaking for other organizations......I just cant afford the
retreats here. Yes, I'm lucky to be a stones throw away from a
full monastery....but the money just isn't there..... $400-$600
a week. The last retreat here...when TNH visited, I couldn't pass
up the opportunity, so I did the one day ....$50.... Like @how said....
I have learned to do retreats at home. The longest here at home was
a full week-end.. (Thurs night - Monday morn)......you can find templates/examples/suggestions online....
Edit: Because I am so close...we ( Temple Sangha here)...usually make
a day trip to visit on mindfulness days. We walk, listen to dharma talks
and eat/visit/talk, then leave.
The church 'building fund'. hahaha ....they built a new hall and
staying quarters for him...so....believe me...I know THAT
taste.... Maybe If I spoke up.....I'm not saying I would have
been turned away...but you know how that goes.....The cost for
tents was cheaper...but I would have had to go buy a bigger tent for
the family to attend.
...so more money...hahaha
W.V...is doable for us, so we have talked about visiting there....
I think it's more of a logistics/pay your share of the lights
and/or food....than the building fund. The building fund
was 'voluntary' and/or addition to the cost....in NY, where
my hubby travels back and forth....He says he pays $5 for
a visit/drop in sit in Brooklyn and the price goes on from there....
May I ask other's here ??.......
How does it work where you go?
Just out of curiosity.....
In Yongey Mingur's practice lineage, every practice is followed by a dedication. Here is a dedication used in the Kagyu lineage: The intention of the practice, then, is that the merit will be of benefit to all beings. It's a very Mahayana way of looking at individual practice. People may not be benefit immediately though the practice, but as time goes on ....
Yogic practice can benefit beings in other ways. As the letter in the link descibes, Rinpoche encounttered a Lama who asked, earnestly, to attend to Rinpoche and he accepted Lama. This is a wonderful opportunity for the Lama as he'll be able to recieve teachings from Rinpoche under very special and meritorious circumstances. Yogis are often asked to teach on their travels and they do. Khenpo Rinpoche was asked to build a nunnery while on his travels in Tibet.
Ajan Brahm is in Australia If we, in the US, wanted him to teach here, we'd have to buy him plane tickets, house, feed and otherwise entertain him. We'd need a facuility, probably consecrated, to hold the event and that comes with expense. All of that costs money. Someone will have to pay it. Who better than the students will directly benefit from those teachings?
Same applies to retreat centers. At my center I get an excellent, quiet room, two group practice sessions, three meals and grazing food as well, coffee, tea, water (hot and cold) showers heat, electricity, two resident monastics for counsel and a cook to prepare meals. All that costs money and there are no money trees grow on the property. So the operating costs are borne, in part, though fees paid by retreatants.
And I'm okay with that.
My retreat center charges $35 dollars a night. I think that's a bargain at twice the price.
I pay $40/month Sangha dues. Most of that goes to maintaining the Sangha and the left over is gifted to our guru, who, oddly enough, always returns the check uncashed. The funds go to maintain the sangha - electricity, water, rent - and I'd pay more if I could, but it all costs money.
Even that monastery you're supposed to enter costs money to run. Who do you think gets to pay for it, because someone, somewhere has to.
A Buddhist organization I knew started focusing on the purchase and set up of a monastery out of town. Eventually this dominated all their activities and talks to the point where they sounded obsessed and evangelical about it all. Every time I went there I felt like I was getting a persistent sales job by a cheer leading squad.
To me this was actually teaching that the 4NT only needed to be paid attention to whenever avarice (in this case in a spiritual dress) wasn't sauntering by. Just another worldly mind with the job of wearing robes accepting alms from devoted lay followers.
Buddhist set ups do need to be funded somehow. What disturbs me though is when the building or maintaining of said organizations don't have the willingness to follow the teachings they purport to represent..
Bhavana Society, one of the biggest and busiest forest monasteries in the country, hosting monthly retreats and visiting whenever youd like, is always totally free. of course it costs money to run, but its totally from donations. Its just three monks and a couple residents living there full time. When you know the value of a place and its dhamma teaching and know that without your help it could go away, you want to do whatever you can to make sure it stays.
I have heard that places that do charge will often allow people to come even if they can't pay, which is good. But I just wouldnt want to pay(even though i probably give more money then if they charged) , im not nieve, just principled regarding dhamma and how it should be free. Bhante G made Bhavana free and i hope it always will be.
For instance I went to a 4 day conference in Washington. The night before I was due to return home, that unpronounceably named volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted in Iceland and stopped me flying home for more than a week.
It became an enforced retreat. But, as I was forced to stay in the States in a hotel room in solitary confinement I learned a lot about myself. I had no money (I had lost my credit card on the way out, and had a very limited supply of cash). I came to understand how dependent I was on other people, especially my wife.
Indeed I had to walk nearly 10 miles when I ran out of cash to obtain money from the nearest money transfer centre and was dependent on a christian hotel clerk to help me get around, and advise me how I should not get mugged. The local neighbourhood wasn't great apparently.
England looked, felt and smelled like a very different place when I arrived home and I really appreciated what I had after that.
http://theofferingbowl.com/index.php/how-it-works
Beginners should get some instruction and inspiration. Many monasteries have voluntary only retreats.
Personally I believe advanced practitioners/monks should be set to work to pay people to attend retreats. Which is not so far from the truth . . .
Now let me think of reasons to go on retreat. :buck:
It is important to see how Buddhist practice changes people. You can hear it in person. It may be a challenge for you. Good.
You may learn something to your advantage.
Here is my last formal Yinyana retreat, I had already been ex-communicated for going on retreat. I used the time to learn a mantra. I brought all my own Buddhas and a moth.
I believe all Goenka centres operate this way (correct me if I'm wrong).
How do they manage it?
Money turns the Wheel of Dharma. Period. Money determines the quality of teaching we recieve. Money is what brings teachers to our sangha. Money supports the Monastic Sangha. Money keeps the lights on. Someone has to pay for it at some point and if the bills don't get paid, then what?
It would be nice if everything was free, but that truth is, that nothing in this world is free. I think it's awesome that there are places where you won't be "charged" for a retreat or a class. Dana is all well and good, but if I and everyone else showed up for a 5-day retreat and gave them 10 bucks at the end, that center wouldn't last two months. I know people who routinely take advantage of Dana to do retreats and so on, who could easily afford to pay, even a gifted payment at the end. They are basically gaming the system, because they can. These centers are always on the verge of insolvency, so if they want money up front, no problem.
So, I have absolutely no problem being told a retreat will cost me $35 bucks a night and I ALWAYS leave a gift of cash and coffee beans at the end (Khenpo likes good coffee). M y guru's gonna be teaching at Naropa for a week in April and it will cost $400. It will go to support my Guru and Naropa. I'm okay with that too. If those monies aren't there then Rinpoche will stay in Seattle. I'd then have to travel there, which would cost a LOT more than $400 and the airlines, car rental companies and motels don't run on Dana.
I'd suggest going to a retreat centre or monastery with monks or experienced lay Buddhists - is there anywhere near where you live?
Find a group retreat that offers a mix of teaching and practice. I wouldn't do more than three days for a first time. Don't get in over your head - a retreat may be offering advanced teachings and practices and it can be very frustrating spending a weekend working with stuff thats beyond you, so be sure to ask questions about the retreat material and it's suitability before you commit. Many retreats will offer a checklist of things you should bring both essentials and optionals. Make sure you have the essentials. If you have any health or dietary needs make sure they are aware of it. Make sure you have people on the outside who know precisly where you are and how to contact you in an emergency. Other things that may be helpful would include knowing how long meditation sessions will last and try to make sure you can sit comfortably for that long.
And plan on enjoying yourself.
I met the lady that runs it last Tuesday when I went to the other buddhist meeting (Interbeing group) first meeting and group meditation ever...was a nice evening but I was very uncomfortable! The hosts were lovely and I stayed for a cup of tea after, really warm group of people.
I will see her tomorrow evening so I will ask her about retreats then, have you ever heard of The Venerable Myokun from the Shobo-an Zen temple in London ? He/she? Is coming over to Guernsey end of the month and visiting the Zen group I'm hoping to attend, not sure what its all about but interested to find out.
I have seen Sark on TV. It looks wonderful. In fact there is a series of 'Island Parish ' on currently featuring Sark.
Yes the island parish, my partner used to fish with Baz Adams, he and his wife run a guest house in Sark and I would recommend it, we stayed there August for a friends wedding his parents live there.
You can hire bikes, the best way to see the island....this link is the video of that wedding and for me it captures the essence of the day and the beauty of Sark......(plus it was a day filled with love)
(hope it works im a bit of a technophobe) The video is put together by a local guy, graphic desiner for specsavers...he did an execptional job, his gift to the bride and groom.
If you ever plan to go let me know and I will do all I can to help...could even book your ferry crossing from UK as I work for the company.