November 2019
Weekend Retreat with Ajahn Jutindharo
Ajahn Jutindharo grew up in Leeds. He studied physics at university, and then worked for several years in medical research whilst writing a PhD. At university he became interested in meditation and Buddhism, which culminated in a decision to join a Buddhist monastic order in 1987. His monastic life has been spent primarily in Britain, with short periods in Asia. since 2007 he has been abbot of Hartridge monastery in Devon, England. Start and End Times: Registration for…
Find out more »December 2019
New Year Retreat 2019/2020
Our annual New Year retreat will be led by members of the Sunyata lay sangha and will follow our normal retreat guidelines and schedule, with morning and evening chanting, periods of silence, walking, and some guided meditation, talks / reflections as well as optional yoga. Start and End Times: Registration for this retreat will be from 4pm on Saturday 28th December with soup served at 6.15. The retreat will begin at 7.15pm with a short orientation talk and will end at…
Find out more »January 2020
Serenity and Insight -Day Retreat with Vince Cullen
‘Serenity and Insight – a Journey without Destination” is a day-long retreat exploring some Buddhist principles and practices for being present in everyday life. This retreat will be a day of talks, sitting practice and (weather permitting) walking practice devoted to cultivating ‘serenity and insight’ even in the midst of the difficult. We will practice some silent meditation; and some ‘Heart’ practices. Information about coming on retreat at Sunyata can be found here. Further details about the day can be seen…
Find out more »True Emptiness, Wonderful Existence: A weekend of insight meditation with Pádraig Cotter
“True emptiness does not obstruct wonderful existence, Wonderful existence does not obstruct true emptiness.” Master Hua. Insight meditation involves attending to experience in ways that lead to peace of heart and mind, open the doors of perception to a sense of wonder and help us to take care of our lives and our world more deeply and freely. To that end, on this retreat, we will place particular emphasis on the Buddhist teachings of sunyata, usually translated…
Find out more »March 2020
10 day Retreat with Suvaco
On this retreat we will work on deepening our meditation practice, developing the skills for Samatha (serenity) and Jhana (absorption) states. Emphasis will be placed on creatively using the sound of silence (Shabd or Nada) as a focus for concentration. Once the feeling resonance of the ‘sound-current’ is activated through meditation, guided meditation in subtle energy circulation, Qi Gong practices and chanting, we will look at strategies to release the first three fetters on the path: sceptical doubt, self view and…
Find out more »Weekend Retreat with Heike Griffin
"Dukkha is like a constant squeeze and enlightenment the experience of enoughness" Ajahn Maha Booha In a world of instability and uncertainty how can we find safe ground? We will explore the Buddha's teachings to understand more fully how we create our world and our experiences and how we can use these teachings to bring a sense of peace into our daily lives. Training the mind can protect us from slipping into those dark states of delusion, depression and misery.…
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