September – December 2019
September 7: one-day Insight Dialogue workshop – Redwood City, California
Insight Meditation Center
108 Birch Street Redwood City, California 94062
phone: +1 (650) 599-3456
insightmeditationcenter@gmail.com
Exploring Wise Speech through the practice of Insight Dialogue
Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice that brings the mindfulness and tranquility of traditional silent meditation into our experience with others. Resting on the foundation of traditional Buddhist teachings, this practice offers a way to integrate wisdom and compassion into our relational lives through mindful speaking and mindful listening.
In this one-day non-residential workshop, we will use the power of relational meditation practice to understand the habits of heart and mind that lead to stress and distress, and how to free ourselves from those habits so that we can live together with greater ease and happiness.
Working together in pairs, we will explore the six guidelines of Insight Dialogue in conjunction with the classical Buddhist teachings on Wise Speech: speech that is “… spoken at the right time … spoken in truth … spoken affectionately … spoken beneficially … spoken with a mind of good-will.”
For more information about the practice of Insight Dialogue, please see https://metta.org/insight-dialogue-3/
This workshop is best suited to people with an established meditation practice, but previous Insight Dialogue experience is not required.
NOTE: Because the Insight Dialogue guidelines will be taught in sequence and much of the meditation is done in pairs, please plan to arrive on time and stay for the entire day
Time and dates:
9:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday 7 September 2019
September 10 – October 22: co-teaching six-week retreat – IMS, Barre Massachusetts
Insight Meditation Society 1230 Pleasant St Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-4378
Prerequisite is three silent retreats of a week or more with recognized insight meditation teachers. Please document this experience, including teachers’ names, dates and length of courses when registering.
Includes optional mindful movement.
A limited number of You Choose fee spaces are available for people of color and young adults (18-32 year olds) in financial need. This means you can establish your own retreat fee, based on your financial means. A minimum of $20 per night, or $840 for six weeks, is required.
Teachers:
Carol Wilson, Guy Armstrong, Annie Nugent, Brian Lesage, Jill Shepherd
Assistants:
Devin Berry, Dawn Scott
To register: https://www.dharma.org/retreats/529
November 1-30: co-teaching one-month retreat with Caroline Jones
Forest Refuge 97 Lockwood Road Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-2063
To register: https://www.dharma.org/retreats/forest-refuge/application/
December 3-8: five-day study and practice retreat
Liberation through Non-Clinging: An Exploration of the Five Aggregates
The goal of the Buddhist path is sometimes defined as “liberation through non-clinging.” But what is meant by clinging? In the First Noble Truth, the Buddha proclaimed that there is dukkha (suffering, stress, distress, unsatisfactoriness), and he defined dukkha in short as “the five clinging-aggregates” of form, feeling-tone, perception, formations, and consciousness. To have any possibility of experiencing the freedom of non- clinging, we first need to understand the nature of our clinging more fully. In this five-day retreat, we will explore the five clinging-aggregates through a combination of silent sitting and walking meditation, sutta study, and interpersonal practice in pairs and small groups using the guidelines of Insight Dialogue. Practicing in solitude and together, we can directly experience not only the dukkha of clinging, but the possibility of its release.
Learning Intentions:
To cultivate an experiential understanding of how clinging to the five aggregates causes suffering; how to free oneself from these different areas of clinging; to have new understanding about how clinging/identification constructs a sense of self; and how releasing clinging brings insight into anatta or not-self.
Location: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
149 Lockwood Road Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-2347
Cost: Sliding scale
Sustaining: $895 Mid Level (Actual Cost): $695 Supported: $545 Non-Resident: $325
To register: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/course/liberation-through-non-clinging-an-exploration-of-the-five-aggregates/
February 2020
February 14-19: co-teaching five-day retreat – IMS, Barre Massachusetts
Insight Meditation Society 1230 Pleasant St Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-4378
Strengthening the Heart: Lovingkindness retreat
Metta, sometimes translated as unconditional kindness or universal friendliness, grows from our capacity for basic human warmth. It is the first of four sublime states known as the Brahmavihara, that encompass lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. Developed together, these four qualities provide a powerful support for wellbeing, concentration and the deepening of insight practice.
In this silent Brahmavihara retreat, open to all, we will explore a range of techniques for developing these skillful qualities of heart, as well as ways to release the obstacles that often get in the way of living with more ease, happiness and peace. Our time together will include silent and guided sitting meditation, walking meditation, talks about the teachings, instructions and group meetings with the teachers.
An optional daily period of mindful movement will be offered by assistant teacher Jessica Morey.
Teachers:
Jill Shepherd and Oren Sofer
Assistants:
nakawe cuebas and Jessica Morey
To register: https://www.dharma.org/retreats/547
September – November 2020
September 15 – October 27: co-teaching six-week retreat – IMS, Barre Massachusetts
Insight Meditation Society 1230 Pleasant St Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-4378
Prerequisite is three silent retreats of a week or more with recognized insight meditation teachers. Please document this experience, including teachers’ names, dates and length of courses when registering.
Includes optional mindful movement.
A limited number of You Choose fee spaces are available for people of color and young adults (18-32 year olds) in financial need. This means you can establish your own retreat fee, based on your financial means. A minimum of $20 per night, or $840 for six weeks, is required.
Teachers:
Annie Nugent, Bhante Buddharakkhita, Winnie Nazarko, Devin Berry, Jill Shepherd
Assistant:
Roxanne Dault
More info: https://www.dharma.org/retreats/schedules/retreat-center/
November 1-30: co-teaching one-month retreat with Caroline Jones
Forest Refuge 97 Lockwood Road Barre MA 01005
phone: +1 978-355-2063
To register: https://www.dharma.org/retreats/forest-refuge/application/
