Dear Dhamma Brothers and Sisters,
I just finished a two-month Mahasi retreat. I am starting a personal retreat at GAIA House on 4/1.
I would like some advice on preparation for the next 6 weeks or so. Also, if anybody has done a longer retreat or a retreat at GAIA House, your advice/experience would be appreciated.
I am sort of jumping into the inner life quickly, and it feels overwhelming at times. My confidence in the Dhamma is what is keeping me afloat.
with metta,
Chi
Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Do Good, Avoid Evil, Purify the Mind.
- tiltbillings
- Posts: 23046
- Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
http://gaiahouse.co.uk/pages/retreats/p ... -retreats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In preparation, all I can say is just go and do practice, and definitely use the teachers that are available to you. You can push yourself, but don't be grim about it; that is not a good thing. You can work hard, but always best to keep Munindra-ji's advice in mind: Keep it light and easy.
In preparation, all I can say is just go and do practice, and definitely use the teachers that are available to you. You can push yourself, but don't be grim about it; that is not a good thing. You can work hard, but always best to keep Munindra-ji's advice in mind: Keep it light and easy.
Chi wrote:Dear Dhamma Brothers and Sisters,
I just finished a two-month Mahasi retreat. I am starting a personal retreat at GAIA House on 4/1.
I would like some advice on preparation for the next 6 weeks or so. Also, if anybody has done a longer retreat or a retreat at GAIA House, your advice/experience would be appreciated.
I am sort of jumping into the inner life quickly, and it feels overwhelming at times. My confidence in the Dhamma is what is keeping me afloat.
with metta,
Chi
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
- retrofuturist
- Posts: 27860
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Greetings Chi,
AN 6.55: Sona Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
All the best!
Metta,
Retro.
Well, I don't have any advice for you specific to Gaia House, but the Buddha has some advice here that might help keep you afloat!Chi wrote:I am sort of jumping into the inner life quickly, and it feels overwhelming at times. My confidence in the Dhamma is what is keeping me afloat.
AN 6.55: Sona Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
All the best!
Metta,
Retro.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Hi Chi
I don;t mean to rain on your parade but if it were me...I would hesitate to attend another long (and longer) retreat so soon after a long retreat. If it were me - I would probably wait a year before attending another long retreat to give myself time to integrate the experience and to get practice in daily life bedded down. While I am sure you know this, the path is more than just attending retreats.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best.
kind regards
Ben
I don;t mean to rain on your parade but if it were me...I would hesitate to attend another long (and longer) retreat so soon after a long retreat. If it were me - I would probably wait a year before attending another long retreat to give myself time to integrate the experience and to get practice in daily life bedded down. While I am sure you know this, the path is more than just attending retreats.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best.
kind regards
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Thank you for all of your advice.
Light and easy. Got it.tiltbillings wrote:http://gaiahouse.co.uk/pages/retreats/p ... -retreats/
You can work hard, but always best to keep Munindra-ji's advice in mind: Keep it light and easy.
Good reminders. It's easier to keep this kind of focus in a retreat environment.retrofuturist wrote:
Well, I don't have any advice for you specific to Gaia House, but the Buddha has some advice here that might help keep you afloat!
AN 6.55: Sona Sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's the youthful recklessness. I already paid for the courseBen wrote:Hi Chi
I don;t mean to rain on your parade but if it were me...I would hesitate to attend another long (and longer) retreat so soon after a long retreat. If it were me - I would probably wait a year before attending another long retreat to give myself time to integrate the experience and to get practice in daily life bedded down. While I am sure you know this, the path is more than just attending retreats.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best.
kind regards
Ben
Do Good, Avoid Evil, Purify the Mind.
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Only one piece of advice. Go for long walks. It's a beautiful part of the country and the natural beauty can sometimes help elevate our spirits; especially if we are feeling a bit grim.
Metta
Metta
Ignorance is an intentional act.
- Goofaholix
- Posts: 4030
- Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:49 am
- Location: New Zealand
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
This is very true for people who have daily lives to integrate it with, if they have family, career, or studies, goals etc.Ben wrote:I don;t mean to rain on your parade but if it were me...I would hesitate to attend another long (and longer) retreat so soon after a long retreat. If it were me - I would probably wait a year before attending another long retreat to give myself time to integrate the experience and to get practice in daily life bedded down. While I am sure you know this, the path is more than just attending retreats.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best.
For people who don't have these things established yet in daily life it makes sense to do back to back retreats until one no longer wants to, to make hay while the sun shines.
Someone in Chi's position might just as easily rock up to a monastery expecting to ordain for life, I think doing back to back retreats in a variety of different approaches as he is doing is a more sensible start.
Pronouns (no self / not self)
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
“Peace is within oneself to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. Trying to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it.”
― Ajahn Chah
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Hi Goof,
kind regards,
Ben
I think if someone in Chi's position were doing back-to-back ten-day retreats then I would whole heartedly agree. In fact some of my friends have done back-to-back ten-day courses sitting and serving for many months. However, Chi is seeking to do long retreats and my experience of long retreats (and those of co-practitioners) is that they are very often extremely intense experiences. Hence, my advice of sustained practice in daily life as both preparation and ongoing post-script. (In my humble opinion).Goofaholix wrote: This is very true for people who have daily lives to integrate it with, if they have family, career, or studies, goals etc.
For people who don't have these things established yet in daily life it makes sense to do back to back retreats until one no longer wants to, to make hay while the sun shines.
Someone in Chi's position might just as easily rock up to a monastery expecting to ordain for life, I think doing back to back retreats in a variety of different approaches as he is doing is a more sensible start.
kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
Thank you for all the varied perspectives.
Here's the preliminary reasoning/conditioned thinking behind doing the long retreats:
1. Life is short. What time is there to waste?
2. I saw teenager novices as young as 13 sitting the 60-day retreat. Clearly, it's doable.
3. The monks are so intensely kind and gentle--I want to be like them. They practice A LOT, nonstop.
4. The life back at home is not as free as the life during a retreat. The more freedom I can instill in the mind and body during the long retreats, the more love and compassion I can bring back home.
5. When I am on retreat, I feel like a bhikkhu, somebody who is focused on liberation. There's more focus, happiness, and peace. At home, there's a lot of negativity that arises. Until I can eradicate a few fetters completely, I can't serve the community in a selfless manner.
6. There is more energy during a retreat. Sleep seems to be less pleasurable. At home, sleep and food seem to become more and more important. Honestly, I would rather force myself not to sleep so much, but the discipline has not been established so I can do it on my own.
It feels good to get these thoughts out! Thanks for reading.
with metta.
Here's the preliminary reasoning/conditioned thinking behind doing the long retreats:
1. Life is short. What time is there to waste?
2. I saw teenager novices as young as 13 sitting the 60-day retreat. Clearly, it's doable.
3. The monks are so intensely kind and gentle--I want to be like them. They practice A LOT, nonstop.
4. The life back at home is not as free as the life during a retreat. The more freedom I can instill in the mind and body during the long retreats, the more love and compassion I can bring back home.
5. When I am on retreat, I feel like a bhikkhu, somebody who is focused on liberation. There's more focus, happiness, and peace. At home, there's a lot of negativity that arises. Until I can eradicate a few fetters completely, I can't serve the community in a selfless manner.
6. There is more energy during a retreat. Sleep seems to be less pleasurable. At home, sleep and food seem to become more and more important. Honestly, I would rather force myself not to sleep so much, but the discipline has not been established so I can do it on my own.
It feels good to get these thoughts out! Thanks for reading.
with metta.
Do Good, Avoid Evil, Purify the Mind.
- tiltbillings
- Posts: 23046
- Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am
Re: Preparation for a 90-Day at GAIA House
But don't forget, after the retreat, make sure you have a life. Don't use the Dhamma to hide away from the kitchen sink level of day-to-day living with your fellow beings.Chi wrote:Thank you for all the varied perspectives.
Here's the preliminary reasoning/conditioned thinking behind doing the long retreats:
1. Life is short. What time is there to waste?
2. I saw teenager novices as young as 13 sitting the 60-day retreat. Clearly, it's doable.
3. The monks are so intensely kind and gentle--I want to be like them. They practice A LOT, nonstop.
4. The life back at home is not as free as the life during a retreat. The more freedom I can instill in the mind and body during the long retreats, the more love and compassion I can bring back home.
5. When I am on retreat, I feel like a bhikkhu, somebody who is focused on liberation. There's more focus, happiness, and peace. At home, there's a lot of negativity that arises. Until I can eradicate a few fetters completely, I can't serve the community in a selfless manner.
6. There is more energy during a retreat. Sleep seems to be less pleasurable. At home, sleep and food seem to become more and more important. Honestly, I would rather force myself not to sleep so much, but the discipline has not been established so I can do it on my own.
It feels good to get these thoughts out! Thanks for reading.
with metta.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723