Upcoming Day Retreats & Workshops
Practicing with Right Effort: Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose - Half-Day Workshop with Adam Groff
When one of the Buddha’s disciples was considering leaving the holy life after not attaining enlightenment despite intensive practice, the Buddha offered an analogy: a guitar that is strung too tight is not playable, and neither is a guitar that is strung too loose – it has to be tuned just right to produce the desired sound. “In the same way,” said the Buddha, “over-aroused persistence leads to restlessness, overly slack persistence leads to laziness. Thus, you should determine the right pitch for your persistence, attune the pitch of the five faculties to that, and there pick up your theme.” Of course, the disciple then attuned his persistence and shortly thereafter reached enlightenment.
Reaching enlightenment will not be our goal for this program. However, we will talk about the concept of Right Effort – an important factor of the Noble Eightfold Path – and how it can help us attune our practice. In particular, we will discuss ways to avoid the arising of unwholesome mind-states and encourage the arising of wholesome ones.
This half-day workshop is open to beginners and experienced meditators and will be held mostly in silence with teacher-led discussion and instructional talks.
Calm and Clearly Seeing: The Mutually Supportive Practices of Concentration and Insight — A Full-Day Pariyatti Retreat with Chris Crotty
Pariyatti (Pali) means to study or learn. Pariyatti Programs offer unique opportunities to systematically integrate Buddhist teachings into the path of meditative development, directly supporting the maturation of wisdom. Cumulatively, these thematic programs help build a practical framework of Buddhist teachings, serving as a foundation for one’s meditation practice. Offered a few times annually, all students are encouraged to attend.
Program Description
Concentration meditation secludes the mind from habits of distraction, establishing the conditions for calm and stability. Insight (vipassana) meditation investigates the true nature of experience, leading to wisdom. These two forms of meditation differ in their technique and result, yet together they form a mutually supportive and integrated system of meditation practice. Meditators in the insight tradition rely on both techniques to develop skill in practice, and therefore it is highly advantageous to understand the difference between these two techniques.
In this day-long Pariyatti program sessions will alternate between meditation practice and teaching periods exploring the differences between concentration and insight. Through simple lessons and instructions students will learn the basis for concentration and insight, and with repeatable methods, gain a better understanding of how to practice both styles of meditation independently, and as an integrated practice.
No prior experience necessary; everyone is welcome–beginners and experienced meditators encouraged to attend.
Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be provided. Please bring your own lunch. Full use of CfMIM kitchen will be available.
Living with the Uncontrollable: Half-Day Retreat with Michael Bresnan —
Both our internal and external worlds are largely out of our control. This is obviously the case with the world around us. Nobody is asking us to sign off on what is going to happen next in the world, but this is true for what happens in our bodies and minds as well. The body grows old, becomes sick or injured, and dies without our consent, and we don’t choose what thoughts arise in the mind, or how we feel. We of course do have control over our speech and actions, and over what thoughts we allow to continue propagating in the mind, but both the internal and external worlds largely unfold as they will. Actually, when brought within the scope of our insight practice, this quality of uncontrollability is a doorway to the knowledge and understanding of anatta, or not-self. Our retreat will explore this. We will also discuss the pragmatics of how one can learn to be happy in an internal and external universe, that is for the most part uncontrollable, without abdicating the agency that we do have.
This short retreat is open to both beginners and experienced meditators. While it will be conducted mainly in silence, there will be brief instructions in vipassana meditation, a Dhamma talk, and a discussion period at the end.
Wenham CfMIM currently offers retreats once per month. We recommend and encourage participation in these monthly programs—the extended practice period, two-hours longer than our weekly classes, supports the mind in becoming stable and thus insight can arise more naturally.
March Half-Day Retreat with Chris Crotty — The Freedom of Not-knowing: Vipassanā Meditation Retreat
Seeking answers that would help him live the life he aspired to, but could not foresee, the young Buddha-to-be tried many spiritual practices popular at his time. The meditation style that evolved, vipassanā, is said to lead to insight that frees, frees us from afflictions of mind and all forms of stress. Vipassanā is not particularly difficult to learn, though the type of learning is counter-intuitive at first and invites us to question many of our ideas and beliefs. It is in the absence of our usual conditioning that the insight of vipassanā meditation begins to reveal itself to us naturally, seemingly without much effort. Because of the unique way that insight evolves outside of our familiar habit patterns we are encouraged to suspend many of the concepts that we might have about stress and happiness; in this regard we are better off taking the position of not-knowing, thus allowing the mind to relax into the way things are opposed to how we think they should be. The gradual development of this skill is the path to true freedom.
This half-day retreat is open to beginners and experienced meditators and will be held mostly in silence with teacher-led discussion and instructional talks. Light snacks, tea and coffee will be provided. Pre-registration is suggested.
Commuter Retreat & Open Practice
CfMIM’s Commuter Retreat offers students a unique opportunity to deepen their practice by participating in a retreat format without leaving home. From February 21–23, students in the Commuter Retreat will experience the supportive structure of retreat, including instruction in sitting and walking meditation, Dhamma Talks, silence, Q&A periods, like-minded community, and a carefully maintained retreat schedule. Rather than traveling to—and lodging at—a remote center, students will go home (or to nearby lodging) each night and return to CfMIM in the morning. In this way, students have the opportunity to practice integrating an immersive meditation experience into the rest of their lives.