Monday, September 21, 2009

Retreat: Jhana as Path to Insight

Meditation Retreat


Deep Calm & Clarity:
Jhana as a Path to Insight
with Shaila Catherine and Ven. U Jagara

This retreat will explore how the clarity of a concentrated mind strengthens insight practice. We will introduce the traditional concentration practices that develop powerful focus and unify consciousness in deep absorptions called jhana.

  • Quaker Center Retreat Facility
  • 1000 Hubbard Gulch Rd., Ben Lomond, CA 95005
  • October 26 – November 1, 2009

Guided by instructions and individual meetings with the teachers, students can progress through a traditional sequence of training as is appropriate to each one’s needs. This silent retreat is structured with alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, Dharma teachings, and teacher consultations. (Experience with previous silent retreats is required).
  • See retreat flyer (PDF)
  • INFORMATION: Janet at retreats@imsb.org or (408) 761-9659
  • REGISTRATION: download application at imsb.org, enclose non-refundable deposit of $200 (payable to Bodhi-Retreats), and
  • MAIL: Janet Taylor, 4230 Gladys Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062
  • COST: $800 registration fees cover accommodations, meals, a light snacks.
  • DANA: Compensation for the teachers is not included in the registration fees. There will be an opportunity to offer dana/donations to the teachers at the end of the retreat for those who wish.
TEACHERS
SHAILA CATHERINE has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience and teaching since 1996. She studied at the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England, and dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal and Thailand. She is the founding teacher of Insight Meditation South Bay based in Mountain View. She is the author of Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity (calendar).

VENERABLE U JAGARA, born in Canada, was introduced to Buddhist practice in the early 1970’s by Robert Hoover, and ordained as a monk under the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma in 1979. He spent 15 years in Sri Lanka combining meditation with the study of Buddhist texts and periodically traveled to India where he practiced in intensive retreats with S. N. Goenka. For several years he conducted retreats in India, America, Europe, and Asia in the S. N. Goenka tradition. Since 1995 U Jagara has trained under the guidance of Pa Auk Sayadaw, the Burmese master renowned for his adherence to the Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) as both a practical guide to jhana and a detailed exposition of direct analytical approaches to liberating-insight (vipassana). U Jagara assisted Pa Auk Sayadaw in the teaching at the retreats in Barre, MA in 2006 and 2008 and in Germany in 2009.

Co-sponsored by Bodhi-Retreats and Insight Meditation South Bay (
imsb.org)

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