Vipassana Retreat with Bhante Buddharakkhita
- Friday, November 13, 2009-Sunday, November 15, 2009
(Three full days) choice of 1, 2, or 3 days participation. - Hai An Pagoda: 255, Cherry St., New Britain, Connecticut
- Accommodation and meals provided
Weekend Schedule
- FRIDAY: Introduction to Mindfulness practice
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness will be introduced as a way to observe body, feelings, mental states, and phenomenal objects (dhammas). Bhante will explain the five components and benefits of practicing mindfulness from moment to moment in daily life. Friday evening will include guided insight meditation.
- SATURDAY: Mentally dissecting the body: Mindfulness of the Four Elements (mahabhuta).
Mindfulness of the Four Elements is a very simple practice of observing various properties of the Four Elements like hardness/softness, hotness/coldness, and so on. These qualities make up physical bodies. By mentally dissecting the body and then observing its unique and universal features, one discovers that the body is composed of vibrations and energies that continuously flow from moment to moment. Seeing the body in this way can lead to insight into the selfless nature or “emptiness” of all compounded phenomena. The body can therefore provide one rich soil for the growth and development of wisdom that leads to ultimate awakening.
- SUNDAY: Breaking through Self-Delusion: Mindfulness of the Five Aggregates
Who is the meditator? Who is the experiencer? Who is a being? The Buddha said that a human being consists of Five Aggregates (or compounded groups):
- form (Four Elements)
- feelings (sensations)
- perceptions
- mental formations
- consciousness
The practice of mindfulness of the Five Aggregates of Clinging (since these five are all that one clings to) offers a wonderful opportunity to examine the process of experience without being caught up in the content. We discover that whatever we call a “self” is actually an impermanent flow of physical and mental events. By segmenting and analyzing experiences into parts then putting the process together to see how the components fit, we can begin to let go of clinging to experiences. We thereby experience greater freedom and happiness.
- Register at lovingkindnessinct@gmail.com
Bhante Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda, Africa. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990, when he met Thai monks in India. He began practicing meditation in 1993. After living in Asia for seven years, Bhante decided to continue his Dharma practice in the U.S.A. In June 2001, he began Buddhist monastic training under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pannadipa at TMC (Tathagata Meditation Center) in San Jose, California. In November 2002 he received higher ordination by his preceptor the late Venerable U Silananda. He is the author of Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emergence of Buddhism on African Soil and is founder of the Uganda Buddhist Centre. He has been teaching meditation in Africa, Brazil, and the United States. Besides spending time at the Centre in Uganda, Bhante is also a teacher and resident monk at the Bhavana Society and Meditation Center in West Virginia, U.S.A.
Sponsored by the Loving Kindness Meditation Greater Hartford Group
