The Middle Way Sangha will be hosting an extended meditation retreat at the Shambhala Meditation Centre (1-2033 Belmont Ave), beginning聽Friday聽evening and continuing all day聽Saturday, April 14 and 15respectively. The hours are:聽Friday,聽7:30-10 pm聽and聽Saturday,聽8 am 鈥� 10 pm. Here are the bullet points:
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 This retreat is suitable for beginners and experienced meditators. For anyone who ever thought they might like to give meditation a try, this will be perfect. There will 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽be instruction available for those who need it. Experienced meditators can sit through breaks or take shorter breaks.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 There is no charge for this retreat. There will be a donation box in the room and all donations are anonymous and discretionary.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 There will be very little Buddhist ceremony involved. These retreats are all about the meditation. Except for a slight whiff of Zen there should be nothing to offend any 聽 聽 聽 聽 religious sensibility.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Meals will not be served, so participants should bring a bag lunch or find meals outside the retreat confines. There will be long breaks in the schedule around meal 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 times, so lots of time to go and return.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 The retreat is silent, with very little social interaction. There will be opportunity to speak privately with the leader of the meditation and the retreat does incorporate the 聽 聽 聽 聽 usual two hour public meditation that is always offered at Shambhala聽on Saturday聽mornings (9-11); these might involve talking, but other wise we just stay contained 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 in our own mind.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Weather permitting, we will alternate seated meditation and walking meditation.
Questions can be directed to my email:聽[email protected]. It is basically a drop-in retreat but I would appreciate having some idea of how many people will attend so that we can set up enough places for everyone.
Wayne Codling聽is a former Zen monastic and a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. He teaches Zen style meditation in various venues around Victoria. Wayne鈥檚 talks and some writings can be found on his blog
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