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Thich Nhat Hanh has died

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Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#41

Post by akprasad »

gloriana wrote: post #24
KerryJones wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of anyway to find more of those? I'm in Oakland and that sounds delightful.

Why can't you just do it?

Here are some reasons people find retreat environments helpful:

- Change of setting loosens pre-existing habits (compare working in an office to working from home)

- Being surrounded by people doing the same thing as you can be a great source of energy and determination (compare working in a hacker space to working in your garage)

- Having a teacher handy to clarify doubts is a great source of accountability and advice (compare learning from another programmer to teaching yourself to code)

- Depending on the retreat, most chores are taken care of for you so you can focus on meditating (compare being a student with a dining hall to studying while employed)

Often the metaphor used is that a retreat is a container, i.e. it makes it easy to slip into habits conducive to long and concentrated meditation sessions. Peers and environment matter, even for meditation.

Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#42

Post by warent »

Thich Nhat Hanh taught that just like a cloud seems to disappear from the sky, it's not really, it has simply changed form. The appearance of vanishing is just that: an appearance. Really nothing is created or destroyed. In this way, there is no loss here, Thầy has transitioned into another phase of life. A beauty worth celebrating

Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#44

Post by delilahder »

KerryJones wrote: post #19
carabiner wrote: post #3

Wow. I used to go to the mindfulness retreats at his affiliated monastery in San Diego. You left your phone in your car, and had 3-5 days (or more sometimes) of meditation, fresh cooked meals, and nature. It was really peaceful, and so different from what I had expected (something like a cult, being plied for donations etc. there was none of that). I stopped going when I left California, but it's hard to feel much mo…

Do you know of anyway to find more of those? I'm in Oakland and that sounds delightful.

https://www.nityanandashaktipatyoga.org/weekend-shaktipat-me...

PS My account is new, because I'm a long-time lurker but wanted to post.

Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#46

Post by lanstin »

KerryJones wrote: post #19
carabiner wrote: post #3

Wow. I used to go to the mindfulness retreats at his affiliated monastery in San Diego. You left your phone in your car, and had 3-5 days (or more sometimes) of meditation, fresh cooked meals, and nature. It was really peaceful, and so different from what I had expected (something like a cult, being plied for donations etc. there was none of that). I stopped going when I left California, but it's hard to feel much mo…

Do you know of anyway to find more of those? I'm in Oakland and that sounds delightful.

https://www.bayzen.org/ is in Oakland and is in the tradition of Maezumi, which is what most of my training has been from.

https://berkeleyzencenter.org/ is in Berkley and is in the tradition of Soto Zen; I have sat with sister groups in San Jose and they seem pretty solid if a little more laid back than the Maezumi schools. There is a retreat center up in the Santa Cruz mountains, https://www.jikoji.org/ I have gone to retreats there and it is indeed very nice, peaceful and beautiful and nothing extrinsic to decide or worry about. I went with the Floating Zendo: https://floatingzendo.org/about-sesshin/

In Bay area, we have many opportunities to practice/train with other people. I'd say that the long retreats make daily meditation a lot easier and doing regular daily meditation make the long retreats a lot easier. And sitting with other people strengthens the practice in a way it's hard to recreate on your own.

I haven't sat with a group in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition, but from what I've seen online, the Japanese-derived Zen groups are pretty similar in the essence of the teachings.

Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#47

Post by lanstin »

suketk wrote: post #39
KerryJones wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of anyway to find more of those? I'm in Oakland and that sounds delightful.

I highly recommend Vipassana [0]. It's similarly free from commercialism - there is no cost for teaching, lodging and food. At the end, you can pay if you found it beneficial and want to pay it forward. They also only accept contributions from people who have completed the program. Despite this policy, they've grown to 200+ centers across the world. I was so inspired [1] by it that I adopted a lot of their principles…

I have two friends that have done the Vipassana 10 day retreat and came home rather glowing from it.

Re: Thich Nhat Hanh has died

#48

Post by claylimo »

KerryJones wrote: post #19
carabiner wrote: post #3

Wow. I used to go to the mindfulness retreats at his affiliated monastery in San Diego. You left your phone in your car, and had 3-5 days (or more sometimes) of meditation, fresh cooked meals, and nature. It was really peaceful, and so different from what I had expected (something like a cult, being plied for donations etc. there was none of that). I stopped going when I left California, but it's hard to feel much mo…

Do you know of anyway to find more of those? I'm in Oakland and that sounds delightful.

There are many many retreats out there so knowing what the right one for you is not easy.

I know of an upcoming in-person retreat based on TWIM (Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation) south of San Francisco:

https://www.suttavada.foundation/physical-retreats-suttavada...

The retreat is located here: https://www.suttavada.foundation/venue/stfrancis/

What is TWIM?

https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/wiki/twim-crash-course

Here is a book about the practice: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B06WRPZZQF/

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