The Middle Way Sangha will be hosting an extended meditation retreat at the Shambhala Meditation Centre (1-2033 Belmont Ave), beginning Friday evening and continuing all day Saturday, April 14 and 15respectively. The hours are: Friday, 7:30-10 pm and Saturday, 8 am – 10 pm. Here are the bullet points:
· 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 be instruction available for those who need it. Experienced meditators can sit through breaks or take shorter breaks.
· There is no charge for this retreat. There will be a donation box in the room and all donations are anonymous and discretionary.
· 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 religious sensibility.
· 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 times, so lots of time to go and return.
· 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 usual two hour public meditation that is always offered at Shambhala on Saturday mornings (9-11); these might involve talking, but other wise we just stay contained in our own mind.
· Weather permitting, we will alternate seated meditation and walking meditation.
Questions can be directed to my email: [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 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’s talks and some writings can be found on his blog http://sotozenvictoria.wordpress.com
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