Retreat
What do you do at a retreat?
In retreat we take time to get away from the hectic pace and distractions of everyday life and create the space where we can take spiritual instructions to heart and cultivate a deep experience of inner peace.
There are three kinds of retreat: physical, verbal, and mental. We engage in physical retreat when, with a spiritual motivation, we isolate ourselves from other people, activities, and noise, and disengage from extraneous and meaningless actions. We engage in verbal retreat when, with a spiritual motivation, we refrain from meaningless talk and periodically keep silence. We engage in mental retreat by preventing distractions and strong delusions such as attachment, anger, jealousy, and strong ignorance from arising, and by maintaining mindfulness and conscientiousness.
More
We engage in mental retreat by preventing distractions and strong delusions such as attachment, anger, jealousy, and strong ignorance from arising, and by maintaining mindfulness and conscientiousness. If we remain in physical and verbal retreat but fail to observe mental retreat our retreat will have little power. Such a retreat may be relaxing, but if we do not prevent strong delusions from arising our mind will not be at peace, even on retreat. However, keeping physical and verbal retreat will help us to keep mental retreat.
The Advantages
& Benefits of Retreats
Meditation retreats allow you to experience the silence and peace within you, create the space to explore your mind, develop insights and let go of negative habits. Focused periods of time with emphasis on spiritual practice provide a solid foundation for a life-long meditation practice. This will deepen your understanding and meditation experience, allowing you to return to your daily life more focused and wiser. Sometimes it is helpful to do a meditation retreat. This can just be one day, or a weekend, or longer if you have the time.
Sometimes it is helpful to do a meditation retreat. This can just be one day, or a weekend, or longer if you have the time.
Our meditation should not be covered by distracting conceptual thoughts and mental sinking, like the sun which is not covered by clouds".
