Offered by donation. Proceeds support Dhammadipa’s pilgrimage “Journey of a Lifetime”.
Without completely letting go, I see no safety for sentient beings. — The Buddha
Our conditioning, our education, society, media and cultural forces, all seem to be suggesting that our only safety lies in firming up the world of I-me-mine; in solidifying some final sense of identity that has gathered all its wants, achievements and attainments into one neat nest. The Buddha points out to us—sometimes gently, sometimes quite forcefully and graphically—that any ultimate safety and security lies in another direction. No conditions or phenomena are ever wholly predictable, reliable or graspable for very long. Yet his invitation to ‘come see’, to investigate the impermanence and unsatisfactoriness of all conditioned phenomena, does not have annihilation as its goal. As the Buddha says in one sutta ‘all that ceases is only dukkha.’ And none of the terms the Buddha used for nibbana suggest nihilism. When he uses phrases like ‘the island’, ‘the safety’, ‘the harbor’, ‘the refuge’, ‘peace’, the heart-mind (citta) can begin to resonate and incline in the direction of that farther shore of safety and peace.
Over the course of our weekend, we will engage in guided meditations, reflections, interactive work, and discussions that demonstrate, in our direct experience, that we are not diminished by releasing and letting go. The squeeze and freeze of our fixed ideas, habit patterns and personality view, constrict the heart’s natural potential for openness, sensitivity, spaciousness, fearlessness, wisdom and compassion.
To paraphrase the Buddha, all that we lose by letting go is suffering.
Saturday and Sunday March 1st and 2nd, 9:00 to 3:00 pm with breaks. This is a virtual event.