One-day Retreat: Calm, cool and re-collected: Practices for being at home in the world

Teacher: Ven. Ngawang Tenzin (In Person)

Sat 4 July | 9.00am-4.30pm AEST

Location: Concord (address will be emailed to those who have registered closer to the event)

RSVP: Pei 0425 889 062

Cost: Free (Donations to teacher happily received)

Lunch provided

In this series of mini-retreats with Ven. Tenzin, we propose to explore the cultivation of Śamatha-vipassana, based on Satipatthāna (Four Establishments of Mindfulness). Drawing on perspectives from Mahayana and Theravada, especially the Tibetan, Burmese Forest and Plum Village Zen schools. We will emphasise engaged practices of breath awareness, mindfulness in daily life, and metta (loving kindness).

Session 3: Cittānupassanā - contemplation of the mind

In this third session of our series of one-day retreats, we continue our journey with the four establishments of mindfulness through the Satipaṭṭhānasutta sutta. Building on our previous explorations of body and feelings, in this session we come to the third establishment - contemplation of the mind; Cittānupassanā. Participants are invited to reflect on the presence and absence of both wholesome and unwholesome qualities of our mind - we will meet three poisons; greed, hatred and delusion, and powerful antidotes in the practice of śamatha and mettā. Interwoven with some gentle movement and relaxation practices, we will have a chance to sit, to reflect, to discuss, and to practice together. While it is helpful to have joined the previous sessions, this is not a requirement.

Proposed Schedule
9:00 Welcome and mindful movement practice (45 mins)
9:45 Guided sitting meditation (30 mins)
10:15 Dharma talk (45 Mins)
11:30 Lunch (1 hr)
12:30 Guided relaxation (45 minutes)
13:15 Dharma talk - Q and A (45 mins)
14:00 Sitting meditation (45 mins)
14:45 Mindful afternoon tea (30 mins)
15:15 Sitting/ slow walking meditation (45 mins)
16:00 Dharma discussion - Q and A and Conclusion (30 mins)
16:30 Close

About the Teacher: Venerable Ngawang Tenzin (Dr. Alex Anderson) began with a research ecologist’s understanding of interdependence - studying impacts of climate change on biodiversity. The rainforest soon led him to Buddhist meditation however. Now ordained as a monk in the Buddhist tradition, he has been fortunate to study and practice under Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France, His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin in Kathmandu, and at Pa Auk Tawya in the Burmese Forest tradition. A qualified martial arts and Hatha Yoga teacher, Ven. Tenzin is also ordained in the Plum Village Order of Interbeing, a worldwide community of engaged mindfulness practitioners. With a passion for Yatra - walking retreats in wild places - his work is an exploration of “Sacred Ecology” - and lies at the intersection between Buddhist meditation, embodied movement, nature connection and deep ecology. He currently resides on Gumbaynggirr country on the Dorrigo Plateau, where he has a project to co-create community space for meditation, forest restoration and nature connection: http://www.gaiaforest.org

Began with an ecologist’s understanding of interdependence, but the rainforest soon led him to Buddhist meditation. Now ordained as a monk in the Sakya Tibetan tradition, he has also studied and practiced meditation under Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France, at Mountain Spring near Sydney, and in Myanmar at Pa Auk Tawya. Also ordained in the Plum Village Order of Interbeing, an engaged Buddhist approach to the bodhisattva path, his practice is informed by Theravadin, Zen, and Vajrayana methods of meditation and mindfulness, as well as Hatha Yoga, Deep Ecology, and his deep love of wild places. He currently lives In Australia, on Gumbaynggirr country on the Dorrigo Plateau, where he has a project to co-create community space for meditation, forest restoration and nature connection: http://www.gaiaforest.org

If you are feeling unwell please stay home