Auckland Sangha long weekend retreat

Starts 25 Oct 2024

Exploring the "three lakshanas" with the Sangha Night team

Enjoy a fruitful Labour weekend with a connecting, calming, and we hope clarifying retreat with sangha friends in the elemental beauty of Sudarshanaloka Retreat Centre in the Coromandel hills.

While a wonderful excuse to gather with good friends and enjoy the fabulous surroundings, we will also be doing some Dharma! This weekend we will explore the Buddha's teachings of the three lakshanas (or marks of conditioned existence). The Buddha taught that all that is conditioned is impermanent, insubstantial and will cause us suffering because we hold on to it so tightly.

Mary Anna, Maitrikashin and Sthiraratna look forward to leading you through a discussion of these fundamental Buddhist concepts, the deep understanding of which will lead you on a path to the "unconditioned", otherwise known as Nirvana or Enlightenment.

While we can't guarantee you will become an enlightened being this weekend, if you get a more keenly felt sense of direction and what the "next steps on the path" might be for you, then it will have been a dharmically successful retreat.

Speaking of paths, there are plenty in the forest of Sudarshanaloka, so as well as times of formal meditation, discussion, puja and silence, there will be opportunity to explore the beauty of our surroundings with friends or on your own as you wish.

What to expect:

• A period of meditation (with leg stretches) between 7 and 9am, followed by breakfast
• A talk, discussion and / or reflective practice from mid-morning until lunchtime
• A spacious afternoon to enjoy the hills, rivers and forests
• An early evening practice session, followed by dinner
• An evening ritual practice
• A short work period with others each day, as we share simple food preparation and clean-up over the retreat period

This retreat is open to anyone who regularly attends any event or events at the Auckland Buddhist Centre, and is familiar with our meditation practices.