A Silent Insight Meditation Retreat
Taught by Howard Cohn
Online via Zoom
Saturday and Sunday
September 26 & 27, 2020
In anticipation of resuming our tradition of meeting in person at Garchen Institute, some of the descriptions below remain geared toward that eventuality, and are provided here as background information.
Instructions on registration and connecting with Zoom for the 2020 retreat are at the bottom of the page.
Insight Meditation
Vipassana (insight meditation) is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of change, and generosity, compassion, and wisdom become the guiding principles in our lives.
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Our Teacher Howard Cohn is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the San Francisco Bay area. He has guided a local sitting group in San Francisco, been in private practice as a psychotherapist, and led Vipassana retreats worldwide since 1985. He incorporates the influences of Theravada, Zen, Tibetan Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta in his teaching, with an emphasis on reawakening our intrinsic freedom. Among his many teachers and mentors are Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, U Pandita Sayadaw, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and the Advaita Vedanta Master H.W.L. Poonja. |
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The Retreat
This two-day online retreat will follow the Buddha's path of cultivating awareness through the practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. You will realize that your awareness is your best friend. As the poet Kabir said, we don't realize that what is most alive lives inside our own house, and so we wander around confused. Sitting and walking in silence, we can befriend ourselves.
We will explore awakening and freedom, the central purpose of the Buddha’s teaching. A committed meditation practice provides the opportunity to realize an unfettered heart and mind, opening the way for genuine happiness. Practice helps us move beyond our usual spiritual or material comfort zone and opens us to a wider view of ourselves and our world. Through Insight Meditation and Loving-kindness, we can release our hearts from constriction and confusion and experience freedom and ease.
The retreat is composed of instructions, sitting meditation, walking meditation, question and answer sessions, and Dharma talks, and is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Aside from Q&A periods, silence is observed throughout the retreat in order to provide an optimal environment for internal work. We will be given instructions for the practice of loving kindness, cultivating friendship toward oneself and all other beings.
Set-up and check-in for participants will be from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Thursday, September 26. No lunch will be served Thursday, and the retreat begins at 2:00 p.m. The retreat ends after lunch on Sunday, September 29.
Registration will be open to 50 participants, and minimum age to participate is 15 years.
Location and Facilities
Until the day we can return to Garchen, here is some info:
In the future we hope once again to meet at Garchen Buddhist Institute, a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist center in the pinion-juniper hills (about one hour northeast of Prescott, Arizona). This tranquil location offers solace and serenity, and imparts sweeping views of the Sacred Peaks to the northeast, the red rock country of the Mogollon Rim and Verde Valley, and the landscape surrounding the Prescott area to the southwest.
For driving directions to Garchen, please visit this page on their site: https://garchen.net/our-location/
Normally, this is primarily a camping retreat, and dormitory beds are also available. Except for those who reserve dormitory beds participants must bring their own pads and bedding. They may sleep in the stupa, in the temple, in the bunk room, in their vehicles in the parking lot, or in the unimproved Forest Service camping area adjacent to the parking lot. The camping area has level tent sites, a portable toilet, and is a short, downhill walk from the other facilities. No fires are allowed in the camping area.
All participants will have access to the restrooms with showers near the meditation hall.
We hope to have other sleeping areas available that are reserved and paid for separately, not through the Prescott Insight registration process. These are listed on the "Accommodations" web page of the Garchen Buddhist Institute website and available only by contacting The Institute directly. On that page, three options are available to us during the retreat: the Tashi Gatsal Ling house, Deluxe Retreat Cabin, and Rustic Retreat Huts. Any cost for these would be in addition to our basic fee, and paid directly to The Institute. Please direct your questions to the Garchen Buddhist Institute office: (928) 925-1237, or questions@garchen.net.
The fees listed for all other accommodations on their web page are not applicable to this retreat.
Until the day we can return to Garchen, here is some info:
In the future we hope once again to meet at Garchen Buddhist Institute, a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist center in the pinion-juniper hills (about one hour northeast of Prescott, Arizona). This tranquil location offers solace and serenity, and imparts sweeping views of the Sacred Peaks to the northeast, the red rock country of the Mogollon Rim and Verde Valley, and the landscape surrounding the Prescott area to the southwest.
For driving directions to Garchen, please visit this page on their site: https://garchen.net/our-location/
Normally, this is primarily a camping retreat, and dormitory beds are also available. Except for those who reserve dormitory beds participants must bring their own pads and bedding. They may sleep in the stupa, in the temple, in the bunk room, in their vehicles in the parking lot, or in the unimproved Forest Service camping area adjacent to the parking lot. The camping area has level tent sites, a portable toilet, and is a short, downhill walk from the other facilities. No fires are allowed in the camping area.
All participants will have access to the restrooms with showers near the meditation hall.
We hope to have other sleeping areas available that are reserved and paid for separately, not through the Prescott Insight registration process. These are listed on the "Accommodations" web page of the Garchen Buddhist Institute website and available only by contacting The Institute directly. On that page, three options are available to us during the retreat: the Tashi Gatsal Ling house, Deluxe Retreat Cabin, and Rustic Retreat Huts. Any cost for these would be in addition to our basic fee, and paid directly to The Institute. Please direct your questions to the Garchen Buddhist Institute office: (928) 925-1237, or questions@garchen.net.
The fees listed for all other accommodations on their web page are not applicable to this retreat.
Cost and Registration
There is no fee for the Fall 2020 retreat, as it will be held online.
Also, our teacher receives no compensation for his teachings — honoring the Buddhist tradition, he offers his time, energy, and wisdom free of charge. The teachings of the Buddha have been sustained by the 2,500 year old tradition of dana, a Pali word meaning "generosity.” Retreatants are encouraged to help Howie lead a life devoted to teaching the dharma by offering a donation, in any amount, at the retreat's end. In the act of giving, we develop our ability to let go, cultivate a spirit of caring, and honor our inter-connectedness. There will be an opportunity to contribute dana to Howie online at the conclusion of our retreat.
REGISTRATION WILL OPEN HERE and via email, BEFORE MID-AUGUST, 2020
We will provide full instructions here as well for connecting via the Zoom app.
To get on the mailing list for news on this and other retreats please use the form on our Connect page.
If you have further questions about the retreats contact Bradley here: prescottinsight@gmail.com
Top photo of Sacred Peaks: Bradley Martin
Bottom photo courtesy of Garchen Buddhist Institute. Used with permission.
Bottom photo courtesy of Garchen Buddhist Institute. Used with permission.