4th Australian Retreat with B. Alan Wallace
Shamatha Easter Retreat
April 2-8, 2010
Venue: St Joseph's Centre for Reflective Living, Baulkham Hills
An extraordinary opportunity to join B. Alan Wallace on a week-long meditation retreat.
- Learn to meditate deeply
- Apply what you have learned in a retreat environment
- Equally rewarding for beginners and advanced meditators
Book now on 02 9798 9644
PUBLIC TALK:
Paths to Perfection:
Contemplative Practices in Christianity and Buddhism
At Vajrayana Institute, Thursday 1 April 7.00 to 8.30pm
Jesus counseled his followers to be perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect, and for centuries, mystical union with God—understood as perfect love and omniscient wisdom—was the ideal of Christian contemplatives. Buddha counseled his followers to realize perfect freedom from suffering by irreversibly dispelling all the afflictions and obscurations of the mind. The ideals of personal liberation and perfect enlightenment have been pursued by Buddhist contemplatives over the past 2,500 years. While these two contemplative traditions appear to have had little contact throughout their long histories, they did exhibit remarkable parallels as well as differences. Ideals of perfection and the means to realize it will be explored in this lecture, with the hope that the vitality of both the Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions may be revitalized in the modern era, which could so deeply benefit from their insights and wisdom.
Book now on 02 9798 9644
THE RETREAT:
Deepen your meditation practice.
Few things affect our lives more than our faculty of attention. If we can’t focus our attention – due to either agitation or dullness – we can’t do anything well. We can’t study, listen, converse with others, work, play or even sleep well when our attention is impaired. Clearly, if we were to enhance our faculty of attention, our lives would improve dramatically.
During this week-long retreat, B. Alan Wallace will explore in theory and practice a range of methods for developing meditative quiescence, or shamatha. This is an opportunity to gain the skills to take your meditation practice to another level and to reap the benefits of a more concentrated mind.
Wallace will teach a range of techniques for developing concentration including the practice of mindfulness of breathing which is an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, as well as more advanced techniques for “settling the mind in its natural state”.
Instruction will also be offered in the meditative practices of the “Four Immeasurables” -loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity - which wonderfully complement training in shamatha.
It is not necessary to be a Buddhist to practice shamatha. Whatever your spiritual path, you will benefit from the development of a more concentrated mind.
About the Teacher
B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D., has had a deep interest in meditation since he met Buddhism in the early 1970’s. He undertook a solitary six month shamatha retreat under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has since engaged in numerous meditative retreats, including leading a one-year retreat with meditation master Gen Lamrimpa in 1987. In 2007 he led two 3-month shamatha retreats for a total of 70 participants in the scientific study known as the Shamatha Project.
Wallace has taught Buddhist theory and meditation throughout Europe and America since 1976. Having devoted fourteen years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford University. He has written several books, including Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment; The Attention Revolution – Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind; and Embracing Mind: The Common Ground of Science and Spirituality. His latest book is Mind in the Balance.
About the venue
St Joseph’s Centre for Reflective Living is set in spacious grounds in Baulkham Hills, north west of Sydney’s CBD and Harbour. Accommodation is twin share with ensuite. Single rooms with ensuite are available.
Address: 64 MacKillop Drive, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153, Australia
To view the accommodation and retreat centre please go to www.stjosephscentre.org.au
Call the VI office on 02 9798 9644 to register.
Full Retreat Fee -$1295.00 includes 7 days, 6 nights twin-share accommodation and all meals. Single room supplement - $395.00
Cancellation policy: Cancellation received in writing up to 30days before the start of the retreat will receive a 50 % refund of the registration fee. We regret that no refunds can be made if the cancellation is received within 30 days of the start of the retreat unless the place can be filled from the waiting list.
