Hi Li-Anne - can you post the SN references for the retreat teachings please? And maybe a link to a good place to find them...
Such a lovely retreat. Having decompressed back into daily existence, it is interesting to observe the before and after states. Certainly different - nourishing, strengthening and softening, all at the same time. :) Metta
Hi Arrrr,
Keep up the practice with gentleness and openness. Taste the Dhamma everywhere.
Apologies for the short response, but this is the list of suttas I talked about during the retreat. I used a variety of translations from books and the internet, but you should be able to find all the suttas online.
Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta MN22, DN10
Pañcattaya Sutta MN102
Akasa Sutta SN 36 (12)
Bāhiya Sutta Ud1.10
Sabbasava Sutta MN2
Saṃyojanappahāna Sutta SN 35.54
Saṃyojanasamugghāta Sutta SN 35.55
We also explored the bojjhangas, the 7 factors of Awakening.
This should keep you going until I get back in mid/late August ;-)
Indeed, Arrr. It was such a lovely retreat! It was actually better than a vacation although I was all set to "work" hard prior to the retreat. Thank goodness my plan was jettisoned from Day 1.
A bit of a confession, I've been trying a bit too hard to continue practicing as I did during the retreat and making all sorts of unhelpful comparisons that I'm falling short. But as I am typing this out, I realised that everything changes, it's not possible to be the "same". That's why. For things to be the same is clearly delusional! :)
Remembering that the root cause of our suffering is craving for things to be other than they are, to what extent can we continue to simply notice what is happening, while it is happening, irrespective of what it is, from a space of openness, interest and acceptance? Being in the world is no different from being on retreat; continue to be kind and gentle with yourself, tune in to your mind-body as continuously as possible, and respond from a space of wisdom rather than the habitual patterns.
Can you tend to your body-mind in the same way now as we tended to it together during retreat? Plans can be important, but so is the ability to open to the reality of each situation rather than get stuck in expectations relating to the plans. Have fun continuing the practice.
Life presents wonderful fodder for this Path. Can all of you live life like you have never lived before, now that you have had some experience of seeing things for the way they are (rather than the assumptions imputed into them)?
Yep MF, I've noticed some things are up (certainly concentration compared to pre-retreat) and others are down (not quite so tranquil away from the flowers and the honeyeaters and the great food hey). :)
Regarding the Satipatthana Sutta MN10 - here is a link - this will keep me going until next year's retreat:
https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/mn10
I would invite you to continue the practice now you are no longer on retreat. What is the difference between being on retreat and begin back in your ‘normal’ life? Are you not still walking, sitting, lying down and standing? Aren’t you also breathing, eating, going to the bathroom and meditating? Aren’t there still pleasant, unpleasant and neither pleasant-nor-unpleasant feeling tones, and the associated mind states? Are the perceived differences between ‘being on retreat’ and ‘being back home’ that different, or is a lot of this fabricated and inflated by the mind? Everything we explored on retreat can be explored in daily life. To what extent can you build on what we explored together?
About a month since the end of the retreat and the flavour is still there. Something has softened and the attention is more stable. Rather than focusing only on meditation the retreat has encouraged me to bring the quality of openness, enquiry and acceptance in my daily life
I’m so glad to read this, Daffodil. Do please continue and see what unfolds. I look forward to guiding you again.