Retreat Title: Emptiness and the Heart Sutra
Led by Tejananda
The Heart Sutra speaks a lot of emptiness, ‘Form is emptiness, emptiness itself is form’, – but just what is emptiness? What does emptiness have to do with our own Dharma practice? And why is the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, teaching emptiness? Surely he should be teaching metta and compassion!
These are all very pertinent questions, which we will be addressing and exploring on this retreat. We’ll see how reality is empty of our views about it – views which aren’t just harmless opinions but which give rise to endless, unnecessary, suffering. We’ll see how our beliefs in an intrinsic, substantial ‘me’, separate from the rest of the world, has no basis in actual experience. And we’ll see how and why realising emptiness is, precisely, compassion.
We’ll be exploring all this on the retreat. As well as brief practical introductions to the themes of the sutra, there will be led meditations pointing to the emptiness of self in the five skandhas, recitations of the sutra itself and plenty of time for personal practice.
This retreat is suitable for people who have been meditating for at least 3 years
Start Date: 9th Mar 2018
End Date: 18th Mar 2018
Deposit: £70
Price: £360 (Full Price) / £324 (Conc Price)
This retreat is nearly full. Please ring or email to confirm a place is available before trying to book.