NOTE: This retreat is for students in the CIMC year-long class, Exploring, Engaging, and Embodying the Eightfold Path Today.
The Buddha’s teachings are radical and challenge our assumptions about the nature of suffering and what leads to release. They describe a path to liberation. This path is most famously expressed in the Four Noble Truths, including the Buddha’s diagnosis of the problem of suffering and the Eightfold Path, in which the Buddha offers a treatment and remedy for suffering.
These teachings invite us to look within our own life to explore the Noble Truth of suffering and its causes. They guide us to engage with the actions and activities that can release us from this suffering and discover inner freedom for ourselves. The Noble Eightfold Path includes eight interconnected practices that we will apply in our formal meditation and our daily life practices.
On this retreat, we will continue to investigate the Four Noble Truths with an emphasis on each factor of the Eightfold Noble path. Each factor has its own set of practices and methods of cultivation. Through exploration and engagement, we will deepen our understanding of the path and practices with our minds, hearts, and bodies.
Program Format: This retreat will include dharma reflections, guided meditations, silent meditations, small groups with investigative questions, large group discussions, some rituals, and some relational practices.