The Early Buddhist Meditation Path consists of three online retreats over twelve months. It is an in-depth study of meditation as it emerges in the early Buddhist discourses, extant in Pāli and compared with their Āgama parallels in Chinese and other languages. These are the sources that bring us as close as possible to the teachings of the historical Buddha.
This program is intended for experienced practitioners of meditation who wish to deepen their understanding of the canonical Buddhist source material. Participants are expected to commit to all three retreats, which build on each other as one continuous program. In order to register, you will need to have already sat at least two week-long meditation retreats or have already taken a residential or online meditation course with Bhikkhu Anālayo.
Participation in this program requires a commitment which is similar to in-person retreat practice. In case you do not meet the Path prerequisites, or if it will be difficult to make adequate space in your life for an intensive online retreat, we recommend that you consider taking Bhikkhu Anālayo’s 9-week Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation course, which meets just once per week and is easier to integrate into your work and family life.
Each retreat will combine live question and answer sessions with Bhikkhu Anālayo, recorded teachings and guided meditation instructions. Small group discussions via Zoom and an online written forum are supported by the assistant teachers. The required readings to prepare for each course will be made available to participants in PDF format for personal use.
The three retreats cover the following topics:
Cost of each retreat:
Supported: $179
Mid Level: $229
Sustaining: $279
Participants are expected to commit to all three retreats.
The Four Establishments of Mindfulness (April 9 – 18, 2021)
The emphasis in the first retreat will be on a meditative approach that combines all four establishments of mindfulness into a single continuous formal meditation practice. Based on academic research on the early Buddhist formulations of this key aspect of insight meditation, this approach also has an important relation to daily life practice.
Program Components:
- Daily Q&A Sessions with Bhikkhu Anālayo
- Daily pre-recorded video lecture and guided meditation audio files
- Written discussion forums for group communication throughout the course.
Required Reading:
Bhikkhu Anālayo: Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation: A Practice Guide (2018)
Mindfulness of Breathing (November 12 – 21, 2021)
This retreat will undertake an in-depth study of the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing, as a way of combining tranquility and insight in a form of practice that aims at the cultivation of the awakening factors. The retreat thereby builds on the practice, particularly of the awakening factors, developed in the first retreat on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness.
Program Components:
- Daily Q&A Sessions with Bhikkhu Anālayo
- Daily pre-recorded video lecture and guided meditation audio files
- Written discussion forums for group communication throughout the course.
Required Reading:
Bhikkhu Anālayo: Mindfulness of Breathing: A Practice Guide and Translations (2019)
The Brahmavihāras and Emptiness (April 1 – 10, 2022)
This retreat will undertake a study of brahmavihāra, or immeasurable, meditation and the gradual entry into emptiness as described in the Shorter Discourse on Emptiness (Cūḷasuññata-sutta), relating both of these modes of practice to progress to awakening. The retreat builds on the meditative skills developed in the first two retreats, on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and Mindfulness of Breathing.
Program Components:
- Daily Q&A Sessions with Bhikkhu Anālayo
- Daily pre-recorded video lecture and guided meditation audio files
- Written discussion forums for group communication throughout the course.
Required Reading:
Bhikkhu Anālayo: Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation (2015)
Together, the three retreats build on mindfulness as the central quality that engenders the awakening factors and covers the cultivation of tranquility and insight, thereby presenting an integrated and flexible approach to progress on the path to awakening.
Prerequisites:
This Path program is not an introduction to meditation. To participate, you need to have already sat at least two week-long meditation retreats or have already taken a residential or online meditation course with Bhikkhu Anālayo (not all online courses will meet the prerequisite). Alternative experience, such as practicing independently with Bhikkhu Anālayo’s teachings, will not be considered.
On the registration page, please list the dates and locations of the two week-long meditation retreats you have sat, or the residential/online meditation course you have taken with Bhikkhu Anālayo.
Registrations will be reviewed by the teaching team. If the teaching team does not feel applicants meet the prerequisite or have concerns about their participation in the course, the registration will be cancelled and the course fee refunded. If you do not hear from us within three weeks, please consider your registration accepted. If you do not meet the course prerequisite, please do not proceed with registration.
Guiding Teacher
Bhikkhu Anālayo is a scholar-monk and the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthāna, and Satipatthāna Meditation: A Practice Guide. He is a resident faculty member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, having retired from being a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg. His main area of academic research is early Buddhism, with a special interest in the topics of meditation and women in Buddhism. At the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies he regularly teaches residential study & practice courses, participates in online programs and undertakes research into meditation-related themes. For a full list of Bhikkhu Anālayo’s publications, please click here.
Assistant Teachers
Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā is a scholar-monastic and practitioner, born in Italy in 1980. She is the director of the Āgama Research Group and her main research interests are the early Buddhist discourses and Vinaya texts, as well as the development of the theories, practices and ideologies of Buddhist meditative traditions (for her publications, see here). Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā has been practicing meditation since 1996 and has been studying and collaborating with Bhikkhu Anālayo since 2007.
Ann Dillon sat her first formal insight retreat in 2004, and her first concentration retreat in 2008. Over time her interests gravitated to the early Buddhist teachings, especially in the way meditative practice highlights conditionality and supports concurrent cultivation of insight and tranquility leading to development and culmination of the awakening factors. Deepening understanding and practice of the liberating teachings on satipatthana and anapanasasi, and of the brahmaviharas, are of particular focus. Ann’s meditative life and her professional career as a pedagogical consultant in distance learning intersect in making the liberating teachings of the Buddha accessible to all in the online environment.
Dawn Scott has been practicing insight meditation since 2008 and coordinated Spirit Rock's Family Program for nine years. She is a teacher-trainee in the current Insight Meditation Society’s teacher training program and is a core teacher of Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioner Program and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Insight Meditation's joint year-long program slated to start in early 2022. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and enjoys sharing the Buddha's liberative teachings.
Francisco Morillo Gable has been devoted to Dharma since 2003. Thanks to this, he made an unexpected recovery from an accident that rendered him permanently disabled. He studies and teaches early Buddhism with Bikkhu Analayo, and at present in teacher training at the Insight Meditation Center with Andrea Fella and Gil Fronsdal. His primary interests are teaching underserved groups and bringing the Dharma to the greater Spanish-speaking world in Spain and Latin America. Prior to a life-altering accident he was senior director in the hi-tech industry in San Francisco.
Linda Grace began meditating when she was quite young, and came to Buddhist practice in 1999. She is grateful to DaeJa Napier, her first teacher, who introduced her to the Brahmavihārā which have continued to be an integral part of her practice. She has been studying and practicing with Ven Anālayo since 2011. Her primary interest is ‘Early Buddhism’ (and the interweaving of study and meditation), in particular the teachings on dependent arising, emptiness, and compassion. These teachings have also been invaluable to her in dealing with long-term illness.
