Reclamation of the Sacred Through Insight & Devotion

Our environmental crisis is generated by an obsession with ownership and individualism that obscures the truth of our inter-dependence within a web of life. In a world divided by inequity, racism, and wars, Dharma practice shatters the illusion of dualistic consciousness, offering a new paradigm. This mini-retreat explores the process which generates divisiveness: papanca or conceptual proliferation in service of delusion. The ending of papanca reveals the unshakeable depth and the undivided nature of reality at the heart of all circumstances, revolutionizing our way of being and living — both personally and globally.

The retreat, for contemplatives and activists, is framed within depth teachings of emptiness and merciful compassion embodied by Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, who is a metaphor for our deepest, mysterious heart. It includes Dharma teachings, meditation and inquiry sessions, qi-gong, group process, psycho-spiritual exploration, and the cultivation of inner skills for activists. Besides applying the liberating practices and teaching of mindfulness and insight meditation, we will use chanting and ceremony.