Dharmapala College

Two retreats (the one in Germany will be for Order members only).

Sunday, 5 September (6pm) to Sunday, 12 September (late morning) at Vimaladhatu Retreat Centre in Germany

Thursday, 25 November (6pm) to Tuesday, 30 November (after lunch), at Madhyamaloka, Birmingham

With Ratnaguna

The Dhammapada is probably the most famous Buddhist text in the world. Made up of short, pithy sayings of the Buddha, it is an ideal text to reflect on. In this seminar we’ll apply the practice of the Three Levels of Wisdom (listening, reflecting and meditating) to a few verses, going for depth of understanding rather than breadth.

The three wisdoms are usually considered as a progressive sequence (the three levels of wisdom), but they can also be seen as three different ways through which insight can arise: through listening to a teaching; through deep thought; and through meditation.

‘Listening’ means learning from the wise, and to practice this we’ll read parts of the text aloud and discuss their meaning; we’ll also practice ‘deep listening’, in which we try to intuit the meaning behind the words, letting ourselves be changed by the teaching.

To reflect is to think deeply about something. Although the Buddhist tradition encourages reflection, not very much has been written about how to reflect, so we’ll be exploring a few ideas and exercises to help us do that.

Finally, we’ll be meditating on these teachings, holding them in our awareness in an absorbed, relaxed state of mind, allowing their truth to percolate deeper and deeper into our being.

In doing this we’ll be following the Buddha’s advice from the Dhammapada, where he says: Better than a thousand useless verses is one useful verse, hearing which one attains peace.

 

 

Suggested donation for the retreat in Birmingham: £150. Accommodation £15/10 per night.

For the retreat in Germany, please contact us here or write to info[at]buddhawege.de

 

Please book early. Our teachers put a lot of preparation into the seminars — sometimes several weeks of work. We would find it irresponsible to let them do all that and then cancel the even at short notice due to lack of participants.

If you consider attending, but aren’t as yet certain, please let us know. By booking early, you can help us prevent disappointment on all sides.

To ask for further information or to book for this event, please contact us here.

To go back to our 2010 schedule, please click here.