Samatha-Vipassanā meditation retreat (February 2024)

The dual practice of Samatha meditation and Vipassana meditation allows us to free ourselves from suffering and develop completely.

Through Samatha meditation we train the mind, developing mental calm. And, through entering and remaining in the states of meditative absorption (jhānic states), we get to free ourselves from suffering and the end of raga (excitement, passion; associated with nandirāga, the tendency of the mind to seek gratification) and thereby to free the mind.

With the practice of Vipassana meditation, through mindfulness (sati) and wisdom (paññā), we reach and obtain the inner vision, insight, vipassanā, which allows us to see things as they are, without interpretations or contaminations. This path leads us, with a deep understanding of the four noble truths, to the liberation of the heart.

In this retreat we will focus on understanding the elements that shape us as human beings, the five aggregates (the body, rûpa; sensations/feelings, vedanā; perception, sañña; mental formations, sankhāra; consciousness, viññāna), to which we attach ourselves, causing us to cling to suffering. Learning to relate to them in a healthy way. Then we begin to understand the process of conditioned genesis (paticcasamupada) which describes in detail the chain of the emergence of suffering and how to break it, that is, the way of the cessation of suffering.

The meditation practice will be complemented by martial arts and yoga body work.

To attend the retreat, it is not necessary to have previously practiced. In the retreat will be given the necessary instructions adapted to the attendees.

Date/Time:

Date: Saturday 10 February to Saturday 17 February 2024

Time :

• Saturday 10 February: 16:00 – 20:00h
• Sunday, February 11 – Friday, February 16: 7:00 – 23:00 with stops for breakfast, lunch and dinner with breaks.
• Saturday, February 17: 7:00 – 10:00h ending after breakfast.

Place:

Rural House El Refugio de Arucas, Arucas, Gran Canaria