On 12/30/2010, thirty meditators will begin a three-year silent retreat in search of answers to life’s deep questions:
By following the advice of ancient and modern sages, they hope to learn firsthand whether enlightenment is possible and then share their discoveries.
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We asked a teacher of ancient wisdom to give a teaching on the process for how to end war in our lifetime.
The teaching was held in New York City on February 4th, 2010 and sponsored by retreat4peace.org
The audio is now available free of charge so everyone can listen to this wisdom on how to create peace.
Written by Patrick James and originally published in GOOD, October 22, 2009
URL: http://www.good.is/post/three-years-of-silent-retreat/
In late 2010, in the sun scorched highlands of Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains, some 50 Buddhist students will embark on a retreat. For three years, three months, and three days, they will have no contact with the outside world, and they will not speak a word. The retreat will be lead by Lama Christie McNally, one of the only women in the world to carry the title of “lama” (or teacher), and Geshe Michael Roach. (The Buddhist degree of geshe is comparable to a doctorate in the United States.) McNally and Roach are the founders of Diamond Mountain, a school some 100 miles from Tucson which is modeled after Buddhist monastic tradition, and which is not far from where the retreat will take place. Earlier this month, while Lama McNally was visiting the Asian Classics Institute of Los Angeles’s Mahasukha Center to teach from and talk about her book, The Tibetan Book of Meditation, she spoke to GOOD about what would move someone to take a vow of silence for three years, and what it’s like when those three years are up.
GOOD: A lot of people might be surprised to learn of retreats like this in the United States. You’ve spoken before about how, in this country, mastery of a craft or practice isn’t widely pursued. This sort of retreat seems, to me at least, like an attempt to achieve mastery of meditation. Could you speak to that?
CHRISTIE McNALLY: In cultures like India or in previous times, people had traditions of apprenticeship. They’d want to be a blacksmith, so they’d spend 12 years at the feet of a master. By the time they were done, they became a master themselves. That’s how people learned things in the old days, they would fully master them.
Written by and originally published in momlogic.com, September 22, 2009
URL: http://www.momlogic.com/2009/09/shut_up_and_save_your_marria...
Momlogic's Momstrosity: Experts insist that the key to a good marriage is plenty of verbal communication. In fact, they won't stop yammering about it. The truth is, talking isn't the only way to nurture a relationship; there's also much to be said about the benefits of, well, shutting up.
Make no mistake, this form of non-communication is not about giving your partner the proverbial "silent treatment" when they get on your nerves. The idea is based on the age-old principle of Tibetan Dalai Lama: achieving enlightenment in complete silence. And it's not just for monks who've taken a vow of silence. Soon, couples from all over the country will live in complete isolation in an Arizona desert and will be forbidden to speak for exactly three years, three months, and three days.
Stéphane Dreyfus, 32, and Jessica Kung, 27, are one such couple that plans to forgo all modern convenience and seclude themselves in what's called The Great Retreat.
The couple, who met in 2007, are engaged to be married. Both are convinced that their relationship can withstand not speaking for what amounts to almost 1,200 days. Plus, they have an abundance of practice. Both have participated in many silent retreats, locking themselves off from all distractions for as long as a month.
