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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270115T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270124T093000
DTSTAMP:20260812T161314Z
CREATED:20260812T161314Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260812T161314Z
UID:2463-1800028800-1800783000@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Realising the Heart Sutra
DESCRIPTION:  \nRetreats evolve\, and I’ve been leading ‘Emptiness and the Heart Sutra’ for many years now. I love the Heart Sutra as a chant\, a text to study and as an entryway into the wonderful territory of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. However\, I see it primarily as a pointer\, a means\, for transformative realisation. \nRealising the Heart Sutra means awakening to Prajñāpāramitā\, which also means awakening from the delusions that underlie our unnecessary\, self-caused\, suffering.\nWe’ll approach that realisation by cultivating the three levels of wisdom: First we listen. \nThe sutra is expressed in concepts and we need to be mentally clear about the liberative import of concepts like emptiness\, the five skandhas and the various other Buddhist teachings and categories that are mentioned in the text. Then we bring this understanding into relationship with our immediate experience. \nThis is the heart of the retreat. Emptiness implies absence of something. What is it that we expect to find in our experience that cannot\, in fact\, be found? This means really\, deeply looking. Then we begin to intuit how emptiness lays bare the assumptions and delusions which bring us suffering. \nThis leaves us with simply what is\, as it is. Living as the stream of becoming yet ‘holding to nothing whatever’ – not even emptiness itself. This is the realisation of Prajñāpāramitā. For us this means to relax\, let-go\, just be. There is nothing to achieve or adorn our ego with\, ‘not even wisdom to attain’.
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/realising-the-heart-sutra/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:In Person Retreat
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270213T000000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270218T000000
DTSTAMP:20260826T114939Z
CREATED:20260826T114939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260826T114939Z
UID:2483-1802476800-1802908800@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Waking from the dream - Online retreat
DESCRIPTION:  \nA ‘Buddha’ is one who has realised ‘bodhi’. Both of these words come from budh\, ‘to wake’\, to know’\, ‘to understand’. We already have a sense of what this analogy is getting at – after all\, we wake up\, often straight out of a dream\, every single day! \nWe’re asleep\, deeply enmeshed in a dream – maybe a nightmare – and then suddenly we’re awake. At that moment\, the world that seemed so real a moment ago is seen to be illusory\, not ‘real’. There is not the slightest doubt – we know. \nBut the Buddha didn’t just wake up from an ordinary dream\, he woke up to the illusory nature of this very ‘waking reality’. This is the illusion. \nAs the Diamond Sutra says: \nAs stars\, a fault of vision\, as a lamp\, \nA mock show\, dew drops\, or a bubble\, \nA dream\, a lightening flash\, or a cloud\, \nSo should one view what is conditioned. \nIt’s not ‘real’ in the way we believe it to be and\, in the dream we’re living in now\, we’re creating a lot of unnecessary suffering. \nThe Buddha saw through all layers of illusion in the course of a single night\, but the vast majority of people see through and wake up from illusion layer by layer. \nOn this retreat we’ll be exploring some of the dream-illusions implicit in our sense of identity\, particularly “I am separate” and “I am my thoughts / the thinker”.  How do we create a sense of ‘me’ as a separate entity\, and ‘other’ as an objective world ‘out there’?  And\, most importantly\, how can we genuinely wake up from the narrow confines of identification with the dream into an unfabricated space of openness\, clear-seeing and unconditional love? \nSuitable for people with at least three years of regular meditation practice. \n———— \nThe programme on each day will be (UK times): \n8.00 – 10.00 practice\, teaching and inquiry \n15.00 – 16.30 ritual\, chanting\, meditation and the opportunity to join a breakout group to discuss your practice \n19.00 – 20.30 – practice\, teaching and inquiry \nI won’t be able to offer one to one reviews during the retreat but if you would like to have one or more follow-up reviews (10 to 20 minutes)\, I’ll offer that possibility. \n———— \nThis retreat and subsequent reviews or mentoring are offered on the principle of reciprocal generosity (dana). There is no charge\, but your generosity in supporting my livelihood and work is greatly appreciated. If you are unable to afford anything at present\, I would much prefer that you attend nevertheless. \nTo register interest in this online retreat\, please email me at tejananda.online@proton.me I will acknowledge your booking and send out full details\, including the zoom link\, a week or so before the retreat starts. \n 
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/waking-from-the-dream-online-retreat/
LOCATION:ONLINE
CATEGORIES:Online Retreats
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270514T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270523T090000
DTSTAMP:20260812T163311Z
CREATED:20260812T163311Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260812T163311Z
UID:2472-1810310400-1811062800@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Satipaṭṭhāna – the Direct Path - Led by Tejananda and Prajnapriya
DESCRIPTION:  \nThe Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta\, one of the most influential of the Buddha’s discourses\, shows how wakeful\, insightful attention to body\, feelings and mind can enable us to wake up to our true nature. This radically transformative teaching is described as a ‘direct path’ to the cessation of suffering. Offering effective approaches that address the alienation and disembodiment which characterise life today\, it can restore a deep integrity of body\, heart\, mind and being. \nIn this retreat\, we’ll explore a number of practice approaches inspired by the original mindfulness teachings attributed to the Buddha that take awareness\, insight and compassion ever deeper. As such\, it will be helpful for all those wishing to deepen their mindfulness practice. \nIt is also suitable for for anyone qualified or training as teachers of mindfulness-based approaches such as MBSR\, MBCT and Breathworks.
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/satipa%e1%b9%ad%e1%b9%adhana-the-direct-path-led-by-tejananda-and-prajnapriya/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:In Person Retreat
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270528T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270606T093000
DTSTAMP:20260812T165522Z
CREATED:20260812T165522Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260812T165522Z
UID:2478-1811520000-1812274200@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Uncontrived Mindfulness & the Unreliable Witness - With Vajradevi and Tejananda
DESCRIPTION:  \nCentral to our dharma life is a simple yet profound distinction; between our direct experience mediated through the senses\, and the thoughts and ideas we have about those experiences. We are usually unaware that the concepts we base our sense of self on and navigate our world by\, are frequently flawed in a deep and on-going way. We look through the distorted lens of our own views and assumptions\, making us an unreliable witness to our own inner experience. \nOn the retreat we’ll cultivate Awareness and Right View\, to become mindful of\, and curious about\, what is actually happening in our minds. Using the framework of the 5 skandhas to go to the heart of what we take to be ‘true’ we can come to see the process of construction and fabrication that is happening moment by moment. Relying on the dharma and our own direct experience wisdom perfumes deep knowing and the unreliable witness is seen for what it is. Each moment brings the possibility of release from clinging and therefore from suffering. \nThe retreat will mainly be in silence with input and meditation reviews. \n(I will mainly be supporting Vajradevi on this retreat and most of the teaching will be done by her.)
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/uncontrived-mindfulness-the-unreliable-witness-with-vajradevi-and-tejananda/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270618T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270627T093000
DTSTAMP:20260826T122740Z
CREATED:20260826T121503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260826T122740Z
UID:2509-1813336200-1814088600@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Compassion and Emptiness
DESCRIPTION:  \nThe Buddha taught the divine abodes – unconditional love\, compassion\, joy and equanimity – not just as states of calm\, but as ways to liberate the mind. \nThe Brahmavihara practices enable us to cultivate these qualities and to engage with our afflictive emotions – craving\, hatred and ‘ignoring’ – in relation to them. In doing so\, we’re already engaging with insightful perspectives. Sooner or later\, we’re likely to start glimpsing the uncultivated\, unlimited\, unconditional nature of these qualities\, free from afflictions. We’ll explore these possibilities in the first part of the retreat from a perspective of deep\, embodied awareness and in a spirit of openness and curiosity. \nThis will provide us with an excellent basis for our contemplations of emptiness. \nBased on the ‘Shorter Discourse on Emptiness’\, an early Buddhist text\, this approach to emptiness is less analytical and more experiential than many of those developed in later Mahayana schools. Starting with our everyday experience\, it enables us to realise emptiness progressively in relation to the four ‘formless attainments’ (also known as the arupa dhyanas). \nWe’ll see that experience is empty of whatever isn’t right here in experience now.\nThis may seem obvious\, but we constantly delude ourselves into believing that although something isn’t ‘here’\, it’s still really ‘out there’\, even when we don’t experience it. It’s easy to miss the main point – what we think we’re experiencing is just a mental fabrication. What we’re actually experiencing is empty of those fabrications. \nIt doesn’t matter how far through this progression we manage to get – emptiness is emptiness and discovering it in relation to our ordinary experience now can be quite profound enough!
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/compassion-and-emptiness/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270716T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270725T093000
DTSTAMP:20260826T122407Z
CREATED:20260826T122407Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260826T122407Z
UID:2512-1815755400-1816507800@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Dhyāna as Insight
DESCRIPTION:  \nDhyāna (jhāna) is far more than samatha\, or mental calm. Recognising the liberative potential of the first dhyana was the key to the Buddha’s own awakening and he taught dhyāna as inseparable from insight. Only later did the tradition come to regard the dhyānas as ‘just’ states of concentration. \nThe four dhyānas are\, rather\, states of deep\, embodied mental unity\, integrated with awareness of the foundations of mindfulness (satipatthana) and the factors of awakening (bojjhanga). Insight emerges inseparably from dhyāna\, hence the title ‘Dhyāna as Insight’. \nOn this retreat\, I will be offering embodied approaches to dhyāna that people have found to be helpful and effective. This may involve questioning both our own views and approaches\, as well as some of what the later tradition has to say about dhyāna. \nIn practice\, we’ll ask\, ‘what\, in our experience\, is actually helpful?’ By becoming alive to the energetic immediacy of body experience\, resources for entering dhyāna can be discovered as already present – just waiting to be noticed. We’ll explore this in direct experience and delve into the relationship between body\, dhyāna and liberative insight.
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/dhyana-as-insight/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270820T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20270829T093000
DTSTAMP:20260827T090048Z
CREATED:20260826T123623Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260827T090048Z
UID:2517-1818779400-1819531800@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Deep Emptiness
DESCRIPTION:  \nDeep emptiness is none other than deep compassion\, leading to the end of suffering. \nIn “Compassion and Emptiness” we explore the teachings that Bhikkhu Analayo highlights in his book of the same name. These combine the divine abodes with the progressive series of emptiness contemplatins found in the Shorter Suññata Sutta I’ve found that on these retreats we rarely have sufficient time to adequately explore all of the contemplations. It may seem audacious to suppose that we can even approach the emptiness of the formless attainments (ārupa dhyāna). But they are all pointing to ways in which we fabricate ‘self’ and ‘world’ and\, though subtle\, they relate to aspects of our everyday\, moment-to-moment experience. \nWe believe we’re experiencing separate forms or things ‘out there’\, arising in space (and time)\, that we have a quality that experiences this\, namely ‘consciousness\,’ in which really-existing ‘things’ arise\, including ‘my-self’. We also believe that whatever we perceive is objectively real\, along with ‘me’ the perceiver. All of this is mental fabrication and the sutta shows us the way to liberation by seeing and knowing directly that they are fabrications. \nThe contemplations will proceed from heartfelt kindness and compassion\, but the main focus will be on exploring the empty nature of space\, consciousness and ‘things’ – especially the ‘me thing’ as an independent\, lasting and potentially satisfactory self. We’ll follow the contemplations through to signlessness\, in which there are no reference points at all. Whether this leads to the final ‘stage’ – nibbana – remains to be seen! \nThis retreat stands in its own right – it would be helpful but is not necessary to have been on a Compassion and Emptiness retreat previously.
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/deep-emptiness/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20270922T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20271001T100000
DTSTAMP:20260827T094557Z
CREATED:20260826T125850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260827T094557Z
UID:2520-1821630600-1822384800@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Beyond Separation - at Dhanakosa
DESCRIPTION:  \nEarly in life\, a deep\, unconscious view arises which comes to afflict our whole being. If we could put it in words\, it might be “I am separate”. It is a sense of being divided both from our own experience and from others. This sense of separation\, even alienation\, can be very painful in itself and underlies a great deal of our self-caused dukkha. Yet\, it an illusion – it is not what and how we really are. \nThe Buddhist tradition has addressed this self-construct\, its consequences and dissolution\, in many ways. But all reflect the Buddha ’s fundamental teaching of anatta\, ‘not-self’. This teaching isn’t suggesting that somehow we don’t really exist. Rather\, it is pointing us back to directly seeing and knowing our original undivided\nnature – what we are and always have been. \nKnowing directly that there is no separate self here opens us naturally to seeing that a separate other is not to be found either. Our reality is whole and undivided. With the collapse of this subject-object dichotomy\, a great deal of the suffering bound up in this belief dissolves. \nWe’ll explore non-separation directly on the basis of both integration and positive emotion: calm\, embodied\, aware presence and unconditional love. From here\, we’ll explore our immediate experience directly to see not only how we create and sustain the illusion of separation and a self-other divide but also how this illusion can dissolve\, like a mirage or a dream. \nThis retreat is suitable for people with at least six months regular meditation practice and who have attended at least one full week retreat before. For more information\, read the retreat information sheet. \nAt Dhanakosa retreats are by donation. The figures below are a suggested donation
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/beyond-separation/
LOCATION:Dhanakosa\, DHANAKOSA Buddhist Retreat Centre\, Balquhidder\, Lochearnhead\, FK19 8PQ\, Scotland\, Balquhidder\, Scotland\, FK19 8PQ\, United Kingdom
ORGANIZER;CN="Dhanakosa":MAILTO:info@dhanakosa.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20271016T073000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20271021T210000
DTSTAMP:20261015T122950Z
CREATED:20261015T122950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261015T122950Z
UID:2539-1823671800-1824152400@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:Coming to our Senses
DESCRIPTION:  \n“No eye\, ear\, nose\, tongue\, body\, mind; no colour\, sound\, smell\, taste\, touch or what the mind gets hold of\, nor even act of sensing.” \nThese familiar words are from the Heart Sutra\, as we’ve been reciting it in Triratna pujas for many years. It’s a list of the twelve ayatanas\, or internal and external sense bases. These have been very important in dharma teachings\, from the earliest records onwards. They represent our entire experience of the world and ourselves in relation to it. And yet\, in the Heart Sutra they are negated – NO eye\, ear\, nose\, and so on. What could this mean? \nBut first things first. We’ll begin by becoming fully embodied. Not just in the sensate body\, but in all five ‘body senses’\, including seeing\, hearing\, smelling and tasting. And the mind will definitely have an important part to play as we proceed. Coming to our senses in this way is vital for meditation and awareness (satipaṭṭhāna) practice. It’s also the prerequisite for taking things deeper\, so that we can explore\, in experience\, what the mysterious ‘no’ that the Heart Sutra puts in front of the list might be pointing to. \nThis will bring certain ‘everyday’ assumptions we have about our sense experience into question. Including the very notion that the ayatanas represent “our entire experience of the world an ourselves in relation to it”. By taking up this one detail from the Heart Sutra\, we may open to its very essence – the nature of the perfection of wisdom or insight\, prajñāpāramitā itself. \nSuitable for people with at least three years of regular meditation practice. \n———— \nThe programme on each day will be (UK times): \n07.30 – 09.30 practice\, teaching and inquiry \n15.30 – 17.00 chanting\, meditation and the opportunity to join a breakout group to discuss your practice \n19.30 – 21.00 practice\, teaching and inquiry \n(I’ve adjusted the times slightly from usual to make it more accessible in Australia and New Zealand) \nI won’t be able to offer one to one reviews during the retreat but if you would like to have one or more follow-up reviews (10 to 20 minutes)\, send me an email to the address below after the retreat finishes. \n———— \nThis retreat and subsequent reviews or mentoring are offered on the principle of reciprocal generosity (dana). There is no charge\, but your generosity in supporting my livelihood and work is greatly appreciated. If you are unable to afford anything at present\, I would much prefer that you attend nevertheless. \nTo register interest in this online retreat\, please email me at tejananda.online@proton.me I will acknowledge your booking and send out full details including zoom link a week or so before the retreat starts. \n 
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/coming-to-our-senses/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20271210T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20271219T093000
DTSTAMP:20260826T132734Z
CREATED:20260826T132734Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260826T132734Z
UID:2528-1828456200-1829208600@www.tejananda.net
SUMMARY:The Awakening Heart and the Divine Abodes - co-led with Rijumitra
DESCRIPTION:  \nBodhicitta – the awakening heart – is both the heart–response of wisdom to the suffering of living beings everywhere and the urge to realise full awakening for the benefit of all. This retreat will focus on love\, compassion\, joy and equanimity – the four ‘divine abodes’ or brahmaviharas – in the context of cultivating bodhicitta. \nTo support this\, we’ll also introduce tonglen\, the ‘sending and receiving’ practice which opens the heart to universal compassion. \nThe divine abodes are also known as the ‘boundless states’\,¬ because they are inclusive of all living beings without exception. The practices that we’ll explore together on this retreat are all ways of opening our hearts and responding to the joys and sufferings of living beings – opening to the inseparable wisdom and compassion of the awakening heart itself.
URL:https://www.tejananda.net/retreat/the-awakening-heart-and-the-divine-abodes-co-led-with-rijumitra/
LOCATION:Vajraloka\, Tyn Y Ddol\, Corwen\, Denbighshire\, LL21 0EN\, United Kingdom
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