Siddhartha's Intent

Join us for 3 days of shamatha and vipashyana teachings and meditation at Sea to Sky Retreat Centre (SSRC), April 02-05, 2010 (Easter long-weekend.)  This retreat will be lead by Alex Trisoglio, a teaching and practice instructor of Siddhartha's Intent and  a senior student of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.

 

 

"We practise shamatha in order to be natural or, to use more practical language, to gain control of our mind.  Most of the time we are not in control of ourselves.  Our mind is always distracted with something - our enemies, our lovers, our friends, hope and fear, attachment, aggression - there is always something.  The world controls our minds; we have little control over it."

 

"Even though the real essence of mind is not rigid, our mind has become rigid because of our basic insecurity.  But we can train our mind.  We can make this rigid mind flexible, workable.  As Shantideva said, when we practise shamatha, the hiding place of the ego will collapse."

 

"The word 'meditation' always seems to refer to a certain body posture, a relaxation, not thinking too much - hopefully thinking nothing, but if not that, maybe thinking only one or two things.  Being quiet, externally and internally.  But on the more profound level, one of the most important elements of meditation is the Tibetan word 'shak,' which means, 'Leave it alone.'" 

 

"Vipashyana means 'clear seeing'.  Ordinary beings like us don't see things clearly.  Our perceptions are distracted and distorted with prejudice and bias.  Seeing something clearly means leaving it alone.  When you apply vipashyana, there's a sense that anything could happen: it might work, it might not work.  At the same time you have no hope and no fear.  So applying the wisdom of vipashyana in our day-to-day life - even the most mundane experience in our life - is what Mahayana Buddhists aim for."