In early Buddhism, happiness is not a distraction but an essential cause for successful meditation. The Buddha repeatedly emphasised that wholesome happiness supports the mind in settling, unifying and deepening into samādhi (stillness). Through Dhamma reflection, guided meditation and discussion with Ajahn Canda, we will explore different forms of happiness described in the early texts, including pīti (rapture), sukha (ease) and the joy of letting go. These qualities are central to the development of the jhānas ~ the “pleasant abidings here and now.”

Over the weekend, we’ll learn how reflecting on our inner virtues and developing gratitude for the small things in life can give rise to wholesome happiness that supports a calm, joyful and sustainable meditation practice, gradually undermining craving, aversion and delusion. Rather than chasing fleeting pleasure, together we’ll gently create the conditions for a happiness that is stable, inwardly grounded and leads to liberation.

As this is an online home-retreat, you may choose whether you wish to observe the Eight Precepts or the Five Precepts.

Tentative Schedule (UK Time):
Saturday 7th March:
08:30 – 10:00 Dhamma talk, guided meditation
10:00 – 12:00 Cooking and lunchtime for those on 8 precepts offline
12:00 – 14:30 Rest and personal practice offline
14:30 – 15:15 Guided meditation 
15:15 – 15:45 Walking meditation
16:00 – 17:00  Sutta discussion
17:00 – 19:00 Personal practice offline 
19:00 – 19:50 Metta chanting and silent group meditation
20:00 – 21:00 Q&A 

Sunday 8th March:
06:00 – 07:00 Recommended morning meditation, offline
08:30 – 10:00 Dhamma talk, guided meditation 
10:00 – 12:00 Cooking and lunchtime for those on 8 precepts offline
12:30 – 14:30 Rest and personal practice offline
14:30 – 15:15 Guided meditation
15:30 – 16:30 Q&A and small discussion groups
16:30 – 17:00 Closing & Metta meditation

*Full time attendance – including the personal practice period – is advisable for this retreat, so you can experience the full potential of the practice and participate in creating a conducive community space. Due to the time zone, it will therefore work best for people in the UK and Europe (or the east coast of the US if you are willing to adopt forest monastery time and rise early!) If most of the online schedule will not work for you, we kindly ask that you leave the space for someone else and instead watch the recordings once we upload them to our YouTube channel.

Please check the retreat schedule against your time zone here.

How To Have A Home Retreat

Practicing in an online retreat can be a very rewarding experience. Unlike simply watching online teachings  on your own, you become part of a mutually supportive spiritual community. An online retreat also differs from an in-person retreat, by giving you the opportunity to carve out a tailor-made space for yourself, (at home or in a place of your choice), where you can dedicate yourself to silent practice without the usual distractions and disturbances, and gain confidence in your ability to practice wherever you are.

To support yourself in this process, Noble Silence is encouraged throughout the retreat. This means remaining in silence as much as possible and abstaining from the use of electronic devices, especially mobile phones!  It is also important to attend all or most of the online sessions so you can receive proper teacher guidance.

To help you decide whether this format would suit you, we offer some thoughts about the benefits of an online retreat and consider some of the potential challenges – as well as possible solutions – so you can make fruitful use of your time.

Benefits:

– Continuity of practice which helps you gain more benefit from meditation
– Safety, intimacy and support of an enclosed group
– Opportunity for personal guidance through questions to the teachers
– Increased confidence in your ability to practice wherever you are
– The food that suits your tummy ~ and no one snoring in your dorm!

Challenges and solutions:

If you are living alone you have a ready-made hermitage! Turn off your phone, put on the vacation responder and do your weekly shop in advance. Use ear plugs if it is especially noisy and take a walk in a peaceful park at the quietest times of day. This will help you immensely in observing Noble Silence and cultivating sense restraint, which inclines the mind toward inner happiness and facilitates quietening the mind.

For those who do not live alone, home retreats may pose the challenge being around family members, friends or lodgers who are not on retreat! In this case, you may need to put a few extra measures in place to enable you to observe Noble Silence and maintain your inner focus. Perhaps consider asking them to support you on retreat by keeping interactions to an absolute minimum and having a note system for any absolutely necessary communication. Maybe someone kind could offer to cook your favourite food and leave your meals outside your door, or you could arrange times to use the kitchen alone? If you have children or teens it might be difficult to keep the noise down, so you could consider booking into a quiet hotel or apartment and tune in to the sessions from there.

Joining from the same household

If more than one person from the same household wishes to join the retreat, please make separate bookings and log in from separate computers. This ensures our numbers are manageable for the Q&A sessions and enables you to practice as though alone.

Registration Fees

The retreat teachings are offered on a donation basis to make the Dhamma accessible to all. Our volunteers have generously organised this in their own free time and neither they nor the two teachers receive any remuneration. To honour the wisdom, time and commitment of our teachers, you will be invited to offer donations at the end of the retreat. Your donations will help us support the running costs of our new Anukampa Grove, which will be the physical hub of our community and a haven of peace, and provide for the monastics requisites. Please give with a heart of generosity and joy, whilst respecting your own personal financial situation.

The registration fee ensures your commitment to attending the retreat, as we generally experience a 25% no-show rate to online events. When this happens others may lose a potentially life changing opportunity to practice. The registration fee contributes towards our admin and the running expenses of Anukampa Grove. If you are unable to afford this, please contact us. Alternatively, you can listen to the teachings later on our YouTube channel.

Please note that the registration fee is NON REFUNDABLE.

Note:

1. After your registration, you will receive an email with your Ticket/Booking Confirmation almost immediately. Please check your junk mail box if you do not receive it. You can also add our email address bookings@anukampaproject.org as a contact to prevent emails from us going into the junk folder.

2. If you do not receive your ticket within an hour, please contact us at bookings@anukampaproject.org. Please be aware that emails that we send to non-Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook email account outside the UK (e.g. .pl; .gmx etc), are often rejected as ‘undelivered’ for unknown reasons. Please therefore contact us from a Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook email account where at all possible, to save disappointment.