Additions

An Overview of Retreat Practice by Gil Fronsdal In the years before he attained liberation, the Buddha devoted extended periods of time to meditation. After his awakening, he continued meditating. Though his daily life included both times for meditation and teaching, he would periodically retreat into the forest for weeks and months of meditation before

Self-Retreats by Gil Fronsdal After participating in several teacher-led Insight meditation retreats, whether in person or online, the next step could be a self-retreat, which provides valuable opportunities and challenges for continuing to develop Dharma practice. Self-retreats require greater discipline and resolve than are usually needed at group retreats. Because of this, these retreats can

Renunciation adapted from a talk by Gil Fronsdal, July 1st, 2003 The Buddhist path is often considered one of renunciation. One easy way to see this is in the lifestyle of simplicity and restraint followed by Buddhist monastics. The role of renunciation in the lives of lay practitioners is not so easy to demonstrate. Lay

Doing One Thing at a Time by Gil Fronsdal To develop meditation practice on retreat, do just one thing at a time when you aren’t meditating. Throughout the day, whatever you are doing, just do that one thing. Give your attention wholly to the activity of the moment and see each activity through to its

Community as Part of Retreat Practice by Gil Fronsdal Over the past 18 months or so, many people have been participating in online retreats in their homes, sometimes alone and sometimes with family or roommates who are not practicing.  Once IRC begins offering residential retreats again, we expect that many will be once again coming