Articles

Service Arises from the Heart of Awakening by Gil Fronsdal The Dharma of service and those who voluntarily offer their services are cornerstones of IRC. Without them, IRC would not exist as it is now. On our retreats, the role of service is represented by the retreat “Service Leaders:” managers, cooks, and webcast yogis. It […]

Skilled in Beauty by Gil Fronsdal Buddhist meditation is not usually associated with beauty. More commonly, people associate it with clarity, calmness, or concentration. And yet, the Buddha described a person proficient in samādhi—a word that can mean both meditation and concentration—as someone skilled in the beauty of samādhi.   Attuning oneself to this beauty is

Gil Fronsdal: Nibbāna Nibbāna (Nirvāṇa) is the ultimate good news of Theravāda Buddhism: it means complete liberation. Naturally, people want to know about the nature of nibbāna, but from the Theravada standpoint, knowing how a person is transformed in attaining nibbāna is more important than understanding what nibbāna is. When a person is thirsty, what’s

Retreat—Returning to Our Mind’s Natural Home by Gil Fronsdal This article is the Introduction to Gil’s new manual for retreat practice. The manual contains essays Gil wrote over many years to support those who attend retreats at IRC. Writing them was also an expression of his love for mindfulness, meditation, and retreats. He hopes the

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