Concentration and Insight Meditation Retreat

9-Day Retreat: Dec. 28th 2012 - Jan. 5, 2013 Bodhi Monastery, Lafayette, NJ In this retreat, Sayalay Susila will first teach lovingkindness meditation, mettā, to the meditators. Lovingkindness helps to soften one’s mind by developing love towards oneself and others. It also brings happiness to the mind, which serves as a proximate cause for concentration. We will then move on to mindfulness of breathing, ānāpāna-sati, in order to develop better concentration and serenity of the mind so that the dharma can manifest itself. Buddha said: “develop concentration, one with concentration sees things as they really are.” Armed with concentration, one can discern various mental factors associated with mindfulness of breathing. Finally, you will practice contemplation of mind, cittānuppassanā, using this more concentrated mind. All defilements arise from the mind, so learning how to watch one’s own mind is the “key to happiness.” Sayalay Susila will show meditators the profound way to train ourselves to be mindful of our own mind, gradually liberating it from identity view and grasping — in other words — freedom of the mind.

We ask that all meditators attend the entire retreat from start to finish. This will be a silent retreat. As well as sitting meditation, it will include daily Dhamma talks, periods of walking meditation, and interview sessions. All participants are required to practice the 8-precepts and abstain from eating after the mid-day meal unless for required medical reasons. To register online go to: www.bodhimonastery.org

About Sayalay Susila Sayalay Susilā was born in Pahang, Malaysia in 1963 and ordained as a Theravada Buddhist nun in the Burmese tradition at the age of 28 at the Malaysian Buddhist Meditation Centre in Penang, Malaysia. Prior to ordaining, Sayalay developed a keen interest in insight meditation while at the University of Science Malaysia obtaining a degree in mass communications (1988). After her ordination in 1991, she went to Myanmar where she practiced intensively for nearly three years under the guidance of the famous Venerable U Pandita Sayadaw at Panditarama Monastery. In 1994, wishing to cultivate concentration meditation, she moved to Pa Auk Forest Monastery, Myanmar. She placed herself under the renowned monk, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and remained in the forest for 14 years. She also studied the Abhidhamma, ancient discourses, and Pali language with him. Over the years, she also practiced different meditation methods in Burma, such as those taught by Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, Mogok Sayadaw, Sayagyi U Ba Khin and S.N.Goenka. As a result Sayalay has become an unusually accomplished teacher able to present the subtleties of the Buddha's teachings in a simple and direct way. In particular, she is able to present the most profound division of the teaching, the Abhidhamma, in a lucid manner grounded not in pedantic philosophy but in actual meditation experience. Sayalay has travelled worldwide in order to give formal lectures on Abhidhamma and to teach meditation retreats throughout the US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Latvia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. She is the author of Unravelling of Mind and Body through Abhidhamma.

Blog: sayalay-susila.blogspot.com | Website: www.sayalaysusila.com or sayalaysusila.marveltech.biz