June 5 - 12; 7 days with Rodney Smith & Narayan Liebenson-Grady

Vipassana

This retreat focuses on the path of the heart and how awareness accesses the joys and sorrows of life with ever-increasing sensitivity, stability, and love. Vipassana, or insight meditation is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment observation of the mind/body experience through calm, open and precise awareness. By learning to observe experience from a place of spacious stillness, one is able to live in a balanced state of wisdom and compassion. Loving kindness or metta meditation cultivates caring for ourselves and others, and develops the heart's capacity for patience, acceptance, and compassion. The retreat format includes silent sitting, walking meditation, and evening dharma talks.

Rodney Smith has been practicing Insight meditation since 1975 including several years as a Buddhist monk in Asia. He has been teaching meditation since 1984 and worked in hospice care for 16 years. He is the guiding teacher for the Seattle Insight Meditation Society, is a Senior Teacher for the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and author of the book, Lessons From The Dying.

Narayan Leibenson-Grady is a senior teacher at IMS and a guiding teacher at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center where she has taught since 1985. She is the author of When Singing, Just Sing: Life as Meditation.

Retreat cost: $420 plus dana offering.  Register Here



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June 12 - 21; 9 days with Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters

Insight and the Art of Equanimity

Insight or Vipassana meditation is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment observation of the mind/body experience through an open, precise and accepting awareness. The practice of equanimity is the development of a non-reactive and engaged mind. Together these practices provide a stable foundation for investigating attitudes of mind that condition understanding. Momentum in insight practice and the art of equanimity fosters clarity and confidence from which one can live with a balance of wisdom and compassion. This course is suitable for beginners and experienced meditators, men and women from all life experiences, backgrounds and diverse communities. A warm welcome to all.

Steven Armstrong has practiced insight meditation since 1975. He has served for many years at the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts as Executive Director, Board member and senior teacher. As a monk in Burma under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita he undertook intensive, silent practice of insight and lovingkindness meditations for 5 years and in Australia, he studied the Buddhist psychology (abhidhamma) with Sayadaw U Zagara. He continues his practice under the guidance of Sayadaw U Tejaniya. Steve is a co-founding teacher of the Vipassana Metta Foundation’s dharma sanctuary and hermitage on Maui. He has been leading meditation retreats internationally since 1990 and encourages spiritual development through cultivating insightful awareness and liberating understanding of the core teachings of the Buddha in all life activities.

Kamala Masters is one of the founders and teachers of the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui, where she is currently developing Ho'omalamalama, a sanctuary-hermitage for long term practice. She teaches retreats in the Theravada tradition at venues worldwide, including being a Core Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts. Practicing since 1975, her teachers have been the late Anagarika Munindra of India and Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma with whom she continues to practice. Kamala has a commitment to carrying and offering the purity of the teachings of the Buddha in a way that touches our common sense and compassion as human beings. She lives in Hawaii where she raised 4 children, and is now blessed with 5 grandchildren.

Retreat cost: $540 plus dana offering.  Register Here

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June 21 - July 11 (Sunday - Saturday); 20 days with Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Mindfulness of Mind Retreat

Sayadaw U Tejaniya will teach vipassana meditation based on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. His emphasis is on how to meditate. What mindset are you meditating with? What sort of ideas are you meditating with? What attitude are you meditating with? Are you aware of the defilements of mind?

Sayadaw’s teaching is sometimes referred to as mindfulness of mind (cittanupassana) but actually he teaches all four foundations of mindfulness with an emphasis on awareness of the qualities of mind. He focuses in particular on the attitude you are meditating with and the manifestation of the defilements.

Sayadaw U Tejaniya instructs students to relax the body and relax the mind while paying close attention to the present moment’s experience. Sayadaw guides students in understanding the “nature” of the physical and mental experiences one is aware of. He encourages continuity of awareness in all activities and postures including sitting, walking at normal pace, talking (when necessary), eating and other general activities. His teaching style is particularly suited toward Western laymen and laywomen.

On this retreat we will observe the 8 precepts, so only clear liquids will be offered after the midday meal. The format of this retreat will be somewhat different from more structured retreats, providing ample opportunity for independent practice.

Retreat Experience Requirement: Each participant must have attended in full at least one retreat of 5 days or longer. Please note on your registration form the specifics of your retreat experience. (For very experienced students, you may provide a condensed version of your retreat resume, enough to let us know you meet this requirement.) NOTE: If you have an existing relationship with Sayadaw (i.e., have previously studied with him in Burma, Europe, the US or elsewhere), please let us know about that on your retreat resume.

Sayadaw U Tejaniya started practicing and studying dhamma with his teacher the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw (the Gold Cave Hermitage Monastic Teacher) when he was thirteen years old. Ordained as a Buddhist monk for more than 10 years, he teaches meditation at Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma). Quite a few Western Dhamma teachers, including Carol Wilson, Myoshin Kelly, Narayan Liebenson-Grady, Patricia Genoud-Feldman and Steve Armstrong, have all traveled to Myanmar multiple times to practice with Sayadaw U Tejaniya. They invite all dhamma students to hear the dhamma from and practice with Sayadaw U Tejaniya’s guidance.

While Sayadaw speaks English conversationally, most of his teachings will be translated by Ma Thet, one of his long time dhamma students. Born in Burma, educated in Singapore, she returned to Burma to practice the dhamma where she met Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She has remained at the Shwe Oo Min meditation center to translate for English speaking students for nearly a decade.

Retreat cost: $1250 plus dana offering. Half of the full fee ($625) should accompany your registration form. The second half of the fee will be due by May 1, 2009. Register Here

Additional Retreat Information:
Regretfully, there are no partial attendance options for this retreat. Applicants should plan to attend the entire retreat.

Cancellation Policy:
For cancellations between October 31 and April 30, your retreat fee will be fully refunded less a $25 cancellation fee. For cancellations between May 1 and June 1, we will refund half your retreat fee. For cancellations after June 1, your full fee will be forfeited. Requests for exceptions to the cancellation policy should be directed to the Friends of Cloud Mountain Board subcommittee for consideration. Requests should include detailed information about the circumstances necessitating your cancellation and submitted by mail or email (email is best) to info@cloudmountain.org.

Lottery:
Spaces on this retreat will be offered on a lottery basis. In order to take part in the lottery, your registration form and deposit must be received in the Cloud Mountain office by October 15, 2008. Although we generally prefer payment by check, for this retreat we recommend that you provide your credit card information with your registration form. Whatever the form of payment you provide, please be aware that no payments will be processed prior to the lottery. Checks and credit card information will be held in our office until that time. If you are concerned about keeping track of an outstanding check, be aware that you may safely wait until shortly before the deadline to send your materials without impacting your chances in the lottery.

The lottery selections will take place on October 31, 2008. The registrations for those who receive spaces will be processed at that time. Lottery selection will also determine places on the waitlist.

Waitlist:
Everyone waitlisted will be contacted promptly after the lottery draw to confirm whether you want to remain on the waitlist or withdraw your application. If you chose to withdraw your application, we will shred your check or credit card information at that time. If you remain on the waitlist, we would continue to hold your deposit until you receive a spot, at which time we would process your payment.

Housing assignments will also be determined by the lottery. We cannot determine in advance what kind of housing you will be assigned to if you receive a spot. Because of the variety of housing we are able to offer, you could end up in a single room or in a room with three other roommates. If your interest in attending is contingent on having a single space for the retreat, the only certainty we can offer in that regard is the option of tenting. Cloud Mountain has quite a few nice tent sites, and June and July are usually lovely months for tenting. We will have a VERY limited number of single rooms set aside for verifiable medical needs, so if you are severely disabled or have a depressed immune system due to something like chemotherapy or AIDS, we will be able to accommodate your medical needs. Regretfully, we cannot offer guaranteed single rooms based on sleep disorders or psychological reasons.

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