Slaying the Dragon: Hope and Fear
Goedgedacht Farm, Kasteelberg near Riebeek-Kasteel
9 days; Thursday 14 Nov to Friday 22 Nov 2019
(Arrive Thursday afternoon 14 Nov depart Saturday morning 23 Nov)
For costs & to book: harmse.charlotte@gmail.com
‘Buddha’s teaching is everywhere. Today it is raining. This is Buddha’s teaching.’ Shunryu Suzuki
Without understanding our life, whatever we do will be bound by the twin terrors of hope and fear. We become victim of the dead past and illusory future. As Dōgen said ‘the past swallows up the present and spits it out’.
To understand our life is to understand the self. To understand the self is to understand the mind. To understand our mind is to understand the ways of thought. The way of understanding demands study, listening, and meditation.
To study doesn’t only mean sutra, text or book but to observe the movement of life in the field of daily living.
Our retreat will consist of sitting and walking meditation as well as teachings and dialogue.
Conditions for participants:
Each person should be committed to the full retreat program and leave personal demands and agendas aside. This is essential. Our retreat is informed by Buddhist ethics, view and practice.
Ethical conduct and sensitivity to others is assumed.
About Donal
Dónal Creedon is a Buddhist meditation teacher with many years’ experience, loved and deeply appreciated for his warmth, openness and sincerity. He studied and practiced with Buddhist masters of the Kagyu practice lineage in Europe as well as in India and Nepal. This involved many years of intense retreat.
Dónal also spent a number of years at the Krishnamurti Centre in Varanasi as resident Buddhist scholar. Thus the radical inquiry of Krishnamurti informs his approach. In 2017, he published ‘The Main of Light’, a study which examines the teachings of J Krishnamurti in the light of Buddhist teachings, specifically the teachings of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen lineages.
The teachings of the Buddha and Krishnamurti both explore the most profound and fundamental questions of human existence. They directly address the questions of sorrow, fear and death, as well as the deepest meaning a human life can attain beyond the travail and illusion of dualism. They point to the sources of sorrow and the ending of sorrow, to the possibility of living a life informed by intelligence and compassion.
As Dónal says: “It is my hope that this study will serve as a modest contribution to what I feel is an immensely important area of human exploration. I hope it will stimulate questions not only in Buddhist and Krishnamurti students, but anyone interested in the deep problems that affect our world so grievously.”
Dónal will also run a retreat in Groot Marico, from 30 Nov to 28 Dec at Tara Rokpa Centre, Groot Marico http://tararokpacentre.co.za/event/21-day-dharma-encampment-with-donal-creedon Please contact them direct to book