A Three-Day At-Home Retreat
with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
November 27–29
Friday & Saturday 6 am – 9 pm
Sunday 6 am – 5 pm
The four protective meditations are a set of meditation topics designed to establish a firm foundation for growth in the Dhamma. The four are: recollection of the Buddha, meditation on loving-kindness, mindfulness of the bodily parts, and recollection of death. Over three days following Thanksgiving Day, from Friday morning, November 27, through Sunday afternoon, November 29, Ven. Bodhi will lead a retreat on these meditation subjects. The retreat will last each day from 6 am until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday and end at 5 pm on Sunday. You will practice at home, with guidance given over Zoom.
Instructions will be given each day at 8:30 am EST, so those in other time zones can join the retreat at the equivalent time in their own time zones and still catch the morning’s instructions. The first session at 6:00 am will be simple sitting and chanting.
There is no charge for the course. Donations for the monastery are always welcome.
Participants: please click button below to find the materials needed for the your retreat
Recollection of the Buddha: Participants should choose in advance a favorite Buddha image to be used as the object of focus during the sessions devoted to this meditation. You don’t have to be able to visualize the image in detail. The visualization aspect is secondary to the recollection of the Buddha’s qualities. The subfolder includes a few images taken from the internet, but you are free to choose your own preferred image. You need not choose one included in the folder.
Loving-Kindness (metta): The folder contains a single PDF providing a broad explanation of the loving-kindness meditation and the formulas that we will be using.
Mindfulness of the Body (asubha): The folder contains a list of the 32 parts and some anatomical diagrams to acquaint you with those parts in advance of the retreat. To get the full benefit of the retreat, you should review these diagrams in advance. Again, you don’t have to be able to visualize the organs in detail; it is enough to gain a general familiarity with them.
Mindfulness of Death: The folder contains a single PDF on the main points to be covered during this practice.