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Questionnaire
Like most other centres, Satipanya has not returned to pre-covid levels of attendance. We want to know why.
We would also like to know if there are other types of retreat you would like us to offer. So, please help us by filling out this short, anonymous questionnaire.
Satipanya Questionnaire
Personal Retreat
Our house in Bishops Castle will open for personal retreat in June. See below or email
Bhante
or
Noirin
for further information.
Daily Life Course 2025
This year’s course concerns the Four Noble Truths and provides an opportunity to study these truths in meditation and daily life. Contact
Noirin Sheahan
for further information or to register.
Full Moon Observance
Sunday 04 May
Buddha Day
The Teaching Skills of the Buddha
(Joined by the Sangha of Pian Dei Ciliegi, Italy)
Meeting in London
Maz, a fellow Satipanya meditator, is looking to see if others are interested in setting up a London based group once a month to meet in person and practice together in central London, or a location most convenient for those who are interested.
If interested email Maz and let him know which areas in London are most convenient for you to meet:
[email protected]
See below for Retreats
Noirin here, starting the second teaching slot in our roll-on roll-off retreat which will continue until mid-September.
Spring arrives late here in Satipanya as we're at about 1000ft elevation. At the start of April I went on a fortnights holiday to Ireland (thanks to all friends for making homelessness so delightful with your warm welcomes!). I returned to a chorus of birdsong and meadows decked out with cowslips and dandelions. In the pond, the frog spawn has almost disappeared but if I wait around long enough I usually see some tadpoles flickering just underwater. Tomas found two moorhen nests in the reeds so we're hopeful they will breed here agin this year.
Hoping you will join us for a week as the spring and summer seasons evolve. See
Bhante's Tip
from last month if you need persuading!
Announcements
This year’s course concerns the Four Noble Truths. These emerged from the insights the Buddha gleaned in his quest to transcend suffering. The course provides an opportunity to study these truths and recognise their value in formal meditation and daily life. Contact
Noirin Sheahan
for further information or to register.
The house in Bishops Castle will open for personal retreat in June. Suitable only for established meditators. For more info or to apply email
Bhante
or
Noirin
.
has been published as an
ebook
,
kindle
, paperback (now being proof-read, thanks to Mai Ryan) and can be dowloaded as a
PDF
. Based on Noirin's Daily Life courses over previous years and supplemented by students' reflections, the book offers a study-practice guide to the Buddha's teaching on Mindfulness of Body, Feeling and Mind. Many thanks to Therese Caherty for editing. Further info
here
.
Meeting in London
Maz, a fellow Satipanya meditator, is looking to see if others are interested in setting up a London based group once a month to meet in person and practice together in central London, or a location most convenient for those who are interested.
If interested email Maz and let him know which areas in London are most convenient for you to meet:
[email protected]
Join us for your daily meditation -
Info.
An informal meditation group meets on a monthly basis via Zoom for a full day of meditation. Email Magda for details at
[email protected]
This collaborative study group is currently studying
the
jhāna
s, as taught by Rob Burbea
, in order to better understand this mainstay of the suttas, and how they contribute to the practice of
vipassanā
. We
warmly extend an invitation to any practitioner
who would like to join us. Currently meeting on the second and fourth Sundays of each month at 10:20am - around midday. Please contact Carl at
[email protected]
for further information.
Join 20.00 to 21.00 on the Sunday closest to the Full Moon. Bhante gives a short dhamma talk, followed by a 30-min sitting, refuges and precepts and we end by reading and chanting the metta sutta.
For date of next Celebration.
Opening to the Impact of the Climate Emergency:
Following on from the Zoom with Gwen Sanderson and Bhante Bodhidhamma in September last year, there are two options for ongoing engagement:
-
Gwen Sanderson is facilitating monthly
Climate and Dhamma Conversations
which are held using
Zoom
. Email
Gwen
for further information or to register.
-
Noirin Sheahan has set up a Satipanya
Forum
focussing on the
Six Maxims
(ethical training to prepare for the social and environmental consequences of climate change - see tip below). Contact
Noirin
for further info or to register.
Every morning at puja we call the names of those who are sick or dying, or are having a hard time.
Every evening at puja we call the names of those who have something to rejoice.
Satipanya Courses
Coronavirus:
Requirements for visiting Satipanya.
We are asking everyone to take an antigen test before setting out in their journey to Satipanya and not to come if the test is positive.
Vipassana as taught by the Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma
The Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma, one of the most influential vipassana insight meditation teachers of the last century, developed techniques to help us maintain moment to moment mindfulness from the instant we awake to the instant we fall asleep.
This leads not only to spiritual insights into our true, unborn-undying essence, but also, equally important, to the purification of the heart. So that we not only become wiser but more caring, generous, joyous and compassionate.
Applying the techniques on this retreat we follow a robust schedule, but meditators can modulate their practice to fit their level of experience, even absolute beginners. The accent is on relaxation and curiosity, rather than striving and concentration. And regular teacher contact, daily Q&A and personal interviews ensures students are supported throughout.
The retreat ends with advice on how to bring the practice into ordinary daily life to enhance our relationships and give spiritual meaning to our work and everyday tasks.
Assistants Needed
N.B.
All the courses are serviced by assistants.
As assistant you have the opportunity to serve others. It can be a way of
expressing gratitude for the gift of Dhamma. Although the morning is mainly
taken up with breakfast preparation and cooking, the rest of day is for
practice.
You can
see
the menus here
(PDF).
As an assistant, we do not expect payment of the deposit or make a donation
because you have kindly offered your time.
However, your commitment is essential, for the course would be very difficult to
run without an assistant and may indeed have to be cancelled.
If you are interested, follow this link:
Course
Assistant
For info. about retreats and teachers see website:
www.satipanya.org.uk
See drop down menus: especially About Us, Teachings and Retreats
Would you like to come and assist on a course?
See
calendar on website
for up-to-date assistant need.
The 2025 Calander is available for courses into September.
You can apply any time, but please only when you are certain.
Nibanna is Close at Hand!
Noirin Sheahan
As you may know, when the Buddha became enlightened he first thought that there was no point in trying to teach others how to follow in his footsteps. He felt that the enlightened understanding he had achieved was so subtle, so hard to see, that nobody would be able to understand him and teaching would only be frustrating. It was the Dhamma teacher Rob Burbea (now sadly deceased) who pointed out the irony – the Buddha’s first thought as an enlightened being was to avoid getting frustrated!
This irony challenges simplistic notions of transcendence. The Buddha’s wisdom protects him from suffering because he knows better than to identify with his body or mind. But this does not make him careless of what happens to his body, indifferent to the contents of his mind. Carelessness and indifference don’t appear to be options for an enlightened being. Transcendence only manifests in some form of goodwill – friendliness, compassion, appreciative joy or equanimity.
The latter quality, equanimity, comes to our rescue when life disappoints or frustrates us. The Buddha only undertook the hard work of teaching after being persuaded that there were some who would understand and follow in his footsteps. Disappointment at those who rejected his teaching could then be offset by knowing the immense value of his work overall. And so the Buddha could remain equanimous when people disputed, dismissed or scorned his teaching.
The joy of seeing that some people were able to accept, work with, and at times even to understand his teaching would also have been an enormous support to the Buddha’s mission. This is a form of mudita: appreciating the potential for liberation as he sees it manifesting, taking shape, affecting change, in another being.
Going back to his earlier reluctance to tire himself out by attempting the seemingly hopeless task of teaching: The incident reminds us of the humanity of the Buddha. He never claimed to be anything other than a normal human being and as we see here, took care to minimize distress for himself even after enlightenment. As an old man, close to death, the Buddha describes his body as wracked in pain from morning to night. He says this in response to Ananda’s request that he prolong his life for the sake of all those he could help. This story too shows us that the Buddha was not superhuman and was deeply cognizant of his aging body and physical limitations. He was not operating from a lofty blissful plane outside of his feeble and painful body.
These incidents from the life of the Buddha remind us not expect that liberation will deliver us to a state of bliss where we’re oblivious to the problems of the world. Instead we grow ever more sensitive, feel our connection with others more keenly.
It also reminds us not to imagine Nibanna as separate to ordinary daily life. Nibanna is close at hand! Perhaps we could imagine it as a knowing which is in intimate contact with humanity, accompanying us through decisions on how to live and what livelihood to follow and when to relinquish our hold on life.
Ordinary life, in other words. Known for what it is.
Calendar at a Glance
Calendar
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MAILING LIST form
at the bottom of the front page of the website.
Many thanks.
Finally
, please forward this email if you know someone who may be
interested. Thanks.
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