Exploring Samādhi: an intensive meditative exploration

The Buddha strongly exhorted his followers to bring about samādhi as an important aspect of their unfolding path to awakening. He gave detailed descriptions of a subset of samādhi states called the dhyanas: states of wellbeing, joy, bliss, peace and stillness. That the Buddha saw samādhi and dhyana as important is illustrated in this old buddhist text:

“There is no jhāna for one who lacks wisdom, and no wisdom for one who lacks jhāna. But one who has both jhāna and wisdom is on the verge of Enlightenment.”

The Buddha (Dhammapāda, verse 372)

But samādhi is often translated with the word concentration which is rather misleading. On this retreat we’ll explore some powerful alternatives to the ‘concentration method’. If you think samādhi or dhyana is out of your reach, please think again and consider attending this intensive meditation retreat.

In preparation for the retreat we ask you to listen to recordings of the Body of Bliss retreat on FBA and up your daily practice with more meditation. This retreat is for more experienced meditators, 3 years regular practice. If you have less practice but are eager to come please contact Gunaketu at gunaketu@live.no.

The retreat will be led by Nagesvara and supported by Gunaketu and Muditadevi. Nagesvara is originally from Sweden but has lived most of his adult life in the UK and Spain. He has been teaching Dharma and meditation in some capacity since before his ordination in 2006 and helped set up a Triratna Buddhist centre in Barcelona 2012-2016. Nagesvara is passionate about meditation practice and in 2017 he spent the year on a meditation retreat in the south of Spain to pursue this further. He currently lives in Madrid with his wife teaching a weekly meditation class in a space in the city centre shared by various buddhist teachers from different traditions. In a year’s time he will be going into a three year long retreat, this time in the southeast of France. Currently he is practicing mahamudra under the guidance of Vessantara and over the last couple of years he has been deepening and sharing his enthusiasm for samadhi and dhyana with others.

We might have to adjust the retreat with a day less, starting a day later or finishing a day earlier. We will provide accommodation in Oslo area if needed.

Booking by 18.3.22 here

Price/dana: The cost of the retreat is NOK 3.400 to cover costs of the retreat centre, food, transport to the retreat. This does not include money to the retreat leader other than his travel expences. We will collect dana for the retreat leader at the end of the retreat. You can contribute with cash, Vipps, Paypal @OsloBuddhistsenter or direct bank-transfer to him or via Oslo Buddhistsenter account no 1254.05.10421. Please mark the payment with ‘Easterretreat 2022.’