Meditation retreat: From nothing to something to nothing again – The Heart Sutra in Norwegian (in English)
From nothing to something to nothing again – The Heart Sutra in Norwegian (in English)
This is a celebratory meditation retreat marking the 20th Aniversary of the Oslo Buddhist Centre.
The theme for the retreat is the Heart Sutra. We will explore how we connect with the heart, in meditation and daily life, with a view to go beyond into the mystery we call life. To this end we both need to call on the Bodhisattvas to learn how to let go and to look at our delusive hindrances and the fear bred by them. There will be an emphasis on the collective nature of our practice in our current society.
Our annual meditation retreat will be led by Gunaketu who started the Oslo Buddhistsenter 19.2.2000 in his home town. Before that he helped build and run the new Manchester Buddhist Centre which was completed in 1996, the same year he was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order. Gunaketu started meditating in 1989 whilst going to Manchester to study management sciences. Back in Norway, in 2004, he trained as a gestalt psychotherapist and supervisor, and co-founded the consultancy cooperative iGo.sa. He has led numerous retreats both in Norway and Sweden. Now he spends his days as Chair of the Oslo Buddhistsenter, offering therapy and supervision and the occational teaching at OsloMet University. His daughter is born in 2007 and lives with him every other week. He has written several articles on buddhism, gestalt therapy, mindfulness & sustainability, and a novel about gestalt therapy: Lik meg (in Norwegian).
This is the longer annual meditation retreat for the Oslo Buddhist centre. Retreat is an important part of practice. In particular meditation retreats offers an opportunity to experience other dimensioons of ourselves and consciousness. Most of the retreat will be in silence. It is suitable for people who have been practising meditation regularly for at least 6 months and are familiar with mindfulness of breathing, metta bhavana and rituals as done in the Triratna Buddhist community. If this isn’t part of your experience but you are keen to come on the retreat and have attended at least one course in Buddhism and/or meditation, get in touch with us. The participants has to stay for the whole retreat.
Place: Lillomarkskapellet in Nittedal, just outside of Oslo. Travel – look at Facebook or our website.
Cost: The running cost of the retreat is 5.100NOK per participant including vegan food and simple lodging. If you want to contribute to a fund to help those who cannot aford this – specify that when you send us money. If you cannot aford this, let us know and we will distribute whatever is paid into the bursary fund. You might want to give something to the leader of the retreat for his effort as «dana». Payment to Oslo Buddhistsenter, account: 1254.05.10421. Vipps: #10874. If you are not based in Norway, pay by PayPal to post [at] oslobuddhistsenter.no (written as email address without spaces). Mark the payment “Meditation retreat + your name”.