Online Retreats Guidance

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE RETREAT

• You agree to take 6 Precepts in the morning and to read a few supportive verses which help you to set up a proper moral and ethical mental environment to support your practice which is very important.

• You agree to sit in meditation twice each day for a minimum of 30 minutes (AM and PM) and to take a short walking meditation daily for at least 15-20 minutes, as a minimum. Many people take a lunchtime walk or after an evening meal; whatever is possible is fine.

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Suggested Sitting and Walking Goals

1. ​Day 1-2     Sitting Twice  for 30 minutes & Walking Twice for 15 minutes

2. Day 3-4     Sitting Twice  for 45 minutes & Walking Twice for 15-20 minutes

3. Day 5-9    Sitting Twice  for  1 hour & Walking Twice for 15-20 minutes

4. As your meditation progress you may sit up to 2-3 hours, but this will come on its own.

• You agree to listen to one Dhamma talk each evening given by Audio or Video format (your choice) online. Talks are taken from a retreat collection by our Abbot, Venerable “Bhante” Vimalaramsi.  These talks are given in clear and simple English.

• You agree that each day you will answer a few short questions in a Daily Interview report and send this report to your guiding teacher.

• AND LASTLY, to make the most progress on your retreat, you agree to stop watching TV, reading newspapers, books, magazines, or spending time on the internet with movies or other forms of entertainment for the period of your retreat. Only use information when it is necessary for your profession and not otherwise. This helps your mind stop thinking so much.

OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU

• To monitor your progress each day.

• To coach you on your next step in the meditation.

• To help you stay on track the best you can and answer all your questions.

Please don't be traveling while on retreat. You can figure 2-4 hours for sitting, watching talks, and writing your short interview report each day.

GUIDELINES

1. You are asked to agree to keep the BASIC precepts during the online retreats and continue these in life as close as possible if you find them useful. 

2. Please do not listen to music during these retreats and refrain from other entertainment such as TV, RADIO, BOOKS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, etc.) for the duration of the retreat.  Please put your attention into your meditation and follow the guides instructions closely or it will not develop properly. 

3. You will be learning a very nice form of engaged Buddhism in this retreat. The meditation will become interwoven into life if it is being done correctly. We encourage you to keep working, going to school, working at home, or doing whatever you normally do for work each day during this retreat. That’s fine. This will prove to you how the meditation can be used in daily life.  As we go along, we will talk about how to continue your meditation following the retreat. 

4. How should I be sitting?  Sit in a way that your body does not have physical pain due to your sitting position. If you are accustomed to the floor, then sit on the floor. But if you are not, please sit on a chair. It is best to sit on a chair without arms so you do not lean down on them or lean into the back part of a chair! It's important not to cut off the natural energy flow of the back. You can put a rolled towel at the base of your back to keep you toward the front of the chair. The most important thing about sitting is to remain still while you sit on the floor, on a chair, a bench or a rock. DO NOT MOVE. You want to be comfortable so that you can sit longer to observe more about how mind’s attention moves.  

5. Sitting Meditation You MUST agree to do the meditation sitting for 30 minutes minimum in the morning and 30 minutes at another time in the day(This is the minimum effective for progress. Sit longer if it’s going well and you have time to do it.) Plan to sit 45min the by at least the 3rd day, 1 hour the 4th and longer up to 2 hrs, if you are comfortable with that, later. At least sit twice per day - some people sit up to 5 times and walk 5 times!

6. Walking Meditation- Please do not do slow walking with this practice. Do natural walking to keep your energy up. In the middle of your day, during a lunch hour or break time, we suggest you take a short walk for 15-20 minutes and keep smiling. That should give you three short sessions per day as we go along. Try to make one session 1 hour or a little longer perhaps on the weekends as you progress.

7. Dhamma Talks- Each night you will be asked to listen to a Dhamma talk online from Bhante. This is the same as our retreats. The talk to listen to is on the schedule. Please do take notes during Dhamma talks to help you. They are filled with good information.

• Transcripts are listed for the audio talks below right after the audio link.

8. Submit Interview Form once a day. You will answer some questions on an interview form and then submit to your teacher each day at some time during that 24 hr. period. The guide needs to hear from you clearly once a day in order to monitor your progress.  This helps the guide to know how best to help you.

9. Daily Reports are to be filled out for us to review and comment on your progress. -See your program.

10. Check your Online Program Guide for Sutta talks to listen to. They are all there.

11. Please read "Brahmaviharas for Everyone" Please have the book read by the 2nd day of your retreat. This short PDF will give you everything you need to know to get started and make fast progress. 

12. LASTLY: This retreat is brought to you by Samatha-Vipassana Trust (SVT). SVT support comes from donations for the work we do in these retreats, personal retreats and group retreats  (All funds are used to conduct retreats, support monatics and running the Trust). The project’s sole purpose is to support the Dhamma. You can use India Local Bank, PayPal or a credit card through the giving page. All donations are tax deductible in India (Local Bank). Think about a recurring donation where every month you can help by having a small amount sent from your PayPal account. We need support year around.

All forms of support (giving/dana and/or volunteering) are welcome here and if you want to come in to help on site, please let us know. We can always use some help to keep up the place. Also if you wish to pursue a personal retreat at the center following your online retreat there is more information about physical retreats located on our website.