Celebratory Retreats Celebratory Retreats
offer a more relaxed schedule and provide opportunities for monks and lay friends to spend informal time together. These retreats are centered around Wesak, the Buddhist New Year celebration and at the secular year's-end, celebrated with a Vigil Ceremony on New Year's Eve, a New Year's Eve Ceremony and the Festival of Maitreya on January 1. We ask that those coming to a Celebratory Retreat to arrive between 2:00 and 4:30 p.m.
Please check the calendar or contact the Guestmaster with any questions you have about future Refuge or Celebratory Retreats and complete the Retreat Application Form if you would like to attend one of the coming retreats.
2012 Celebratory Retreats
May 18 – 20, 2012
Wesak Celebratory Retreat On this glorious Wesak day... wee commemorate the birth, life and teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, celebrating our gratitude with joyful ceremonies and by deepening our practice together. The Wesak festival on Sunday morning is followed by the traditional ringing of the Temple great bell and a picnic for all.
December 29, 2012 - January 1, 2013
New Year Celebratory Retreat We invite you to join us for this retreat of meditation, ceremonies and celebration when we gather together as members of the Buddha’s family to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. During this retreat, we reflect on and offer gratitude to the Buddhas and Ancestors for their teaching and help in the past year and we ask for their continued help in the year to come. After our potluck on New Year’s Eve, we meditate and hold a Vigil for Maitreya, the Buddha Who is to Come, as well as the midnight New Year’s Ceremony, followed by ringing in the New Year with the great bell. The retreat ends on January 1, and you are welcome to stay overnight until January 2.