Do You Need to Travel Overseas for a Silent Retreat?
Last week, I attended two silent meditation retreats conducted by Venerable Panadure Chandaratana at Mangala Vihara and Sayalay Dipankara at Poh Ming Tse Temple in April and May respectively. It was a much needed break before the new hustle begins. Throughout the retreats, retreatants had to abide to the 8 precepts.
Prior to the retreats, I was contemplating whether to attend an overseas retreat or a local one during the short break, and I’m glad that this time round I chose to participate in the retreats in Singapore. It allowed me to have some time for myself to slow things down. It also made me realised that sometimes we don’t really need an overseas escapade to recharge, instead, it’s more of reassessing our own priorities, focusing on what really matters, taking the rest that our body truly needs.
Rather than always being busy, rushing, and constantly pushing through, it’s important to rest deeply. However, the rest part is often overlooked, or we may find ourselves feeling guilty for rest as it’s usually negatively associated as being unproductive or lazy by external view. But it’s actually not. Rest is best.
Credit: Mangala Vihara
Walking Meditation by Venerable Panadure Chandaratana (29–30 April 2024)
Venerable Panadure Chandaratana’s meditation retreat focused on mindful walking meditation. The intention of observing our daily postures (either sitting, standing, walking or lying down) is to train our mind to be mindful of the present moment, without letting our mind get caught up with the past or future.
Credit: Mangala Vihara
While walking, we observed the texture of the floor — whether it feels rough, smooth, warm or cold. We also paid attention to the pace of our steps and how it corresponds to our thoughts. Then we shifted our focus to the lifting, shifting and landing of our feet.
The intention is to bring our awareness to the present moment and recognize that the sensations and feelings under our feet are temporary — it comes and goes. If you catch yourself holding on to the past sensations and feelings, or anticipating what is going to happen next, you are actually missing out on the present moment.
Credit: Mangala Vihara
What’s going through my mind during meditation?
Walking may seem like a simple task, but practicing mindful walking can be challenging for someone like me who is used to multi-tasking — walking while using the phone to respond to messages, read the news or listen to music. Now, there is no other physical activity to distract me on except mindful walking.
The mind is easily distracted by thoughts and sensory stimuli— the poster on the wall, what the person is doing at the corner, the tempting smell from the kitchen, thoughts about my next trip… Suddenly my pacing quickened and my mind drifted again.
Our surroundings have conditioned our mind to be future-oriented and forward looking. Today has not even happened yet, and yet we are already thinking about the future, planning ahead, and setting goals. Even when physically at rest, our minds are busy making plans next or reminiscing about the past. Being mindful is about bringing ourselves back to the present moment.
Once, I noticed the mind drifting to a recent incident that had left me upset over someone’s ignorant action. It had been on my mind for days, and as a result, I failed to fully experience moments of joy in the present. This brought my attention to why was I clinging so tightly to these feelings for so long. I realized that these feelings were temporary and wouldn’t matter much tomorrow, a year from now, or even ten years down. Just like the sensations under our feet while walking — whether it is comfortable or uncomfortable— these feelings come and go. Instead of dwelling on it, why not just focus on being present?
Mindfulness of In-and-out Breathe Meditation by Sayalay Dipankara (5 May 2024)
Credit: Brahma Vihari Meditation Centre
It was a one day retreat held on a Sunday. Sayalay Dipankara taught us about the mindfulness of in-and-out breathe meditation, and the sessions were alternated between seated and walking mediation. It was also Sayalay’s 60 birthday, and I was fortunate to witness the devotees sharing appreciations for her selfless sharing of dhamma. I heard that she was ordained when she was 25 years old and has been sharing her teachings for 35 years.
Credit: Brahma Vihari Meditation Centre
Overall Reflections:
- Venerable Panadure Chandaratana shared that it takes time and effort to train and tame the mind, similar to the dedication required to exercise and condition the body for optimal functioning. Similarly, the mind needs training and conditioning to enhance focus.
- This explains why the first day of each retreat is often mentally exhausting to me. The mind constantly plays out the ‘Tom-and- Jerry’ scene — the mind drifting away and you making the conscious effort to bring the mind back to the present state of mindfulness.
- The short 1–3 days stay out retreat serve as great booster sessions for individuals who cannot take long breaks for retreat. It helps keeps us on track amidst the busyness of life when we neglected our mindful practices.
- Practicing with a group of retreatants encourages and holds me accountable in my practice. If 50 other people can meditate, why can’t we? It instills more more willpower to complete the retreat with the community.
- Appreciating the simplicity of whole plant-based food, simple plant-based meals can be just as nourishing as lavish daily meals eaten outside.
- One of the eight precepts includes abstaining from food after noon (12pm) until the following dawn. Although my stomach was growling for food at night, I do notice that my stomach feels less heavy from the eating and I have better energy to meditate.
- Comparing it to 10 hours of sitting meditation in Vipassana, I feel that alternating sessions between walking and sitting meditation during a full day retreat helps strike a better balance, as it helps remove any excess active energy. It is also more beginner friendly for those who are new to meditation.
Singapore or Overseas Retreats?
The differences between the two Singapore retreats that I recently attended and the past overseas retreats:
- Stay-in vs stay-out options: For both retreats, retreatants have the option to stay-out. This means I can return to my comfort nest when the day ends. However, this also means being subjected to distractions from our surroundings while journeying home.
- Noble silence: It seems more flexible for the retreats in Singapore where we were allowed to keep our digital devices with us but instructed to set it to airplane mode and refrain from using it during the retreat. However, during the past overseas retreats, volunteers would keep our digital devices on our behalf, ensuring total noble silence and no eye contact between participants. As we had our digital devices with us and our habitual tendency, it required more effort to resist the temptation to check our phones. Occasionally, there were unintentional alarms or phone calls ringing or vibrating suddenly during the meditation session which can be a distraction.
Final thoughts — Long overseas retreats are definitely a great time off for a soulful ‘eat-pray-love’ recharge, whereas short local retreats are great for a quick rejuvenation and mingling with the local community to keep yourself accountable for your own practice.
Timetable at the retreats:
