March 3, 2015
2015 Spring Retreat
April 13-19, 2015
The Abbey, Canon City
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes,
and the grass grows, by itself.”
– Matsuo Basho
We have begun taking registrations for this year’s Spring Retreat with our teachers Sarah Bender, Sensei and Andrew Palmer, Sensei. Monday April 13 through Sunday the 19th, this is a seven day retreat. Part-time attendance is welcome and financial assistance is available.
To download a copy of the registration form, please select this link. Please forward a signed copy and deposit to our registrar, Steve Milligan (mailing address is on the form) before April 3, 2015.
This year, we would like to hear from those planning on attending the retreat or even just considering it, by notifying Steve with a short email. Please take a moment and select the following link to email Steve at: steve_milligan08@comcast.net or call at 719 633 5925. Even if you think you “might” attend full or part-time, please let Steve know.
This retreat will include our fellow Sangha members formally receiving The Precepts and Taking Refuge. These retreats can be a powerful way for our communities to come together in deep silence, as well as in celebration. Here is a note from Sarah Bender and Andrew Palmer:
Dear Friends,
Each April, our Colorado Open Source community (including Springs Mountain Sangha and Wet Mountain Sangha) comes together for a week-long meditation retreat. As new life quickens in the ground and pushes toward sunlight and air, we take time to join this deep meditation of the world. Our retreat will include a Ceremony of Taking Refuge in the Bodhisattva Way. Some members will formally take refuge, speaking their personal vows and receiving the precepts as they take up the Bodhisattva Way.
The retreat itself is a vow both individual and collective, as we put down the habitual patterns and activities of our days and join into a rhythm of waking and eating, sitting, walking and being cared for, in silence—and it is refuge, a place where we come together and can be utterly and simply this.
A refuge ceremony strengthens this vow quality. Its power strengthens and nourishes all as it permeates the retreat and flows on through life itself.
We very much hope you will join us,
Sarah and Andrew
Retreats with refuge ceremonies can often fill early. Please let Steve know of your interest in attending.
The cost of this retreat is; $650 full time. $100/day part time. Deposit: $200.
Deadline for Registration: April 3.
If you have any questions about this meditation retreat, please don’t hesitate to talk with a leader or the registrar Steve Milligan steve_milligan08@comcast.net or (719) 633-5925; or Sarah Bender, Sensei at sembender@gmail.com
You can see this notice on the SMS Website at: https://www.smszen.org/2015-spring-retreat