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GENERAL INFORMATION FOR THE MANJUSHRI RETREAT
From , office manager

Dec. 10, 2008 – March 9, 2009
One month retreat option Dec. 10, 2008 – Jan. 10, 2009

Venerable Chodron has prepared a letter beginning, “To everyone who is considering attending the Manjushri retreat.” Please read this first as it covers many important points about the retreat. After reading her letter, if you are interested in attending the retreat, you will find the logistical details below.

Dates of the Retreat

The retreat will be for three months, Dec. 10, 2008 – March 9, 2009. People who prefer to do one month retreat can do so Dec. 10, 2008 – Jan. 10, 2009. However, to avoid a lot of coming and going during the retreat which disturbs those in retreat, there are only these two options. That is, people either do the entire three months or they do one month during those specified dates.

To create group cohesion and to keep everyone on track in his or her Dharma practice, all participants must arrive on time and may not leave until the retreat is concluded (unless there is an emergency).

We’ll need some people to arrive a few days early to help prepare the rooms, shop for food, and prepare food.

Support for the Retreat

Dana is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means generosity or giving. One offers dana to express the generosity that arises in our heart. By offering, we purify karma from miserliness and create positive potential which acts as a basis for us to gain spiritual realizations.

Due to the hundreds of people from around the world who have given donations with a heart of generosity, Sravasti Abbey exists today, and we have the opportunity to do retreat there. The Dana you give will enable the Abbey to continue to exist so that others may come in the future and benefit from the Dharma.

The Abbey does not charge for room and board. Thus there is no fee to do the retreat. Why? Because if we pay for ourselves, it is a business transaction and no positive potential is created. If we give Dana to sponsor everyone doing retreat, we create great positive potential (merit) and this will enable our retreat to go smoothly and be successful.

Thus everyone who attends the retreat is fully sponsored. Each retreatant will feel the kindness of all those who have contributed to his or her being able to do retreat. Feeling supported by others in this way encourages our Dharma practice and helps us generate love and compassion for sentient beings because we are directly experiencing their kindness.

Still, the funds to hold the retreat must come from somewhere, and thus everyone who would like to participate in the retreat is asked to help raise the dana that will enable everyone to be sponsored. You may offer your own funds or speak to friends and relatives, telling them about the retreat and asking them to contribute. Anyone who wants to accumulate positive potential can make offerings so that the retreat can happen.

The Dana that each person should gather for one month is $870 (31 days) and for three months (90 days) is $2490.

Venerable Chodron offers the Dharma freely. Teachers who trust in our generosity are a rare treasure in this world and by supporting them; we enable them to continue to share the Dharma. There will be opportunity to offer Dana to Venerable at the end of the retreat, as a way to convey our deep gratitude to her as our teacher and spiritual guide.

About Sravasti Abbey

Visit the Abbey’s website for more information (http://www.sravastiabbey.org). Please review the information about Visiting the Abbey on the website. It provides important details about how to we live at the Abbey so as to create an environment conducive for Dharma practice.

Daily Schedule / Retreat Routine

The daily schedule includes 5 meditation sessions and one individual study session. There is ample break time for reading, walking, and yoga, or other activities to keep the body supple for extended sitting.

Everyone will live in the five precepts—to avoid killing, stealing, sexual behavior, lying, and intoxicants—during the retreat. Silence will be observed throughout the entire retreat. All retreatants are expected to stay until the end of the retreat and to attend all meditation sessions unless they are sick.

The Abbey is not a retreat center with a paid staff. We are looking for a non-retreatant to prepare our meals. If you know anyone who may be interested in offering service to the abbey and to the retreatants in this way, please let me know. It is possible that we retreatants will offer service by sharing responsibility for meal preparation and cooking – I will keep you posted.

What to Expect

  • Weather: Sravasti Abbey is located in a rural low mountain setting in northeastern Washington near the Idaho border. The winter months are cold and snowy, quiet, and peaceful—a wonderful environment for doing retreat.
  • Food: The diet will be vegetarian with no onions, garlic, scallions, leeks, or radishes. Please let us know if you have special dietary considerations required for your health, and we will try to accommodate them.
  • Accommodations are in double rooms.
  • Retreatants are responsible for cleaning and general chores (chopping veggies, plowing snow, tending the wood furnace, etc.) at the Abbey.
  • Ven. Chodron will be at the abbey doing personal retreat, although it is possible that she will be away five days at the beginning. She will give do a Q&A session once a week and give a Dharma talk to the group every week. She will meet with each participant personally as needed during the retreat.

Retreat Registration

The registration form can be downloaded and filled out electronically (if you have Microsoft Word), then sent to . Or you can print the form, fill it out and mail to:

Sravasti Abbey
Attn: Ven. Thubten Chodron
692 Country Lane
Newport, WA 99156

You will be notified of your acceptance as a retreat attendee.

Your participation in gathering the Dana to support the retreat shows that you are serious about doing the retreat. To confirm a place at the retreat, please follow the following timeline:

Oct. 15 – Due date for applications. We will notify you soon thereafter if your application has been accepted.

Oct. 31 – Dana for one month ($300) or three months ($900) is due.

Nov. 20 – Remaining Dana is due.

All amounts are in USD. Make checks payable to Sravasti Abbey, indicating Manjushri Retreat on the memo line, and mail to:

Sravasti Abbey
PO Box 20644
Seattle WA 98102-1644.

Your donation is tax deductible.

Sending the Dana by credit card is fine, but please add 3.3% to offset the processing fees that the bank charges.

If you have any questions, please . If you would like to talk by phone, call the Abbey at (509) 447-5549.

The benefits for your and for all sentient beings of your doing retreat are incalculable. May positive conditions ripen for you to join us as we meditate on Manjushri this winter.


 
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