Active Retreat (Basic) (5-Days in Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Active Retreat - The Enlightened Path: Training the Mind to Attain Nibbana 

(Basic) (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Have you participated in a silent retreat that resulted in challenges that were difficult to overcome during the retreat? Did you have an outstanding retreat experience to only have it fall apart after returning back to the “real world”?

Silent retreats can be helpful but you can often times have a significant challenge when returning back to an active life. The silent retreat is peaceful and serene with all the participants on their “best behavior” through dedicated meditation and training. But when you leave the silent retreat environment and face the real world, your retreat experience can often times get eroded and you are back where you started.

What is an active retreat?

An active retreat is an opportunity for you to experience a retreat environment to either develop or deepen your learning and practice of teachings that train the mind to be peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy while also participating in normal activities throughout the retreat.

You will have the opportunity to learn teachings then integrate them into a normal active life through daily activities engaged in the local community.

In this way, you will learn and practice the teachings as part of a retreat atmosphere while engaging in daily activities inside and outside the retreat setting. This allows you to learn and grow while applying the teachings in everyday life. Learning through an active retreat will feel like a holiday with good wholesome people who are interested to understand how to develop and integrate teachings for a healthy body and mind into daily life.

One can not meditate their way to Nibbana or Enlightenment. The Enlightened Path requires learning and practicing teachings that include meditation but also many other aspects need to be either eliminated or cultivated in the mind based on personal choices.

You will have the opportunity to learn and practice these along with other teachings in this retreat.

This active retreat will provide you the opportunity to learn these teachings and practice them so that you will be able to integrate them into your daily life through wise personal choices to eliminate discontent feelings from the mind such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, boredom, loneliness, guilt, fears, shyness, etc.

After the retreat experience, we provide you on-going support to learn and practice the teachings through online guidance.

Daily Schedule

6:00 AM: Wake Up/Personal Hygiene/Free Time

7:30 AM: Meditation Guidance (Seated, Lying, Standing, Walking Positions)

8:00 AM: Teachings & Discussions (Dhamma Talks) 

9:30 AM: Breakfast

10:30 AM: Mindfulness Gong Bath

12:00 PM: Daily Activity Experiences with Lunch

Learn and understand local culture and historical sites 

(Buddhist Temples and Cultural Tour Experiences based on seasonal availability.)

There will be two (2) days of activities outside the retreat setting. There will be three (3) days of free time within the retreat setting.

6:00 PM: Dinner

7:30 PM: Meditation Guidance (Seated, Lying, Standing, Walking Positions)

8:00 PM: Group Discussion/Open Discussion with Questions & Answers

9:00 PM: Free Time

The morning “Teachings & Discussion (Dhamma Talk)“ sessions will focus on learning the teachings that lead to Enlightenment or Nibbana as shared by Gotama Buddha. The evening “Group Discussion/Open Discussion with Questions & Answers” sessions will be dedicated to open discussion based on retreat participants questions and reflections from applying the teachings during the daily activities.

We will use the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Nibbana” as a foundational text for this retreat. Teachings and discussions (Dhamma talks) will be sourced from this book. Participants are encouraged to read this book prior to the retreat and during the retreat.

Teachings & Discussions (Dhamma Talks)

• Life Story of Gotama Buddha
• Nibbana: What is “Enlightenment” or “Nibbana”? & Misunderstandings of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings
• The Four Noble Truths: Understanding The World View
• The Eight Fold Path: The Path for All Humans to Nibbana
• The Five Precepts: A Householders Guide to Daily Practice, What is Kamma and How Does It Affect Me?, & What is Merit?
• Meditation: Developing Your Practice

Meditation

• Meditation Instruction: Breathing Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation
• Meditation Positions: Seated, Lying, Standing, and Walking Position
• Mindfulness Gong Bath: Passive receiving Mindfulness Gong Bath sessions.
• Buddhist Chanting in Pali

Daily Activity Experiences 

(Available Options - Based on Seasonal Availability)

• Wat Umong & Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
• Wat Chedi Luang & Wat Phra Singh
• Walking City Tour (Chiang Mai City)
• Sankampang Hot Springs & Handcraft Village
• Wualai Road or Sunday Night Walking Market Shopping
• Warorot Market (Kad Luang) Shopping (China Town)
• Royal Park Rajapruek - Flower and Herbal Park
• Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden
• Art in Paradise - 3D Art Museum
• Thai Cooking Class
• Mae Ping River Boat Tour
• Grand Canyon Water Park
• Massage, Herbal Sauna, Body treatments
• Mae Ngat Reservoir Boat Tour, Swimming, Kayaking, & Floating Restaurants

Learning Resources

This course is based on the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Nibbana”. You may prefer to download this book and read it prior to this retreat.

 

https://tinyurl.com/FreeBuddhaBook-NEW-Edition-7

Ongoing Support

Ongoing support for students will be provided through an online community.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DailyWisdom999/

Payment

Lodging, Food, Transportation, and Daily Activities with Airport Pick up/Drop Off

All Inclusive 5-day Active Retreat: $ 729

(Payments are non-refundable although they can be applied towards a future retreat.)

Register Now

Certificate

Each student will receive a certificate that acknowledges their completion of the retreat.

Prerequisite

None

Guidance for Retreat

1.) The Precepts practiced during this retreat.

- Abandoning the taking of life, refraining from taking life, without stick or sword, scrupulous, compassionate, trembling for the welfare of all living beings.

- Abandoning the taking of what is not given, living purely, accepting what is given, awaiting what is given, without stealing.

- Abandoning sexual activity and observe celibacy, living apart, abstaining from intercourse, the common person’s practice.

- Abandoning false speech, refraining from false speech, a truth-speaker, one to be relied on, trustworthy, dependable, not a deceiver of the world.

- Refraining from strong drink and sloth-producing drugs, the basis for heedlessness.

2.) Electronic devices can be used anytime outside of 7:30AM - 12:00PM and 6:00PM - 9:00PM. During these times we request that you refrain from use of electronic devices in order to focus on learning.

3.) Wear white shirt and pants with shoulders, chest, and legs not visible. Eliminate the use of perfumes or cologne.

4.) We will provide a vegan diet for all the main meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food for this retreat will be fresh, well prepared, and nourishing. If we did not mention we are providing vegan meals, you would probably would have never known. You are welcome to eat whatever foods you choose at all times during the retreat.

5.) All equipment and supplies will be provided.

6.) You may be interested to have some amount of funds for incidental expenses based on your personal choices.

7.) You will gain the most benefits from this retreat if you have previously read the text “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Nibbana” and bring it with you for additional reading during the retreat.

8.) Learn and strive to practice The Eight Fold Path seeking growth throughout the retreat with guidance from Teachers.

9.) Expect to learn, grow, and progress in your understanding and practice of these teachings. You will be exposed to many new opportunities to establish or deepen your practice towards attaining Nibbana.

Teachers

David Roylance

Meditation and Dhamma Talks

David Roylance has been part of the Thai community since 2001. He visited Thailand for the first time in 2002 and brought the Traditional Thai Healing Arts back to the United States of America to share with people in the Western World.

He has toured over 200 different Buddhist temples helping students to understand Gotama Buddha's teachings embedded in the symbolism and architecture of the Temples.

His Traditional Thai Healing Arts centers located in the Washington DC area provided traditional Thai healing arts to clients and educational opportunities to students to explore the Thai healing arts, Thai culture, and the teachings of Gotama Buddha. David is a published author with books on the topics of Traditional Thai Healing Arts and The Path That Leads to Nibbana.

David has taught Gotama Buddha’s teachings since 2005 in the United States of America. In 2015, he closed his businesses and relocated to Chiang Mai, Thailand to be closer to the Thai culture and the Thai community.

David shares Gotama Buddha’s teachings with lay people and ordained individuals in Chiang Mai, Thailand and around the world through classes, retreats, and special events providing guidance to help people learn and practice the teachings of Gotama Buddha that lead to Enlightenment - a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy. 

 

(The goal is to create a retreat experience that is not as loose as a student’s current life but also is not as tight as a more strict retreat setting. But, rather, this retreat is for each student to further develop their practice through personal choices that is more perfectly tuned to be “right in the middle”. - David Roylance)

Veerayuth Pongsiri

Mindfulness Gong Bath and Gong Bath Training

Veerayuth is a native Thai with a bachelors degree in Survey Engineering and a Masters Degree in Buddhist Studies from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University or MCU Chiang Mai, a public Buddhist University.

Veerayuth has blended Western science with Eastern traditions of Buddhist teachings into the beneficial offering of “Mindfulness Gong Bath” considered a sound souvenir of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

His unique touch and kind sharing creates a healing meditative sound experience that can not be described, only experienced.

Students will receive three (3) levels of experience and training with “Mindfulness Gong Bath” through Veerayuth’s teaching. There is scientific research that shows human body cell recalibration through experiencing Mindfulness Gong Bath sessions.

Veerayuth volunteers his time sharing these teachings throughout various venues within the Kingdom of Thailand and assists Buddhist monks at Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai, Thailand through the Monk Chat Program.

 

(I would like to provide students the opportunity to resonant with the teachings and the sound of Mindfulness Gong Bath meditation feeling the unique energy and sensation achieved through this experience. And, after learning with me the students will be able to conduct Mindfulness Gong Bath for others. One gong, one home, and one world. - Veerayuth Pongsiri)