The silence, the facility, and the staff of Insight Meditation Center(IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts and other meditation centers offer renewal and a sense of the true hearts release. IMS is a support for the resolution of deep seeded dukkha (suffering.) Deep seeded dukkha may be less likely to come up in home practice, due to the distractions of everyday living. Yet on retreat in a center, we maintain continuity of our practice in silence which facilitates the arising and passing of this dukkha. With the resolution of dukkha comes, in the words of the Buddha, “the true heart’s release,” the manifestation qualities of the heart such as lovingkindness.
IMS grounds where I would practice waking meditation
A long time ago someone asked my wife Susan “why do you let him go on those retreats?” And her response would be “because he comes back so loving!”
Returning home, I am able to understand this deeper dukkha better and feel less burdened, more restored, joyful, and more connected. It’s been a month and the Dharma Joy is still lingering.
Insight Meditation Center in Barre, Massachusetts fosters quietude through remoteness, natural beauty and service. This visit I only heard one emergency vehicle. The grounds are kept immaculate, and are highlighted by numerous colorful bushes and trees. The forests of western Massachusetts presents a beautiful and relaxing venue. I felt energized and enlivened through practice and hiking in the surrounding forest of the retreat center.
The entrance to IMS, prior to a Christmas retreat I attended
Noble silence is an opportunity to put to rest the distractions of daily living, and to look within. Silence can be a challenge for students. As I have developed in the practice, my relationship to the silence has grown to a sense of joy. On retreat, one is never alone. I am in a beautiful space with a community, loving staff and students (Sangha) who are practicing the Dharma. This launches an aura of kindness and connectedness that supports the practice. We are just together, just not speaking!
Students’ and staff commitment to Noble silence is a support for self and others to release Dukkha. This silence supports a sense of vulnerability and intimacy, a heart sense perhaps occluded at home. One of the phenomena is there is minimal speech, yet post retreats yogis are so full of love and gratitude. I love this process of going within, probably my life’s core value. The staff and teachers are supportive and loving. This is the framework for the student to deliver wise attention to the mind and to heal.
The staff are creating conditions that support the silence. At a well established center the staff is practicing the path. This also contributes to the student’s (yogi’s) liberation. When staff are practicing loving kindness when they prep your food, this makes a differenc!. Dharma service as a whole is about the encouragement of other practitioner’s liberation. I felt supported and nurtured by the teachers and staff. When did my yogi chore in the kitchen I felt so much metta from the kitchen staff!
Staff takes some of the worldly concerns away from yogis, for instance food prep. The removal of these distractions assists the process of looking within.
The retreat experience is helpful in the temporary removal of the hindrances. The removal of the hindrances is a necessary element in the development of samahdi (concentration) practice. As the retreat went on the hindrances were easier to let go and manage, and concentration increased.
The walking meditation room before entering the Mediation Hall! They kept these gorgeous Christian stained glass images of John and Jesus!
Retreats can help us to develop deeper levels of samahdi, levels of insight, or even jhana practices. On retreat, one may have an experience they do not understand, and the teachers can help one to make sense of experience and how to approach experience. Or students may have practice challenges that may not come up at home. These teachers have worked closely with a well established teacher in lineage, sometimes decades to receive guidance on how to practice. If you look at the suttas, the stories are filled with lay people and monastics asking the Buddha and other highly developed practitioners about the nature of their experiences. The Buddha encouraged his monks to go on the rain retreat, a 90 day retreat during monsoon season.
Why did I pick this particular retreat? My Dharma sister Sharon follows the lead teacher for this retreat Narayan Helen Liebensen at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I read Narayan’s book “The Magnanimous Heart” while on a 30 day retreat in the Forest Refuge, adjacent to IMS. I was very fortunate to travel with Sharon to this retreat.
Teachers are benefitting from the donations of others in order to be full time teachers. Here are bios for the four teachers on my retreat:
thttps://www.dharma.org/teacher/narayan-liebenson/
https://www.dharma.org/teacher/devon-hase/
https://www.dharma.org/teacher/yong-oh/
https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/
There are many concepts that we learn as we study Dharma. Retreat experience helps to put it all together, the Dharma becomes alive. The retreat is a support for continuity of practice, the development of samahdi, that is a challenge to develop while at home.
Meditation Hall: Ajahn Chah, Thich Naht Hanh and the Dalai Lama have all taught here!
My practice: I went to retreat with the intention to enjoy this amazing beautiful center at this moment. And to relax and to be kind to self and other . I kept bringing myself to this moment, in this body, in this activity. I was consistently monitoring effort, and adjusting effort based on causes and conditions. I practiced mainly mindfulness of breathing (MOB.) Like Thich Nhat Hanh, I just keep finding breath more and more interesting. I practice MOB with kindness and a half smile to inform samahdi practice. My practice seemed to be consistently filled with joy. I attended to the breath, a very small aperture underneath one nostril, sometimes opening to a larger spatial awareness. Sometimes I practiced “energy body meditation,” as taught by Rob Burbea. I practiced with an easy relaxed attention in daily activity. I had the best continuity of practice of all my retreats.
About Metta to Samahdi. On this retreat each student receives an interview in a group, and an individual interview. I was able to interview with Narayan in group, and Devon individually. In my interview with Devon, I was able to quickly work through some judging patterns I was having. I was very excited to hear about “Metta to Samahdi” techniques to enliven my Metta practice. Devon taught with one of my favorite teachers Rebecca Bradshaw for a month at the Forest Refuge in 2025 on thistopic. I am excited to know I am planning on working in this way at the Forest Refuge in March 2027. I am hoping to bring this technique to LIMG.
Staff have created a lineage pavilion: perhaps you can recognize some of the faces!
The uses of phrases in Lovingkindness. Bhikkhu Anālayo has openly discussed his struggles with the traditional mettā (loving-kindness) phrases, describing how they felt too cerebral, rigid, and disconnected from genuine feeling for years. He is now using imagery to support is lovingkindness practiceII felt validated, for am teaching and practicing in this way. I do think the phrases have tremendous value.
With kindness
Anda Panda