RESIDENTIAL RETREATS

Meditation practice is an essential activity for every Buddhist. When we enter into a retreat of any length, we enter a sanctuary, a physical and mental refuge in which we can disengage from the activities that distract us from our goal of liberation. Retreat provides favorable conditions for our inner practice, which directly affects the realization of our limitless potential, and the resultant benefit to beings

Personal Practice Retreat with the Lamas

A five-day Personal Practice Residential Retreat is held annually at Buckhorn Springs, Ashland, in May. These retreats are an opportunity to deepen personal practice with individual guidance from the resident Lamas. They include periods of silence, periods of personal practice and meditation, group meditations, and teachings by the Lamas. This retreat fills quickly, and is announced to those on our mailing list, as well as being posted on our homepage of the website, which lists current events.

Retreat Cabins in the Greensprings offered to the KSC Sangha

Two rustic clean, green, and comfortable cabins in the Greensprings area 45 minutes East of Ashland are offered for self-serve meditation retreats free of charge.

They are on private land in a beautiful, safe, secluded forest and mountain setting at 4,000 ft. within the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. There are marked trails and a creek running through the property as well as an abundance of wildlife and birds.

The cabins are furnished including good beds, refrigerator/freezer, running cold water, wood stoves and propane heaters, lights and stoves with basic kitchen ware. Wood and linens provided. A personal SOS device is in each cabin to take on the trails.

Guests will provide their own food. There is no electricity in the cabins. An outhouse is shared, as well as a propane heated bath house with big tub and sauna.

We close down for fire season in the summer, typically mid-July through mid-September but exact timing varies.

For more information please contact:
Libba Coker at libbac8@gmail.com
or Scott Spangler, property manager, at spangler83@yahoo.com 

NON-RESIDENTIAL RETREATS

Non-residential retreats are held at KSC throughout the year, and are led by either our resident lamas, or a guest teacher. These are 1-2 day teaching immersives, held on a weekend in our sanctuary. Typically, there is a two hour morning session, a mid-day break, and then a two hour afternoon session. Topics vary, and are announced in advance of the retreat. 

Dharma retreat advise

Create your own dharma retreat. Please read on for information from Lama Yeshe:

The word retreat comes from the military world – meaning to step back, to withdraw from the border of one’s territory, to retire for a period of time. A dharma retreat may have a similar connotation, in that we may be pulling back from the borders of our life for a little while. Hopefully, we are not feeling under attack, but of course that analogy may feel completely fitting. We may NEED to take time for retreat because our lives may feel so out of balance.

For a dharma retreat, we choose to take space, to make space, to focus on non-worldly activities of studying the dharma and practicing meditation. Temporarily – for an hour, a few hours, a day, a weekend or longer – we drop all responsibilities. We put away all distractions, including ideally taking a media fast during this time. We  pare down to the basic rhythms of sustaining life. We ask the world to wait.

Important elements to provide for your retreat.

·         Have a schedule to start with, something to give direction to your time. (You can confer with the lamas to learn about recommended schedules if you have not done retreat before.)

o   Place meditation sessions at the times of day you will be most alert.

o   Build in dharma reading or study as an alternative to meditating.

o   Adjust your schedule if needed, based on how you feel and what you learn about yourself during the retreat period.

·         Select good dharma reading or study to have available during your retreat.

·         Have nourishing food on hand. Take joy in its preparation.

·         Build in exercise of some kind – yoga, stretching, walks (with little talking to others if possible).

·         Build is rest periods. You know your body’s needs, so sleep in if that’s best for you, or take a rest after lunch if that will help you be alert in the afternoon. Be sure to get plenty of sleep, as retreat usually reveals how tired we are.

·         If possible, perform some kind of service or contribution wherever you are doing retreat. In the Zen tradition, they recommend Chop wood, carry water. It can be any activity, so at a very minimum, take good care of the space you are inhabiting. (Practice washing dishes and sweeping floors with mindfulness.)

May your retreat hours or days bring new awarenesses, and a strong sense that you are supporting your own dharma journey.

Lama Yeshe