Amala offers two guided meditations intended to accompany you in practicing outdoors in nature. 

These were recorded as part of the On Two Wings: Holding Love and Concern for the Earth retreat, April 2021.

Holding both great love and great concern is a path that can lead us to wisdom and to joy. We can strengthen these two wings with awareness in nature. Nature is always with us, just as the Buddha and the possibility of awakening are always with us.  

This spring retreat, coinciding with Earth Day, continues our series on Dharmic responses to environmental crises. We will cultivate our depth of heart to experience upekkha, or the Brahmavihara of equanimity. We will also practice two joys: the joy of our experience in connection to nature and the joy of liberation that comes with honest awareness of reality. 

Our online retreat will include Brahmavihara meditations tailored to our experience of nature; a panel and group conversation on the joy of facing nature, even in its distress; a break for getting outdoors guided through recordings to take with you; and resources on ways to practice and learn and explore the nature/Dharma connection further.

Schedule: (all times ET)

Friday April 23, 7-8:30pm:  Intro to the theme and to each other, and ritual practice

Saturday April 24, 10am-3pm (including a long break for personal practice)

Sunday April 25, 10am-3pm (including a long break for personal practice)

Our retreat is inspired by the poem, Birdwings, by Rumi (translated version by Coleman Barks)

Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror

up to where you’re bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,

here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.

If it were always a fist or always stretched open,

you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence

is in every small contracting and expanding,

the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated

as birdwings.

The retreat team: 

Gunopeta has been for 40 years a homesteader, poet, and conservationist in Downeast Maine, where he continues to explore connections between environmental awareness and Buddhist practice.

Amala, co-chair of Aryaloka, has been delving into the ecological history of New England, American views about Nature, and training in permaculture and the Dharma path of joy in the face of it all. 

Viriyalila is an artist who enthusiastically applies creativity in her Dharma pursuits. She is passionate about learning how to be a better human in an ever-changing world.

Sravaniya is a musician, dharma-farer and teacher with a wide spectrum of interests. Sravaniya’s energies lie in the simple pursuit of trying to create a more beautiful and sustainable world for all living beings. 

Shraddhavani is a lifelong student of change (i.e., a historian) and a relative newcomer to the Dharma, tries to live and exemplify the wisdom in the adage “better late than never.”

Aryaloka continues to run all events online and by donation – your generosity is making it possible for Aryaloka to stay afloat while we wait for regular programming to resume. Please give what you can, though if you can’t afford to make a donation, do let us know and we’ll sign you up for free. If you’d prefer not to book online you may email info@aryaloka.org to make other arrangements. You’ll receive a Zoom link a few days before the retreat.

https://www.aryaloka.org/calendarevent/on-two-wings-holding-love-and-concern-for-the-earth/

This online retreat offers an in-depth opportunity to cultivate a Dharmic view of the linked environmental crises currently facing all living beings – in the air, in the sea and on the earth.

•We will explore relevant Buddhist teachings and their implications for our lives today.

•We will meditate and reflect together on our actions and our options, creating a safe space for turning towards the reality of the situation and the emotions that arise.

•We will approach the topic through the arts, with music and experimental online theater.

Come be a part of the community of friends that will form on this retreat and face this urgent challenge together, in the spirit of the Dharma.

Registration Link

Online Zoom sessions are as follows (all times EST):

November 20 - Friday 7pm-8:30pm

November 21 - Saturday 10am-1pm

November 22 - Sunday 10am–1pm

Facilitated by members of the Triratna Buddhist Order: Amala, Gunopeta, Saddhavasini, Shraddhavani, Sravaniya, Viriyalila.

Aryaloka continues to run all events online and by donation – your generosity is making it possible for Aryaloka to stay afloat while we wait for regular programming to resume. Please give what you can, though if you can’t afford to make a donation, do let us know and we’ll sign you up for free. If you’d prefer not to book through Eventbrite you may email info@aryaloka.org to make other arrangements. You’ll receive a Zoom link a few days before the retreat.

Photo by Andy Chilton