Vedanā, or feeling, plays an important role in the Buddha’s understanding of how suffering comes to be. Vedanā refers not to the Western concept of emotion, which can be a complex and multilayered construct, but more simply to the pleasant, unpleasant, or neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant quality of what we perceive through the sense doors of the body and mind. The Buddha saw that the craving and clinging that leads to suffering is the mind’s automatic response to the pleasant or unpleasant nature of what we are encountering in the field of our awareness. He saw that breaking the link between feeling and our kneejerk reaction to it was key to breaking free from suffering. For this reason, he declared feeling to be one of the four key categories of experience that a practitioner should attend to as described in the Satipatthana Sutta (Four Foundations of Mindfulness).
In this retreat, we will discuss in more detail feeling’s role in causing us to become stuck in suffering, and we will experientially explore how bringing mindfulness and clear awareness to the changing feeling tones that accompany our perceptions can help us become unstuck.
This short retreat is open to both beginners and experienced meditators. While it will be conducted mainly in silence, there will be brief instructions in vipassana meditation, a Dhamma talk, and a discussion period at the end.
WIMC currently offers retreats once per month. We recommend and encourage participation in these monthly programs—the extended practice period, two-hours longer than our weekly classes, supports the mind in becoming stable and thus insight can arise more naturally.