• Ajahn Da is an ordained Thai Forest Monk who has been teaching for decades. He practiced under Thai meditation master Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, and is his senior Dhamma heir. Ajahn Da is currently Abbott of our center in Redding, CT.

• Phra Sutthisart is a Theravada monk and is Abbott of Ashrama Viriyadhamma in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He’s traveling from Thailand to lead this retreat.

• Maechee Ampika is an ordained Buddhist nun at the same monastery, and she’s also traveling from Thailand to lead this retreat. Both Phra Sutthisart and Maechee Ampika have been practicing Mahasati Insight meditation for over 20 years.

• Michael Bresnan will be assisting the monastic teaching team. He’s a licensed psychologist, and has been practicing Mahasati Insight meditation for over 30 years. He is the founder of our MA and CT practice centers.

This retreat is open to all levels of practitioners and is a wonderful opportunity to deepen one’s meditation practice by allowing one to cultivate self-awareness for an extended period of time without distraction. While the retreat will be conducted mainly in silence, there will also be Dharma talks and question and answer periods. As is the tradition with meditation retreats, all attendees will also have a private interview period with the teachers as a further aid to their practice.

For centuries, meditators seeking peace and wisdom have retreated to quiet places in nature to observe their mind and body, and to experience for themselves liberating insights transmitted from generation to generation of Dharma practitioners. Early teachings from the Pali canon explain how the path of meditative development progresses naturally under the right conditions, and subsequent literature from diverse Buddhist traditions convey the freedom and confidence that grows through meditation practice. It is in the spirit of tradition - as well as our own freedom - that we continue to seek refuge and understanding in retreat today.   

In this silent residential retreat, we will be supported by each other (community), the expansive natural beauty and quietude of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, and daily instructional dharma talks which draw upon the spiritual literature of Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen teachings. Through these talks, and instructions in insight meditation, we will gain perspectives on our own life and meditation practice from the hermit poet monks of Japan and China, ancient Tibetan masters, and the elder nuns who authored some of the earliest awakening poems in India. We will also recite the Three Refuges and Five Precepts as an exploration of the virtues of renunciation and kindness, and as a basis for sharing space together as a community (sangha).

All are welcome and encouraged to attend, including beginners and experienced meditators, and those from any Buddhist lineage or spiritual tradition.