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Hamster Wheel or Heaven? The Wheel of Dependent Origination
October 18 - October 20
Hamster Wheel or Heaven? The Wheel of Dependent Origination
Online or In-Person | Oct 18-20 2024What makes you “you”? How does everything “you” perceive arise? Why does this matter? Together we’ll study a powerful map of consciousness: the wheel of dependent origination. This is a foundational philosophical doctrine shared by all schools of Buddhism, recommended for students of all levels. It directly correlates to suffering, and how to become free, wise, and compassionate.
Hamster Wheel or Heaven? The Wheel of Dependent Origination
Ask yourself—what makes up a human? The 12 elements of the wheel of dependent origination teach us to look at the basic building blocks of the human being. The result of this understanding? Suffering goes down. Wisdom and compassion go up. This is the power of what it is to know thyself – the heart of inter-being.
All schools of Buddhism share this fundamental teaching of the wheel. It is a highly recommended foundational perspective that has deep repercussions on how you see and experience your life, the body-mind continuum, and the world around you.
The focus of Buddhadharma is to become free of being subject to suffering. There is necessary suffering (sickness, old age, diseases, joint pain, babies—that which is part and parcel of living), and unnecessary suffering (our personal dramas, relationship pains, self-image). If you look at the nature of suffering, you see how nature pushes itself forward because of suffering. The purpose of the wheel of dependent origination is to help us ask, “What is necessary, and what isn’t?”
In your life, what is necessary, and what isn’t?
This is course for you if:
- You’d like deeper foundational understanding of core Buddhist philosophy.
- You want to learn a 2000 year old science of consciousness
- You’d like to deepen your spiritual understanding in modern language and practical applications, with a wisdom teacher in the Namgyal lineage.
- You want greater ability to apply your meditation insights in your daily life.
- You want inspiration and motivation to change your life according to what is possible through conscious awareness.
Other Resources
- Tricycle’s Buddhism for Beginners: What is Dependent Origination?
- Barre Center for Buddhist Studies: An in-depth article on Dependent Origination by Christina Feldman.
Meet the Teachers
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei is a contemporary Dharma teacher, attendant, consort, co-teacher via Planet Dharma and co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center.
She has trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan since 1998 in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. She received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine also draws on generative living and the arts.
What's Expected of Me?
- An open mind and heart, and a spirit of adventure are excellent things to bring!
- It’s human to have some apprehensions about doing something new, meeting new people, or going to a new place—particularly when all three happen together. We try to make this as supportive as possible.
- When exploring our growth edges, it’s natural to feel uncertain and awkward. And it’s very fruitful to transform that emotional tension into creative energy by drawing on your own inner resources—such as inquiry, going with the flow, and self-reflection, just a few of the many kinds of constructive engagement.
- To maximize your retreat experience, we ask that you refrain from reading, using the internet, phone or listening to music during the course.
- Students are expected to be silent during the silent parts of the retreat, and participate in all classes, group meditations, activities, and discussions.
- We ask that you refrain from microdosing or consuming mind-altering substances before or during this retreat and in the days immediately following it.
The Location – Clear Sky Center
- Located in the BC rocky mountains, Clear Sky offers over 300-acres to deepen your practice and reconnect with nature. Founded by Qapel (Achariya Doug Duncan) and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, the center is home to students from around the globe who are dedicated to co-creating a supportive and innovative space for awakening in our modern world.
- How to get there, what to bring and other FAQ about Clear Sky
Course Details
Location
This weekend retreat will be led by Catherine Pawasarat Sensei at Clear Sky Meditation Center in Eastern BC. This course is offered in-person, with an online option for people outside of the local area.
Schedule / Class Times:
For onsite retreatants, please arrive starting 3pm, in good time for the 5pm orientation.
- Fri Oct 18th: Orientation 5 pm
- Fri Oct 18th: Evening class 7 pm
- Sat Oct 19th: Classes/or sits with Sensei: 8 am, 2 pm, 7 pm
- Sun Oct 20th: Classes/or sits with Sensei: 8 am, 2 pm
- Sun Oct 20th: Formal end of retreat 5 pm.
Classes will be 60-90 mins in duration (Mountain Time).
Please ensure you are available for the whole weekend to focus on the course material and attend classes live.
Online participants are expected to attend classes live. We will arrange class times to be comfortable for most time zones. However we understand that some class times might occur after midnight in some regions, if this is the case for you, please let us know when you register. Then we can provide a recording so you can catch up on that particular class.
What Does the Course Cost?
In-Person Participants: 1) dāna to the Teacher plus 2) accomodation and meal costs for your stay Clear Sky Meditation Centre.
Online Participants: 1) dāna to the Teacher 2) online administration fee of $150 CAD.
Keen practitioner pricing: 10% savings on all fees available until September 13th, 2024.
Important: The last day to register is one week prior to the retreat start date. Please register early.
You may have come across this elsewhere in the form of “pay from the heart”. Dāna is a Sanskrit term meaning “generosity”. With dāna, we give as a mutual exchange of generosity. It’s our joy to offer this course, and we trust you’ll match our time, energy, and passion by giving an amount of money that feels good and healthy to both you and us.
The dharma has been built on generosity. No-one is excluded for lack of funds and it is also extremely beneficial to give as much as you are able.
Typically people give in a range of $120-$500 USD for a course.
As we’re committed to ensuring everyone has access to the Dharma, please feel comfortable to give less if you are not financially secure. Another form of giving dāna is to offer service, and if you are interested in providing support in a non-financial way, we invite you to contact us.
Conversely, if you are financially secure, we invite you to generate merit by providing more financial support to the Triple Gem. Contributions like these make the difference in supporting our teachers, teachings, and center.
We’re delighted to share that we created a short online course so that you can learn more about the practice of dāna here.
In a traditional model of in-person teachings, a retreat center or urban meditation center invites teachers to visit. In these cases the centers have infrastructure and organization costs to cover, which might be covered by an admin fee. For the teaching itself, dāna to the teachers is offered in a bowl. This honors both the sustainability of the teachers, and of the supporting center.
We’ve tried to recreate this approach online. The teachers’ time and the teaching themselves are offered on the basis of dāna, separate to the admin fee. With our dāna offering we are making a direct gift of generosity to the teachers to support their teachings and livelihood.
The admin fee* goes to support the infrastructure and organization necessary to support them to teach. As anyone with an online business will know, it can be surprising the costs of setting up a good infrastructure to support effective teaching and connection online. The admin fee changes based on date of registration.
*We also do not wish to exclude anyone from the Teachings, so if you are not currently in a financial position to afford the admin fee, please contact the course Registrar via [email protected] so we can support you to attend.
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Below are a few of the work and benefits that your admin fee payment is supporting:
- high speed internet (to allow interviews and classes on-line)
- online class systems (Zoom)
- registration / admin systems (Eventbrite, Basecamp)
- communication systems to keep everyone informed, share connection details, teachings and other resources (Mailchimp)
- online storage (for example, Dropbox, to allow us to let students watch recordings, and to store and share selected teachings in other forms such as podcasts and video later, and Amazon cloud)
- quality sound, video and editing equipment (both for live teachings and to provide good enough quality for later sharing as podcasts and video). We are regularly updating our equipment to improve your user experience.
- online calendar booking system to allow students to book interviews
- website hosting and maintenance for sharing upcoming courses, teachings, blogs and other resources.
We welcome any questions. May all our efforts be sustainable, abundant and for the benefit of all beings!
We work hard to support the online learning experience.
- We have been delivering online offerings since 2012 and are always looking for new ways to optimize your experience.
- Classes are live-streamed and some recordings are available for a certain time.
- HD cameras and professional audio equipment provide high quality video streaming.
Questions?
If you have questions about the retreat, please contact the Clear Sky Retreat Manager at 250-429-3929 (phone) or at [email protected] (email).
Registration
Important: Please register early so the Teacher and our team of karma yogis can plan for the retreat. The last day to register is one week prior to the retreat start date.
Why Retreat In-Person?
Retreating in person at a retreat center is the best way to retreat – why?
- You can’t beat live interaction with the course Teachers. Being in the same space with clear beings ‘tunes’ you to more wholesome states.
- We create a welcoming environment and follow a supportive retreat schedule, based on decades of hosting successful retreats worldwide.
- Wholesome and delicious food is provided so you don’t have to spend time cooking for yourself.
- Breath-taking and restful, natural environment puts your body and mind at ease and resets your nervous system.
- Retreating at our center gets you out of your usual home environment and routines – they can be distracting.
- Retreating with others (your co-retreatants) is incredibly supportive and energy building.
What Do Previous Retreatants Say?
