along with the mist
silent retreat october twenty-twenty two monchique * silence to you closer than you morning raindrops on the round black stone in front...
hamid ebadi
- Sep 12
- 2 min
approaching silence
report from a silent retreat serra de monchique summer twenty twenty-two _____________________________ everything falls away arrayed yet...
hamid ebadi
- Sep 1
- 3 min
my death verse
my death verse early to be written too late to be read winds sweep the mountain prairie unfurling waves through wild grass no one came...
domgoodchildtvm
- Aug 17
- 6 min
reinvention through a return to my essence
Following a lot of great personal disappointments in my life and a general sense that my neurotic, ever-anxious, depressed mind was going...
Emily Denny
- Aug 16
- 3 min
alone together in silence
Dreading heading straight into autumn and darkness again after what we in Norway call a “skipped summer”, I desperately searched the net...
Phil
- Jul 22
- 2 min
extraordinary, profound, magical.
The following words can not do justice to what is mostly an experience of the heart for me. I feel like for a week I've vanished from...
hamid ebadi
- Jul 7
- 2 min
the guest of seasons
Our summer retreat in Monchique begins on Sunday and I'm on my way to Portugal to welcome our guests coming from many different lands....
hoolsdelosrios
- Jun 19
- 7 min
so you're thinking about joining this silent retreat.........
This review is really aimed at people who are ‘Umming and Ahing’ as to whether a silent retreat is the right thing for them. I first...
hamid ebadi
- May 30
- 3 min
words of radiance the heart can see
In zen, it is said that a dharma talk is obscure to the mind but radiant to the heart. In Saint-Exupery's 'the Little Prince' we read:...
Leila Worth.
- May 24
- 2 min
is binn béal ina thost (irish saying) - silence is golden
A note from my diary on the retreat: A homecoming. Silence is a homecoming. The first day on the first sit Tears fell down my face I felt...
hamid ebadi
- May 15
- 1 min
stepping into not knowing
karuna center, monchique silent retreat, april 2022 ___________________________ seeker path goal merge into silence and disappear...
hamid ebadi
- May 8
- 2 min
from your heart to my heart
puget-thénier, alpes de haute provence, april 2022 visiting ei-tai ji temple and meeting master ryotan tokuda after a long time. he does...
carlzimmerling
- May 6
- 4 min
seven-day silent retreat in Karuna
I shave my head and pack my suitcase. Tomorrow the retreat in Karuna begins. I hear a pigeon calling: "You see it". There is a saying in...
jmcdekker
- May 3
- 1 min
concentration
A silent retreat is not an isolated event. There is a string of events, internal and external developments which prompt the call for...
georgia morley
- May 2
- 4 min
a reflection from the april 2022 sesshin, monchique
I just finished my 5th retreat and what a profound experience it was. It was so healing. My thoughts were, as I had anticipated, quite...
hamid ebadi
- Apr 17
- 1 min
monchique
sleepless from a mountain hut looking out the window the morning star shimmers alone from the pond ceaseless croaking it is the morning...
hamid ebadi
- Apr 12
- 1 min
mujo
it was april remember standing side by side on the temple terrace the cherry-tree abloom an easterly breeze unpetalling white flowers as...
hamid ebadi
- Mar 21
- 1 min
first words then silence
first words then silence let silence ripen said the master said master who ripening of silence as the mind fasts fasts on words in other...
david217581
- Jan 8
- 19 min
a week of zen & holy silence
Linda & David from Art of Euphoria share an intimate glimpse into their first silent retreat experience, with daily personal input.
hamid ebadi
- Dec 28, 2021
- 2 min
notes from a silent retreat
notes from a silent retreat I early hours waking up in the early hours sitting here with you you unbeknown to me closest though late for...
jvandertoorn
- Dec 18, 2021
- 2 min
just sit and breath
By Jennifer van der Toorn - So, there I sat, Monday morning at 6AM on a meditation cushion in the temple of Karuna Centre in Portugal....
hamid ebadi
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1 min
on the vanity of traveling
after long travels facing black letters on the wall white the wall behind the letters colorless the empty all around reading my way...
hamid ebadi
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1 min
the fly in the bottle
keep telling leo not to get confused zazen and relaxation being two things pourtant les instructions sont simples simple and sparse sit...
hamid ebadi
- Jun 13, 2021
- 1 min
approaching silence
then comes this drop into silence. with the suspension of time, everything is fluid, everything, mountains too, their imperceptable...
hamid ebadi
- May 1, 2021
- 2 min
a radiance hidden in the heart of darkness
sesshin ends. last sit together. sitting with those here. sitting with those who left. with those who never came. with those who couldn’t...
davidwim
- Apr 28, 2021
- 6 min
letting go of your treasure
Zazen makes you look at the stuff you don't want to see, the things you've been hiding from yourself, sometimes in plain sight. This is...
hamid ebadi
- Apr 26, 2021
- 1 min
ephemeral
end of our silent retreat, monchique 23 april 2021 a poem inspired by the dharma talks during the week __________________________________...
hamid ebadi
- Mar 25, 2021
- 2 min
we are being called
We are preparing ourselves for an intensive period of practice where for a week, we will be spending long hours every day sitting in...
hamid ebadi
- Mar 21, 2021
- 2 min
the three jewels
In Buddhism we have the three jewels; the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. They are indissociable from one another and form an...
hamid ebadi
- Mar 6, 2021
- 1 min
a response to life on a rainy friday morning
how i would appear before the world that lifelong concern with mirrors mirrors now broken mostly shimmers on the surface of waters...
hamid ebadi
- Mar 1, 2021
- 1 min
notes from a mountain retreat
the man is keeping silent in his hut oblivious of time being a river ripples moving on the pond reflections of ripples in the air what we...
hamid ebadi
- Feb 14, 2021
- 3 min
in reverence of the unknown
" Comment vivre sans inconnu en face de soi? How can we live without the unknown in front of us? René Char - Le poème pulverisé. " In...
ninamorena806
- Nov 13, 2020
- 2 min
hug your hulk
I swing them violently by the hair from side to side across my head. It's the recurrent dream again. I wake up. Hulk says good morning. I...
hamid ebadi
- Sep 13, 2020
- 2 min
the pathless land of truth
This is what Jiddu Krishnamurti tried to explain from his earliest teachings in 1929 right until the end: " truth is a pathless land. "...
hamid ebadi
- May 12, 2020
- 6 min
in praise of the last horse
When you stumble again, hit the wall again, stray again, disappoint yourself again, fail to learn your lessons again, hit rock bottom...
hamid ebadi
- Apr 12, 2020
- 4 min
the net of indra
An edited version of the first talk in our online zazen sessions: the Net of Indra. Many thanks to Jen for the transcription....
hamid ebadi
- Mar 12, 2020
- 3 min
he who knows does not speak so speak you who do not know
For over ten years now I have found myself being in a teacher's position while realizing being a student is what I feel far more...
hamid ebadi
- Dec 30, 2019
- 2 min
nowhere to go and nothing to become : we just are
ultimately the journey makes us understand that there is no going from here to there and no becoming for us. the journey begins and ends...
hamid ebadi
- Nov 21, 2019
- 4 min
in and out of the stream of unknowing
Reading Meister Eckhart’s sermons we learn that God is not to be found here and is not to be found there, he is not to be found anywhere...
hamid ebadi
- Oct 9, 2019
- 2 min
living without why
asks not whether it is seen: that silent unfolding of the play
hamid ebadi
- Aug 3, 2019
- 2 min
mountain sanctuary
karuna retreat center, serra de monchique, algarve, portugal
hamid ebadi
- Jun 15, 2019
- 2 min
on the don't know mind
here is a poem presented to master ryotan tokuda on my monk ordination day some twenty years ago in france. after a number of years of...
hamid ebadi
- May 11, 2019
- 2 min
we stand in the passage of fires
Endearing words received from our friend Alex from Holand who has no presence on social media. Alex joined us last July at Karuna Center,...
