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...

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:...

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...

karuna center, monchique silent retreat, april 2022 ___________________________ seeker path goal merge into silence and disappear...

puget-thénier, alpes de haute provence, april 2022 visiting ei-tai ji temple and meeting master ryotan tokuda after a long time. he does...

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...

A silent retreat is not an isolated event. There is a string of events, internal and external developments which prompt the call for...

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...

sleepless from a mountain hut looking out the window the morning star shimmers alone from the pond ceaseless croaking it is the morning...

it was april remember standing side by side on the temple terrace the cherry-tree abloom an easterly breeze unpetalling white flowers as...

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...

Linda & David from Art of Euphoria share an intimate glimpse into their first silent retreat experience, with daily personal input.

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...

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....

after long travels facing black letters on the wall white the wall behind the letters colorless the empty all around reading my way...

keep telling leo not to get confused zazen and relaxation being two things pourtant les instructions sont simples simple and sparse sit...

then comes this drop into silence. with the suspension of time, everything is fluid, everything, mountains too, their imperceptable...

sesshin ends. last sit together. sitting with those here. sitting with those who left. with those who never came. with those who couldn’t...

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...

end of our silent retreat, monchique 23 april 2021 a poem inspired by the dharma talks during the week __________________________________...

We are preparing ourselves for an intensive period of practice where for a week, we will be spending long hours every day sitting in...

In Buddhism we have the three jewels; the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. They are indissociable from one another and form an...

how i would appear before the world that lifelong concern with mirrors mirrors now broken mostly shimmers on the surface of waters...

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...

" 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...

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...

This is what Jiddu Krishnamurti tried to explain from his earliest teachings in 1929 right until the end: " truth is a pathless land. "...

When you stumble again, hit the wall again, stray again, disappoint yourself again, fail to learn your lessons again, hit rock bottom...

An edited version of the first talk in our online zazen sessions: the Net of Indra. Many thanks to Jen for the transcription....

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...

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...

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...

asks not whether it is seen: that silent unfolding of the play

karuna center, serra de monchique, portugal

karuna retreat center, serra de monchique, algarve, portugal

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...

Endearing words received from our friend Alex from Holand who has no presence on social media. Alex joined us last July at Karuna Center,...

the reality behind words unspoken ones mostly crimson sun setting in misty sea wave after wave ash-beds in motion flags fastened to the...

It is with pleasure that I can announce the resumption of our silent meditation and yin yoga retreats at Karuna Center in Algarve,...

It is hard to put into words my experience of the past 6 days silent meditation and yoga retreat. This surprises me as this was my 3rd...

my death poem too early to be written late to be read winds sweep the mountain prairie unfurling waves through wild grass no one came...

second pilgrimage of the year after visiting rumi's shrine in konya, turkey, in september. returning to ei-tai ji temple, in the lower...

I write this as it is approaching three months since I spent six days on a silent meditation retreat in the hills of Monchique, Portugal....

Harking the wind of impermanence howl. Howling for you, howling for me, howling for no one. Of that wind, we could say, it hardly ever...

photo: lorelei loveridge For some reason, I came home from work, cooked dinner, fell asleep, and woke at 1 AM. Meditated after a bit and...

Silence and stillness allow you to reach and settle into your deepest level of experiencing as a human being. Coming back to a place one...

on the anatolian plateau, september 2018 from my travels to where and nowhere . autrement dit the point of the journey is in the travel ....

tombes of jallaludin-e-rumi, his father, son and disicples shrine of jallaludin rumi, konya, september 2018 six months adrift after...

' In this world we walk on the roof of hell gazing at flowers. " Kobayashi Issa (1763 - 1827) This is heaven, call it home. This is...

photo credit Sai Ram Or, the passing of flames itself is the Buddha passing, is Buddha activity, the dharma wheel turning. Friends who...