with Fred Eppsteiner

Description

Question: What truly matters when it comes to our personal happiness or suffering and the happiness and suffering of others?

For those who look deeply – who are drawn to a spiritual path that can help them find inner wellbeing and greater meaning in this short life – it becomes clear that living a life of kindness, compassion and connection with others has the capacity to produce true happiness. Conversely, our societal culture often promotes values of self-centeredness and materialism: Look out for number one; Present the perfect image on social media; The one with the most toys wins.

These societal messages both reinforce the misperception that happiness can be found by aggrandizing our egos – our sense of self – as well as implying that we are not good enough the way we are. We must always be busy making “self” better: wealthier, smarter, better looking, more powerful. These messages can create a vicious cycle of “never enough”, which leads to endless striving, consuming and accumulating for those who base their life on these misguided messages.

How do we exit this unsatisfactory cycle and find true happiness and peace? The Buddha taught that seeing through the myth of a solid, permanent self is the secret to liberation from our suffering. When we are able to deconstruct this myth, we can begin to experience our fundamental oneness and connection with everything and everyone. The natural qualities of our heart and mind – love, compassion and wisdom – can now blossom forth.

The focus of this retreat is to undertake a penetrative look at our pervasive sense of self-identity. Through direct teachings and experiential meditative methods, retreatants will understand the process that led us to create the myth of ‘I, me, my’ from faulty logic and profound misperception of reality. Now, finally we will be able to free ourself from this delusion and enter the world with composure, intelligence and openheartedness by realizing the freedom we seek.

This retreat will include formal periods of sitting and walking meditation, guided meditations, Dharma talks, Q&A sessions with Fred, deep listening periods, and opportunities for solitary introspective practice. As usual, this will be a silent retreat. The silence affords participants the opportunity to deepen their meditative experience while absorbing the experiential meaning of the teachings and practices presented during the retreat.

Logistics

This retreat is being offered in-person only to be of most benefit to participants.

FCM's retreat center in Tampa, Florida provides a beautiful and serene refuge from the noise and business of our everyday lives. Set among our bamboo gardens, walking paths and pond, our center offers comfortable double-occupancy accommodations in our Great Cloud residence hall, nourishing vegan meals and ample indoor and outdoor meditation spaces for personal reflection.

The retreat will begin with orientation at 5:00 pm on Thursday evening, October 12, followed by dinner at 5:45 and the opening session at 7:00. The retreat will end on Monday, October 16 at 1:00 pm. 

The fee for in-person participation is $320 for overnighters and $240 for commuters, with a $50 deposit required to register. The balance of the fee will be due by September 24.

FCM aspires to support the retreat experience for all who are on this path, and thus retreat scholarships are available and encouraged if it would support your participation. Please click here to see FCM ’s Retreat Scholarship Policy and for an application, which needs to be submitted prior to the registration deadline for this retreat. The teachings are offered in the Buddhist tradition of Dana, wherein the teachers freely give of themselves to the students out of gratitude for what they’ve received from their teachers and a desire to be of service. The student’s response is also based on Dana, i.e., generosity that naturally flows from a sense of appreciation of the value of Dharma and gratitude to the living lineage.

The Retreat Coordinator will be sending additional information to registrants closer to the retreat start date, including at-home practice guidelines and Zoom information.

The last day to register for this retreat is September 20.

Retreat Leader

Fred Eppsteiner has been a student of the psychology of Buddhist meditation for over 40 years and was a psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He has trained extensively in the Buddhist meditative traditions the U.S. and Asia. He received permission to teach from Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994 and is the editor of two books: The Path of Compassion and Interbeing.

Questions?

For more information, please contact Angie at parrish26@gmail.com