Dharma Bum Temple Retreat

In one sense, there’s not a lot to write about regarding this retreat. In some ways it was the simplest of all our DBLP activities: we meditated for four sets of thirty minute sessions with ten minute, silent breaks in between.

On the other hand, when one stays still and silent, many complicated and intricate thoughts and feelings can bubble up. These feelings are very individual and idiosyncratic. Thus, there are as many accounts of this retreat as there were participants. This is one account.

In the time just before the retreat began, the early arrivers expressed apprehension at having to sit so much. This was the first half day retreat for the most of us.

Then we were informed that the retreat was silent, and it had all ready begun! From then on I felt as if I were in a kind of bubble or cocoon of silence. As per usual for the Dharma Bums Temple, meditation was regulated by a series of bell sounds. At this point in the program, we were all pros at sitting quietly at the sound of a bell. Another bell put us downstairs. Though we were permitted to eat, read, or whatever else one can do silently and without disturbing one’s neighbors, I elected to mainly just sit and wait, though I did eat a bit.

During the retreat, I was surprised to find that during the breaks, I actually craved going up to meditate. During the actual meditation, I was not really as concentrated as I wanted to be. I spent a lot of it lost in thought. I also smiled a lot and was in a calm and happy mood. I saw each meditation period as another chance to really get it right that is to stay more faithfully with my breath and not to get lost.

This is a purely subjective experience, and it was based on conditions coming together on one particular day. On a different day, I could imagine the opposite: relief during the break times and an eagerness to fill my mind with more reading and my body with food.

As it was, I did enjoy the breaks. I found that I was noticing my surroundings a great deal more than I had before. I never realized that there were so many details on a simple banana from the spotting of its skin to the irregular lines on the inside. Also, I never realized that there were statues of little men above the kitchen cabinet.

After the fourth retreat, Maggie prepared a delicious meal and healthy meal which we ate while continuing our cone of silence. The happiness I felt while eating, to me, was quite profound. This is because during meals I usually would browse the internet, listen to music, or read while eating. I found that eating was always distracting to my other activities and that I was never satisfied with my meals. Even though I would cram myself with food, I was never full, and I always wished I were eating something different. Here, I had no such wish. Each bite was my whole meal as I never knew when the meal would end. I realized that I didn’t need to stuff myself with food. There would be other times to eat. Since this retreat, I have eaten my meals in silence and focused on eating, and I have continued to benefit.

After the meal, we went lawn bowling. I found this activity to be quite strange after meditation. I wasn’t more focused on the game like I thought I would be. However, I did feel like I needed to do less and to be less. It was enough to feel the soft grass beneath my feet and to watch people roll the ball.

The best part of lawn bowling, though, was watching Jeff enjoy himself. Aside from meditation, I had never seen him so ecstatic about an activity.

After this retreat, I would very much like to do another retreat with the exact same schedule especially Maggie’s cooking and lawn bowling at the end!

Dharma Bum Fred