Patrick Kearney
Patrick Kearney has practised mindfulness meditation (satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā) since 1977. At that time there was little or no Buddhist meditation training available in Australia, so he spent years travelling in Asia and the USA working with teachers from different Buddhist traditions to learn the craft of meditation practice. Most of his training has been in the insight meditation lineage of Mahāsī Sayādaw of Burma, which included several years as a Buddhist monk. His main teachers were Sayādaw U Paṇḍita and John Hale. He has also trained in the Diamond Sangha lineage of Zen where his teachers have been Robert Aitken Rōshi and Paul Maloney Rōshi.
Patrick has been a full-time teacher of mindfulness meditation for a quarter of a century. He conducts residential and online retreats, workshops and seminars. He has studied early Buddhism at post-graduate levels and has a particular interest in the original teachings of the Buddha, before the invention of “Buddhism.” This allows him to bring the radical insights of the Buddha to our contemporary situation. He sees meditation as a physical practice that reconnects us with the felt world of our senses, allowing us to live our lives directly rather than through the cling-wrap of our habitual thinking.
For further details see his website.
Events with Patrick Kearney
The Middle Way - Two week retreatSeptember 12 - 26, 2026
In his first formal discourse the Buddha introduced the middle way as the central theme of his teaching. How is this to be understood? The middle way is not mere moderation, but the dynamic recognition that there is no fixed position in our experience, no where we can land and cling to. This teaching points to both freedom from clinging and our opening to universal love and compassion. These are the themes we will explore in our retreat.
Remembering Awareness - Nine-day retreatNovember 6 - 15, 2026
Our practice is based on mindfulness, which emerges from the continuity of awareness. How can we maintain continuous awareness? By remembering that we are already aware. We do not need to generate awareness. When we “try” to be aware, our effort is based on our desire to be someone different, to have something different. But if awareness is already available, then what is there to try for? When we stop trying and allow ourselves to recognise what is already here, the continuity of awareness naturally emerges.
Deep Practice RetreatNovember 19 - December 3, 2026
This retreat will be jointly led by Malcolm McClintock and Patrick Kearney. It is designed for experienced practitioners who are independent in their practice. A community of practice will be formed where shared practice will replace the normal structure of workshops, dharma talks and scheduled interviews. Practicing together with Malcolm and Patrick, the community will meet each evening to share daily experiences, just as the students of the Buddha did in the earliest days of the dharma. Malcolm and Patrick will be available for individual consultation when practitioners request it. The retreat is open to yogis who have completed at…
Deepening Practice 28-Day RetreatJanuary 29 - February 26, 2027
This retreat is open to people who have done at least three insight meditation retreats in the Mahasi tradition of nine days longer. This retreat is for experienced practitioners who want to deepen their practice and understanding. The first two weeks, taught with Robyn Gibson, focuses on building the serenity (samatha) necessary to support insight. The second two weeks, taught with Emma Pittaway, focuses on cultivating insight (vipassanā). These two qualities – serenity and insight – together bring the heart/mind to ripening.
The Way of Direct Experience - Two week retreatSeptember 11 - 25, 2027
We are sentient beings, intimately interwoven with the suchness of life, and yet, all too often, we find ourselves living in a world of thought, ideas, and concepts, mistaking them for reality. When the Buddha taught, he did not ask us to believe, but to practice — to cultivate awareness and to know for ourselves. When we choose intimacy with experience, the dharma illuminates itself, not as concept but as something directly lived and recognised. This is what we will explore together during this retreat, weaving our way between stillness and movement, practice workshops and dharma talks. The retreat is…
Remembering Awareness - Nine-day retreatNovember 5 - 14, 2027
Our practice is based on mindfulness, which emerges from the continuity of awareness. How can we maintain continuous awareness? By remembering that we are already aware. We do not need to generate awareness. When we “try” to be aware, our effort is based on our desire to be someone different, to have something different. But if awareness is already available, then what is there to try for? When we stop trying and allow ourselves to recognise what is already here, the continuity of awareness naturally emerges.