The practice of insight meditation (vipassana bhavana) is something many meditators in the west take for granted. It is easy to forget or overlook just how revolutionary the modern form of practice developed by the late Mahasi Sayadaw has been, and the importance of the Mahasi lineage in the propagation of Insight practice among lay people. In this live Dhamma Talk, Patrick will explore the history of Insight in the Mahasi lineage, from its early origins in the 19th century to the current day. There is no charge to join, but any donations to Patrick are greatly appreciated.

In the modern Burmese insight movement students are trained in classical insight meditation (vipassanā bhāvanā). They attain a level of understanding (ñāṇa) and return to their normal lives. If the students are Burmese Buddhists, they enter the meditation centre from a deep intuitive understanding of their own tradition and return to this tradition, where they can now make sense of what happened to them inside the centre. But what about students from outside the world of Theravāda Buddhism? How can they make sense of a practice designed for faithful Theravāda Buddhists? In this talk we will take this question as…

Nine Day Retreat In this retreat we will practise mindfulness and explore its application to the discovery of insight. For the Buddha, “insight” means seeing into the three universal characteristics of impermanence or change (anicca), pain or dis-ease (dukkha) and not-self (anattā). These characteristics reveal a world entirely different from the one we have taken for granted as “real” or “normal.” In this new world, we discover what the Buddha calls Dharma, the way life actually flows, and learn to live flourishing lives that benefit both us and those around us.