Support Winter Meditation Retreat

Hello dear reader,

My name is Julian, I am 25 years old and I will be starting a three month meditation retreat from November 2024 onwards lasting until the beginning of February 2025.

During this retreat I will be staying at The Hermitage, a Buddhist retreat centre in beautiful North Wales (https://buddhisthermitage.wales). I will be focussing on:

1. Meditation as taught in the Mahamudra tradition;

2. Prayer;

3. Reiki:

4. Pali and Sanskrit study.

Although daily living costs including travel expenses will not exceed £22/day, multiplied by +-90 days that still amounts to a significant amount of money. In addition to this, after the retreat it would feel most aligned to have some time to start to integrate what I've learned/received during the retreat. That is why the requested amount exceeds 90x£22.

Meditation and prayer have significantly changed my life over the last 5 years. Ever since I started I've wanted to do retreats and I've been fortunate to be able to go on about a dozen week-long solitary retreats while I was still at university studying philosophy. To me, these week-long retreats always felt like moments to rest, reflect and allow creativity and inspiration to flow in whichever way they wanted to. It is because these retreats were enriching in so many ways that I felt a longing to go on a longer retreat. I think and feel something profound, meaningful and intimitate can be revealed about what it means to 'be' (human, alive, present...) when there is enough room for that innate clarity to come to the foreground of our immediate experience. It is because of the intuited significance of this 'revelatory' character of experience that I feel it is worthwile to offer 'It' more space, more attention, more receptivity and more silence.

In Buddhist understanding both patrons and retreatants play necessary and irreducible roles in bringing Dharma, Living Truth/Truthful Living, into this world. Therefore, according to this understanding, one's contributions are not only contributions towards supporting another person, but are also contributions towards strengthening one's connection to one's own Dharma and the presence of the Dharma in our World in general. Therefore, dear and kind contributors, I invite your generosity into this Winter Retreat. May it be to our shared benefit and the benefit of all beings in general. Whatever amount feels right to you, is the right amount and with that said...

May you be well and may all be auspicious.

With warmth and gratitude,

Julian