Green Tara Winter Retreat (2009-10) Archives

How can we identify and label thoughts and feelings in a constructive way? It's important to differentiate between actual feelings and story-making.

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The benefit to doing group retreat is the feeling of being part of a community where keeping the schedule is easier and every person's presence…

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We have to understand what retreat means. We are retreating from dukkha, from suffering, not just isolating ourselves from society.

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It is important to keep good ethical conduct while in retreat. Living according to the five (or even eight) precepts is a good practice during…

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Generating the proper motivation for doing retreat and examining ways to work with the mind, and the afflictions that come up during the course of…

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How do we relate to Tara? We may find it inspiring to view Tara as once an ordinary being like us who became enlightened, so…

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One way we can think of Tara is as the physical manifestation of a Buddha's qualities.

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It's encouraging to think of Tara as the Buddha that we are going to become.

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Tara gives us inspiration while we're meditating during the sadhana. She is a representation of the understandings we're trying to cultivate.

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The seasons change, a vivid example of impermanence. Calling a day the first day of winter is also a reflection on how things are merely…

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It is incorrect to project human qualities on Tara or see her as a theistic god. Instead we view her as the future buddha we…

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A buddha is a manifestation of qualities. We don't want to view Tara, or any Buddha figure, as inherently existent.

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