Skip to content
38
strongest reasons to practice Home Retreat. In order to liberate the mind from sensual desire, ill will and ignorance, the yogi must examine these states of mind in all aspects of life and not just on the cushion. It is the open-handedness of equanimity that permits the mind to mature and change. 
The tools and skills that are brought to bear when the mind is scattered or uncooperative while meditating are the same as on a formal meditation retreat; we bring the intention and skills we have to aim our minds to the object and try and try again to maintain and sustain the placing of sati onto the object under investigation. What is different on Home Retreat is how much and how often we consciously add a posture of interested non-involved reflective investigation samapajañña. The reliance on sampajañña during Home Retreat whether doing formal meditation or during our everyday activities is equally important.
The more frequently we combine sati with sampajañña, the more we train our minds towards the bull’s eye of the Buddha’s teaching.
Cartoon wheres-the-remote-3
Cartoon wheres-the-remote-3
 
On formal retreat we are provided an environment where the retreat center or the monastery supports a very intense level of sense restraint, and it’s where we are further encouraged as individuals to take sense restraint to ever more subtle levels. On Home Retreat we are also practicing sense restraint, but on a much more active and wide ranging level. After all, the practice of Home Retreat is in the world and as a consequence the continuity of concentration will be different than what is generally available on formal retreat. Investigation and effort are being examined at a different level with different intensities. There is much more reflection, more samapajañña, than on a formal retreat, and as a consequence during formal meditation our minds will often be more active with various kinds of thinking. For most who do Home Retreat, fairly intense mental chatter will be present which, again, will lead to the arising of the hindrances and yogi mind in very big ways. These are some of the strongest reasons to practice Home Retreat. In order to liberate the mind from sensual desire, ill will and ignorance, the yogi must examine these states of mind in all aspects of life and not just on the cushion. It is the open-handedness of equanimity that permits the mind to mature and change. 
The tools and skills that are brought to bear when the mind is scattered or uncooperative while meditating are the same as on a formal meditation retreat; we bring the intention and skills we have to aim our minds to the object and try and try again to maintain and sustain the placing of sati onto the object under investigation. What is different on Home Retreat is how much and how often we consciously add a posture of interested non-involved reflective investigation samapajañña. The reliance on sampajañña during Home Retreat whether doing formal meditation or during our everyday activities is equally important.
The more frequently we combine sati with sampajañña, the more we train our minds towards the bull’s eye of the Buddha’s teaching.

Hindrances (nīvarana): 1. AN 9:64 Nivarana Sutta: Hindrances. 2. The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering, Chapter Four. Bhikkhu Bodhi. 3. In common usage the term hindrance means those mental states that prevent the yogi from concentrating the mind on a continuous basis. Yet, because they are so common to the mind stream they are especially rich objects to bring our non-judgemental sati-sampajañña towards, to observe in order to learn what happens. allan cooper.

Yogi Mind: A contemporary term to mean when during retreat the mind can manifest any/all of the following: obsession, swings of mood, refusing to cooperate, having the hindrances frequently arising, and/or to be under a cloud of confusion. allan cooper.

Abbreviations in footnotes: AN: Aṅguttara Nikāya, DN: Dingha Nikāya, MN: Majjhima Nikāya, SN: Saṃyutta Nikāya

2022 HOUSEHOLDERSVINAYA.COM