The Silent Retreats

The silent 5-day retreats are held on a beautiful hill-top property outside Bancroft (about 3 hrs from downtown Toronto).

Perched on top of a cliff, the Worst Horse Zendo accommodates up to 18 sitters, amid 60 acres of rolling rocky bush.

Accommodations are off-the-grid and quite spartan, with tenting optional.  This grants sweet intimacy with the moods of Mother Nature, perfect for the cultivation of our natural ‘big mind’ consciousness.

Silence is observed throughout the retreat, except for a couple of talks each day, and participants are encouraged to find their own rhythm of stillness and activity throughout the 24 hours.

The practice is the ‘natural’ full immersion approach of zazen sitting, but on the third and fourth evening this is combined with heart transmission (as described here).  This makes for a quite different overall experience than the typical Buddhist retreat experience, and why we describe these as silent meditation/heart transmission retreats.

Most participants in this heart-process would probably agree with the age-old insight that this is the deepest work and that it is in the deep silence – when words have gone away – that the greatest illumination occurs.

Costs are kept to a minimum, which allows us to offer this for $340 all included.

Retreats run from Thursday afternoon until Tuesday at noon. Arrive by 3 pm on the first day.

The next retreat: November 23rd – 28th, 2023

The next one after that: December 27th, 2023 – Jan 1st, 2024

And then: February 1st – 6th, 2024

And after that: March 14th – 19th. 2024

 
If you are interested in attending please click here.