www.loversoftruth.net
Zen and the Art of Inquiry, an annual Enlightenment Intensive,with Pitaka 20223 is now open for registration. It will be scheduled soon, in-person at Commonweal, Bolinas, Calif. or online as COVID conditions allow.
An optional fourth-day of life-alignment through creative expression is included at no extra cost. This support for bringing our deepest experiences into daily life is optional and free.
If necessary, this intensive will be sustained for seekers around the world safely, using Zoom. There will be support offered via private Zoom meetings for preparation during the weeks before the intensive and follow up meetings with Pitaka will be provided free of charge.
We may offer a combination of Zoom and In-person format in 2023 for participants who would otherwise need to take a flight to our location.
Local Californians who can drive are more able to travel by car and keep careful COVID precautions. Testing on arrival is required.
We look forward to a future time when it becomes safe to hold this intensive again at Point Reyes nature reserve. For now safety for all who need to travel far must be protected.
Use the registration link on this page to apply for the online 2022 intensive now by filling out the application or email [email protected] to learn more. Space is now unlimited and we have a skilled staff managing it on Zoom.
No teaching of any belief system is an important feature of the enlightenment intensive. Instead, you will be supported to learn how to inquire using core Koans, so you can authentically, as the Buddha recommended, "find out yourself."
No belief is required.
No religion is required.
All faiths are welcome.
Visit the registration page to apply.
Your guide Pitaka is no stranger to life's challenges and has many years of experience with Zen and other meditation practices.
During Pitaka's Zen monastic life, before receiving priest ordination, Pitaka attended many one day to three month long meditation retreats and sesshins with both Soto and Rinzai Zen teachers as well as Tibetan Buddhist and Vipassana practice leaders.
Prior to entering residential Zen practice Pitaka spent time with teachers of Advaita Vedanta, Native American shamans, and Sufi and Christian mystics. This broad view helps assure that all seekers are supported when responding to questions.
About The Enlightenment Intensive purpose, theme and process... a note from Pitaka...
Attending the Enlightenment Intensive is a choice each individual participant makes, to learn how to inquire, to participate in focused inquiry for three days and nights, within a structured schedule of activities. This structure is essential for the best outcome for all participants in just three days and nights. We do this together in order to authentically discover Reality... ultimately, what is always so? What is this called self, life, another?
It is essential to understand the main idea when entering the intensive... No belief is required to encounter Reality. Sometime during the weekend you may notice many previously held ideas, concepts and established beliefs arising for re-examination, dissolving, giving you space for direct experience of what is unknown. Whatever we think may be so, we must, in the words of the Buddha, "find out for ourselves."
Inquiry requires full attention, is not knowing, questioning, wondering, like a child wonders, truly being open. This is the spirit of true inquiry, the foundation of the intensive. Setting aside other interests and intentions, focusing as guided, and just for awhile not filling the space with our knowing.
The Enlightenment Intensive does not require any previous experience of meditation. There are guidelines for the support of all present, such as no intoxicants, following the schedule of activities including silent periods, and non-interference with others during the intensive. Our commitment is also to arrive on time and stay with the group for three days and nights through the closing.
To sign up now, apply on the intensive registration page. It's easy to simply fill in the form, then click submit at the bottom or copy and email it. When your application is confirmed you can pay using the Paypal link or email request to use Venmo. Full payment is required to reserve your space.
"This journey of transformation begins when we say yes. Now is the only time we can experience Reality or Truth directly. I hope you will join us." Pitaka
