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The Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths

led by Gen-la Chokyi Dhakpa

May 16-18, 2008
Location: (various local communities)
Start time: Friday, 3:30pm
End time: Sunday, approx 1pm


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Full Retreat Cost: $150
Work-Study Donation: $40
(Please pay at signup, non-refundable)

Cost includes a FREE set of the retreat on CD to each attendee!


Please call Dave or Tracy at 303-665-2393,
Or email retreats@summitdharmacenter.org
Or use signup sheets at local classes to sign up!


You can also signup ONLINE using PayPal for donation. Click on the desired 'Donate' button below to continue signup



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Gen-la Chokyi Dhakpa

We can experience these truths, which lie at the heart of the Buddha's teachings, through direct experience. They can be viewed as:
  1. Diagnosis of an illness
  2. Prognosis
  3. Recovery
  4. Medicine to cure the disease
The first 2 truths deal with the way things are; the last 2 point the way to freedom from suffering.
  1. The Noble Truth of Suffering

  2. Besides "suffering," other translations of the Pali word dukkha include unsatisfactoriness, dis-ease, and instability. All these words point to the fact that no conditioned phenomenon can provide true (lasting) happiness in our lives. The first step in a spiritual life is to look very closely and honestly at our experience of life and see that there is suffering. We tend to overlook or ignore or just blindly react to the unpleasant, so it continually haunts us. Yet although physical suffering is a natural aspect of our lives, we can learn to transcend mental suffering.
  3. The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering

  4. Through a lack of understanding of how things truely exist, we create and recreate an independent self entity called "me." The whole of our experience in life can be viewed through this sense of self. In consequence, various cravings govern our actions. Cravings arise for sense experiences, for "being" or "becoming" (e.g. rich, famous, loved, respected, immortal), and to avoid the unpleasant. These cravings are the root cause of suffering.
  5. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

  6. The mind can be purified of all the mental defilements that cause suffering. Nibbana, the ultimate peace, has been compared to the extinction of a three-fold fire of lust, ill-will, and delusion. One who has realised cessation has great purity of heart, ocean-like compassion, and penetrating wisdom.
  7. The Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering

  8. The Way leading to cessation contains a thorough and profound training of body, speech, and mind. Traditionally it's outlined as the Noble Eightfold Path:
    1. Right Understanding
    2. Right Intention
    3. Right Speech
    4. Right Action
    5. Right Livelihood
    6. Right Effort
    7. Right Mindfulness
    8. Right Concentration
This is the culmination of the Satipatthana Sutra that we have been practicing and studying. Your attendance in this retreat is welcomed and there are no prerequisites. We look forward to your presence and sharing this weekend experience together. The retreat will be approximately 1/3 sitting, 2/3 teaching.

This retreat will be done using our satellite center broadcast technology, so local groups will be hosting this retreat in various locations around the world. Please contact Dave Rodenbaugh to find out more about a community near you, or how to host your own retreat gathering!

Tentative Schedule (subject to change before and DURING the retreat):

FridaySaturdaySunday
TimeActivityTimeActivityTimeActivity
3:30pmRetreat Begins7:00amBreakfast7:00amBreakfast
4-6pmFirst Session/Meditation8-10amFirst Session/Meditation8-10amFirst Session/Meditation
6-7pmDinner10-11amTea Break10-11amTea Break
7-9pmSecond Session/Meditation11a-1pSecond Session/Meditation11a-1pSecond Session/Meditation
  1-2pmLunch1pmRetreat Ends
  2-4pmBreak  
  4-6pmThird Session/Meditation  
  6-7pmDinner  
  7-9pmFourth Session/Meditation  



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