Welcome to the 9-Day Natural Samadhi Retreat!
Come join us at the Bhaddeka Vihari Buddhist Monastery for a transformative experience. On this retreat, we will explore the Buddha’s teaching on how to develop mental collectedness (Samādhi), by uplifting the mind with love and joy, and relaxing bodily tension caused by mental distractions. This is what the Buddha called wise practice (Right effort). Starting by developing loving kindness meditation and learning to use the vehicle of Calm and Clarity (Samatha-Vipassanā), meditators will deepen in their experience of a happy and composed mind and drink deep the bliss of the higher mind (Adhicitta).
Bhante Ānanda is a Canadian Buddhist monk trained in the teachings and the monastic way of life of early Buddhism. In 2018, after practicing and learning from a vast spectrum of different spiritual practices including Hinduism, Hatha yoga, traditional Native American wisdom, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Vipassanā meditation and much more, Bhante Ānanda discovered the Teachings of Bhante Vimalaramsi.
Highly impressed with his meditation technique and his wisdom, he decided to go forth (Pabbaja) at his center, Dhamma Sukha Meditation Centre (DSMC) in Missouri, and spent a whole summer in the presence of Bhante Vimalaramsi. During his stay at DSMC, he had the opportunity to attend closely on his teacher and to sit on meditators’ interviews by Bhante Vimalaramsi’s side for the whole summer, directly learning from him for several months. At the end of the summer, Bhante Vimalaramsi gave Bhante Ānanda his permission to teach, before he left for Canada. Bhante Ānanda then moved to Canada as a solitary forest monk and founded the HeartDhamma community and the Heartwood Hermitage. https://heartdhamma.love
Since then, Bhante Ānanda has been teaching many meditation retreats around the globe, whether in Canada, Sri Lanka, India and even online. He received higher ordination in Sri Lanka, at a forest monastery near Balangoda. Bhante shares his time between Canada and Asia, helping many in their meditation practice, teaching retreats, studying and translating the suttas from Pāli to contemporary English while dedicatedly attending to his own practice. https://heartdhamma.love/retreats/
