Ten of us have just returned from a lovely time at the Wester Caputh Steading Hostel on the Sangha Winter Gathering. Most of the retreat was in silence but we had an hour and a half of Dharma sharing each evening. The sense of communication and brotherhood/sisterhood  was very strong. Gustaf’s cooking was quite exquisite.

The theme was the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Body, Feelings, Mind, Objects of Mind) as presented in the Satipatthana Sutta. We did an establishment each day with a reading form the sutta and also from Thay’s commentaries. We also did some deep relaxation held a formal a ceremony for the deceased.

Karol wrote this poem inspired by the retreat:

If I
just could be
In you
or you in me

my thoughts
wouldn’t have to run after you

and the soul
could stop missing

Everyone was looking forward to doing something similar again next year.