1:00 – 3:30 p.m ET

About the Retreat

This is the wonderful Seal of the Dharma, the Three Doors of Liberation. If you learn and practice it, you will certainly attain pure knowledge.

– The Buddha

During this mini-retreat, we will study and contemplate the Buddha’s Sutra on The Dharma Seal and The Three Doors to Liberation. The Seals are Emptiness, Signlessness and Aimlessness. According to the Buddha, these three doors are passageways that lead to freedom from suffering. The purpose of this mini-retreat is to encourage practitioners to recognize and embody their own freedom and power – and bring the Buddha’s teaching into their daily life.

This Mini-Retreat Offers:

• An opportunity to study a Buddhist Sutra in community
• An opportunity to deepen your understanding of the Buddha’s teachings
• Instructions on practical applications of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism
• Teachings on Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s advice on postmeditation practice
• An opportunity to engage in meditation from the comfort of your own home or practice space
• Journaling opportunities
• Discussion and Question & Answer periods
• Connecting with other meditation practitioners

Recommended Reading (not required):

Please note: Chaplain Alley will screen share the Buddha’s discourse and share it with attendees on Zoom.

Old Path: White Clouds, The Life Story of the Buddha by Venerable Thich Nhat Hahn

Sutra – Discourse on the Dharma Seal & The Three Doors of Liberation. Plum Village [Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka 104. Related: SA 80]

https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-dharma-seal-the-three-doors-of-liberation

Prerequisites

No prerequisites, although a basic understanding of Buddhism is recommended.

About the Teachers

Alley Smith is a Shambhala Buddhist Minister of Religion (Upadhyaya) Chaplain at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She is currently in-residence at Providence Zen Center and holds precepts in Korean Zen. Alley is a US military war veteran who specializes in spiritual care, mortuary affairs, and teaching Buddhism. She has been a student of Shambhala and Zen since 1999.  [email protected] 

Meli-Tashi Happy is the End-of-Life Coordinator for Seattle Shambhala Center, a death doula, and somatic educator. Her Buddhist path began in 1997 in the Zen tradition, and in 2007 she found the Shambhala teachings. She’s taken Refuge and Bodhisattva Vows, and is a vajrayana student. She helps foster ‘community death care’ education and connections.