Flowing Awareness — A Daylong Buddhist Insight Meditation Retreat
Date: Saturday, May 24th, from 10:00am to 4:00pm+ Pacific Time
Location: Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple @ 6401 NE 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97211 — also offered virtually on Zoom
Cost: Gift economy / aka donation
Registration: RSVP required; email me via David AT Pathofsincerity DOT com. Please note if you want to come in-person or virtually.
There will be a daylong retreat every other month; see further below for the schedule & mission statement.
Retreat Overview
The center point of our day together will be a relaxed, wise awareness.
We’ll explore how to be flexible with mindful awareness, shifting from sitting to walking meditation, from listening to a dharma talk to free time during lunch to getting to practice mindful speaking at the end of the day.
Even within sitting meditation, we’ll practice different modes of awareness, like focusing on one thing, allowing the attention to move from object to object, and also just resting in natural, unprompted awareness.
The greater purpose is to liberate awareness from a specific method, and to gain intuitive insight into how one could practically be aware every moment of life. The word “buddha” literally means awake, so in essence we are practicing what it is to be awake, aware, and fully conscious for whatever life brings us.
Meditators of all experience levels and backgrounds are welcome! There are no prerequisites, requirements, or prior experience with this community needed.
Logistics
The meditation portion of the day will go from 10:00am to 4:00pm PT, with a lunch break around 1pm.
The day will feature a couple of short dharma talks, several periods of sitting meditation around 45 minutes long, walking meditation, and time for questions. We will balance direct instruction with plenty of time in silence, as that is the true teacher. Please bring your own lunch.
You are welcome to leave at 4:00pm or stick around for up to another hour for informal socializing, tea, and treats!
Cost
Offered on the gift economy (aka, generosity or donation).
Your presence is the biggest gift, though if you’re able, monetary contributions are always appreciated & help keep the ship afloat. For more info on why I choose to teach entirely on donation, check out this article on “the gift economy.”
Donations can be made in person or electronically via this link.
Bi-Monthly Daylong Retreats – Schedule
- November 22, 2025 – Theme TBD @ Portland Friends of the Dhamma
- September 27, 2025 – Theme TBD @ Portland Friends of the Dhamma
- July 26, 2025 – The Four Elements @ a riverside horse ranch
. - May 24, 2025 – Flowing Awareness @ H.O.W Temple
. - March 29, 2025 – Essential Insight @ H.O.W Temple
- January 25. 2025 – The Power of Silence @ H.O.W Temple
- November 16, 2024 – Courageous Compassion @ H.O.W Temple
- September 7, 2024 – Uprooting Affliction @ H.O.W Temple
- July 27, 2024 – True Nature @ a riverside horse ranch
- May 25, 2024 – Mindfulness of Mind @ H.O.W Temple
- March 30, 2024 – No Self, No Problem @ H.O.W Temple
- January 20, 2024 – The Power of Silence @ virtual
- November 11, 2023 – Embodied Awareness @ H.O.W Temple
- September 2, 2023 – Opening To What Is @H.O.W Temple
Daylong Retreats – Mission Statement
In a world that pulls our attention in so many directions, there is something incredibly powerful about taking a whole day with meditation as our top priority. In that spirit, here are the two primary purposes of these bi-monthly retreats:
- To create the conditions for people to go deeper into the dhamma — into a more robust stability of mind, peace, loving-kindness, and liberating insight.
- To practice the entire Noble Eightfold Path — as the Sangha Service Days focus more on the virtue section of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, these days will focus more on the meditation & wisdom sections. This allows us to make a regular practice of the entire path, and do so not in isolation but with others!
Teacher Bio
David Sudar is a former Buddhist monk, who has completed over 3 years of silent retreats, including an intensive 21-month Vipassana Meditation retreat in Myanmar with his core teacher, Sayadaw U Tejaniya. He currently works as a Buddhist & meditation teacher in Portland, OR. He has taught extensively for the 10% Happier app, Pause Meditation, and the Path of Sincerity Sangha.