Noble Mind, Fearless Heart
A Madison Vipassana Meditation Retreat with
Ayyā Medhānandī and Ayyā Anuruddhā
In-person only at St. Anthony Spirituality Center, Marathon, WI
October 13–19, 2024
We are thrilled to announce that Ayyā Medhānandī will return to Wisconsin this October to lead our fall retreat, accompanied by Ayyā Anuruddhā. Ayyā Medhanandi is the founder and guiding teacher of Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage, a training monastery for bhikkhunīs in Perth, Canada. Ayyā Anuruddhā has been a resident member of the Sati Sārāņīya community since 2014.
This retreat will be held in person at St. Anthony Spirituality Center. St. Anthony’s is located in Marathon, Wisconsin, just west of Wausau. Situated on 40 wooded acres along the Big Rib River, it offers quiet, seclusion, and lovely walking trails.
RETREAT DESCRIPTION
The theme of this retreat will be “Noble Mind, Fearless Heart.” The retreat will offer us time to further our discipleship in nobility — to develop the path to awakening by growing in peace, kindness, wisdom, and compassion. Fearless in the good, we learn to forgive, purify the heart, and heal. This is our birthright. The heart is our monastery, and skillful living, our core practice.
During this retreat, we will practice as we would if we were visiting a Theravāda monastery. We will begin and end the day with chanting and follow the Eight Precepts (see below). As part of this commitment, we will observe noble silence continually during the entire retreat, disconnect from electronic or other outside communications, and abstain from eating after midday. Our daily practice will include sitting and walking meditation and Dhamma talks and teachings.
Please note: Incense and candles will be used during the morning and evening chanting periods.
Attendance at this retreat is intended for those who practice meditation daily or almost daily and have attended at least one three-day residential retreat. If you have questions about this retreat or how it might differ from other meditation retreats, feel free to contact info@madisonmeditation.org.
If you’d like an introduction to Ayyā Medhānandī’s teaching, you have much to choose from. She is the author of the book Going Forth, Going Beyond, and she has hundreds of talks on the Sati Sārāņīya and Dharma Seed websites. Here’s an initial selection:
· When You Get Close to the Sun
· The Power of Loving-Kindness
THE EIGHT PRECEPTS
In registering for this retreat, you are agreeing that you understand and will abide by the following training precepts during the retreat:
1. Refraining from intentionally killing or harming any living creature
2. Refraining from taking that which is not given
3. Refraining from any intentional sexual activity
4. Refraining from false or harmful speech (in the context of this retreat, this means keeping noble silence)
5. Refraining from consuming intoxicating drink and drugs which lead to carelessness
Please note: This does not apply to drugs that are medically required. Please continue to take any prescription or over-the-counter medications you normally take.
6. Refraining from eating at inappropriate times (specifically, from 1:00 pm until dawn the next day)
7. Refraining from entertainment, beautification, and adornment (not indulging in entertainment or adorning the body with jewelry, makeup, or other things that draw the attention of others or distract from turning inward)
8. Refraining from lying on a high or luxurious sleeping place (not overly indulging in sleep or using sleep as a means of distraction)
COST
Registration fees are on a sliding-scale basis. The sliding scale goes from 50% to 150% of actual costs, and within this range, you’re invited to offer the amount that best suits your circumstances. Please pay at the highest level of the sliding scale you can afford; this gives others who need to pay less the opportunity to attend. If the lower end of the range exceeds what you can afford, please offer what you can.
Actual cost
$675
Sliding scale
$338–$1,013
The fees cover the room, simple vegetarian meals, and fixed costs (teacher transportation, room, and meals; facility rental costs; and miscellaneous expenses). All rooms will be single occupancy.
In keeping with Theravāda Buddhist tradition, the teachings are offered freely, and no portion of the registration fee goes to the teachers. However, at the end of the retreat, there will be an opportunity to offer a freewill donation (dana) to support Sati Sārāņīya hermitage. We encourage dana as each person’s way of supporting and demonstrating appreciation to the teachers for sharing the Dhamma with us.
COVID PROTOCOL
· No COVID testing will be required before the retreat. However, if you’re feeling unwell, we ask that you remain home and notify the registrar right away at registrar.madvip@gmail.com.
· Masks will be optional.
· We ask yogis to report any symptoms of sickness that set in while on retreat, and we will test for COVID under that circumstance. Anyone testing positive will be asked to return home or isolate.
· Hand sanitizer will be located in heavy traffic areas, and hand sanitizing will be required before meals.
· Retreatants must agree to a waiver of liability as part of registration.
RESERVED SPACES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND PERSONS OF COLOR
In line with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we reserve the last few spots before the retreat fills up for young people and people of color who haven’t yet registered. We’ll reserve these spots until three weeks before the retreat (September 22). After that, we’ll open up any remaining spots to people on the waiting list. If you identify with one or both groups, please check the appropriate box(es) on the registration form. If you have questions about whether spaces are still available, contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com.
MEALS
On each full day of the retreat, there will be a vegetarian breakfast and lunch in the dining hall. In line with the Eight Precepts, everyone attending the retreat will refrain from eating solid food between 1:00 pm and dawn the next day. Those with medical conditions that make it impossible to abide by this precept should contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com to discuss their situation. Clear fruit juice and tea will be available at 5:00 pm. The retreat will end after brunch on Saturday, October 19.
Please note: We are unable to accommodate special dietary needs.
SPECIAL NEEDS
If you want to use one of our assistive listening devices, please indicate this on the registration form. We find these work best if you use them with your own earbuds or headphones. If you have questions about our devices, please contact Mike Kehl at mike.fiddlehead@gmail.com. To inquire about other needs, contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com.
CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY
Please refrain from using perfumes or scented shampoos, ointments, or lotions in consideration of those with chemical sensitivities.
RIDESHARING
If you would like to request or offer a ride to and/or from St. Anthony’s, please indicate this on the registration form. Alternatively, contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com.
SCHEDULE
Sunday, October 13
Check-in: 2:30–4:00
Orientation for those new to retreats or the facility: 3:30–4:15
Retreat opens: 4:30
Please arrive by 4:00 p.m. to check in, settle in your room, and be in the hall when the retreat begins.
Saturday, October 19
Retreat closes: 12:00 pm
TO REGISTER
To register, COMPLETE ONLINE REGISTRATION by October 1.
If the retreat is full, you can be placed on the waiting list. Those on the waiting list who do not get a spot will receive a full refund.
Please note: Your place in the registration queue will not be secured until we receive your payment and registration form.
CANCELLATIONS
All cancellations will be subject to a nonrefundable $50 fee. Cancellations received on or before September 13 will be refunded the retreat fee less $50. Refunds, less $50, will be given to those canceling after September 13 only if there is another person wanting to register to attend the retreat.
ONLINE PAYMENT VIA PAYPAL
After completing the registration form, you will be asked to pay your registration fee online. If you prefer not to pay electronically, please contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com to make other arrangements.
If you cannot pay your registration fee when you submit your registration form, you may return to this page later and use this payment link.
After registering and paying your fee, you’ll receive two emails, the first confirming that we received your complete registration. Close to the time of the retreat, you’ll receive another email providing additional details.
For questions about registration, contact the registrar at registrar.madvip@gmail.com.
Ayyā Medhānandī is the guiding teacher and founder of Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage, the first Theravāda bhikkhunī monastery in Canada. She was ordained as an alms mendicant nun in 1988 at the Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha, Myanmar, with most Venerable Sayadaw U Pandita. Nearly 20 years later, in 2007, she fulfilled her long-held wish for bhikkhuni ordination in Taiwan. All the spiritual tests of her life have ignited in her an unrelenting faith in the Buddha’s teachings, for in the very depths of pain, a greater resilience is born, more than courage, more than patience, more than ordinary love. Ayyā Medhānandī is the author of Gone Forth, Going Beyond.
Ayyā Anuruddhā has trained with Ayyā Medhānandī at Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage since 2014. Originally from the UK, she came to the Dhamma after two life careers — as a veterinarian and a high school biology teacher. She realized the grave danger confronting human beings, that no part of our personality could save us from the entrapments of existence. Feeling the urgency to discover freedom from suffering, she devoted her life to inner investigation and purification of the mind and to truly dwell in the joy of the heart’s own radiance.