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We have hosted 4 - 5 retreat sessions since we started teaching TWDD meditation in Canada since winter 2005. Meditation retreat is very different from our knowledge of the word "retreat" (as most of us think of it as relaxation in a summer spa or mountain resort to get away from the reality of daily life), an authentic meditation retreat is a special opportunity to be with our selves - the true self without any label, past and future. Meditation retreats let us discover the peace and true potential of our own mind, and thus the refreshed perception to the world around us. There is no need and intention to escape in this practice; only stay present and keep our mind centered and at ease.


Day 1:


Since the Sichuan earthquake had delayed Master Haikong's visit to Canada to a still unknown future date, I have been struggling with the possibility that he might not be able to come during this year. Recently in my internal dialog, I often received repeated messages in my mind: “make your home a pure-land and your life nirvana”. So, a retreat at this moment was indeed timely and made sense.


The day started with a one-hour chanting on the "Shurangama Mantra" and the "Great Compassion Mantra". This is a standard procedure in any Buddhist
Temple all over the world. Especially in Tibet, Buddhist monks believe that chanting powerful mantras can help open up the energy channel throughout our body. When doing this first thing in the morning, your entire body feels relaxed, blockages are opened up and a clear sense or energy vibration is created. What a wonderful way to begin a day!


I have been consistently doing the standing & walking format of TWDD meditation for more than 1.5 hours a day for the past 6 months. So the rest of the morning practice was easy and the time went by quickly. Although there were only three of us in this retreat, we did very good job keeping our month shut all day long. And this has made a huge difference in bringing a much better quality to the retreat. No matter when we were cooking, cleaning dishes, or reading books while clicking along with our recitation counter (an electronic counting device); not needing to split our focus and keeping all energy inward was such a wonderful way to lead the mind into serenity.


The afternoon started with half hour of temple style prostrations. The union of ones body and mind is perfectly attained through this exercise. The meaning of prostration although quite often was misunderstood as superstition by outsiders, in fact, is an extremely powerful way to explore our potential of engaging in true happiness and renouncing all distress and pain in life. The prostration session made the rest of the afternoon sitting session an easy task. All three of us surprisingly discovered a new depth in our sitting meditation!


The sky outlined in the window frame was so blue through out the day, the neighbor’s cat was comfortably lying on the rocking chair in our front porch, my heart was filled with blissful joy, and life is so beautiful when our mind is surrendering to harmony.


At night, after coming back from the silent recitation walking to the Bronte Harbour we all felt like we could do more sitting meditation, so we did one more hour again, until we were all yearning for bed.

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The second day the retreat started off with a cup of hot water or tea. Drinking tea/hot fluid according to Chinese traditional theory, helps us to maintain good health – the theory suggests that we can thin up our sticky blood from a long dormant night by drinking some hot fluid in the morning. The hot water did help me feel my blood begin to flow again, and then the morning chanting definitely let all the energy channels in the body to awaken. When the music of the Great Compassion Mantra stopped, we were absolutely ready for a good breakfast!


Having gone though the first day and becoming familiar with the routine, the practice-flow on the second day became much smoother. I did a trick in the afternoon one-hour sitting meditation - I did not hit the break bell as I usually do at the half hour point. When an hour went by, everybody still kept their perfect posture and no leg switching in between time! It was the first time ever that Jemma completed a one-hour none-stop sitting meditation with no leg switching! Some hand clapping was dedicated to her, and she was thrilled! Meditation well done!


We all had our best sitting meditation experience ever on this day. I all of sudden reached an insight to the words which our teacher Master Haikong had mentioned in one of his teachings: “if you can keep your teacher in the altar of your heart, then you have gotten closer to reach peace”. I found the altar in my heart, and whenever the image of my teacher comes through, I was surrounded by light - the light of tranquility and forgiveness.


By the end of the day, my mind was still sharp but my body was exhausted. I rarely go to bed before 1:00 am, but by 10:00 p.m. on this day, we were all in our dreamland, happy and sound.

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Only two of us were left on this day. I was a bit concerned if we were able to keep the momentum going especially since it was a weekday and have only two people left. To my surprise, we did well. The silent rule was well obeyed, and the mind kept in a place with focus, relaxation and serenity. The morning zoomed by without noticing, and in the afternoon, we decide to only practice sitting meditation and prostrations. Three days of prostrations had left our leg muscle sore all day. We wondered if we could go through another half hour of repeatedly bending over our bodies to the ground and then standing up. The first two were hard, but then a thread of warm energy ran through the body which made the rest of the effort much more painless.


Just when we decided not to go out to the backyard for standing meditation, heavy rain started to fall from the sky. We had been very lucky with the weather as it has been an extremely wet summer: rain only falls after we finish our outdoor meditation and it almost happens each time when we hold classes. There was no exception on this day too. We were very happy and enjoyed the sound of the nature coming through our windows and roof while everybody was embraced by the joy of peacefulness.


Three days without the distractions from TV, chatting, phone calls and the Internet, you started to hear the sound of your heart beating; the birds singing and the sound from neighbours surrounding us. A strong sense of subtleness and ease arose from deep down. We are suppose to live like this in each every minute of our lives, is it life has changed us or we are drifting along in the dust of Samsara? Three days of intensive meditation brought us closer to the most natural state of mind and our very basic being. Until the next day, when all the noise of ordinary living comes back, we will be able to discover our life via a new dimension, a new aspect and a forwarded realization.

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When three good cooks do a retreat together, the last thing we needed to worry about was making good and healthy food to accommodate our practice. It has been a common recognition that vegetarian diet is beneficial for reaching the peaceful union state of our body and mind. It has never been so true.


The quality of our mediation during those three days was so amazing, I have to say, our complete veggie diet played a major role in achieving this state. The food were not boring as many would describe vegetarian food, on the contrary, they were absolutely fresh, colorful and delicious! For those at home, who want to improve their meditation or simply like to experience a consistent better mood, I would recommend for them to try-out a vegetarian diet with no hesitation.

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We decided to keep our TWDD meditation retreats going in the future - once in each season across the year. It is not just about how we feel in the three days, it is to move through the three day experience to get to know your own thinking pattern and style, then work on it and move towards a much happier and peaceful platform. Retreat helps us to take one step up on the path towards true happiness. And keeping this effort and passing the merit generated from this effort on to all people and sentient beings around us will in time benefit the world and ultimately, our own well-being.