Description
What was the Buddha’s message to people living ordinary lives?
While many of the Buddha’s teachings are associated with monastic life, the early discourses preserve a rich body of teachings offered directly to lay followers—people engaged in family life, work, community, and the responsibilities of everyday living. These conversations reveal a path of practice that is both profound and deeply integrated with the realities of household life.
This daylong retreat invites us to explore these teachings in community through practice, reflection, and shared inquiry.
Open to practitioners with some familiarity with Buddhist meditation and teachings, this retreat is for anyone who wishes to deepen their understanding of the Buddha’s earliest teachings and explore how they can be lived in contemporary life.
Together we will discover how these ancient teachings continue to offer practical guidance, inspiration, and a path toward freedom in the midst of our daily lives.
Attending an in-person retreat
- CIMC is a refuge. Out of compassion for those with chemical sensitivities, please avoid using scented products—lotions, deodorant, after-shave, hair products, perfume, clothes laundered with scented detergent, or dryer sheets—before you come to the Center.
- Please arrive at least 20 minutes early to check in and find a comfortable place in the meditation hall.
- Parking at CIMC is limited; we suggest you take public transportation to the Center whenever possible.
- Retreats are held in silence. Please power off your cell phone, smartwatch, and other electronic devices for the retreat. All phones, pagers, beeping watches, and other electronic devices must remain completely turned off while you are at the Center.
- Please leave your shoes on the shoe shelves on the first floor and keep your valuables with you.
- We provide vegetarian meals at day-long, weekend, and multi-day retreats. We are unable to accommodate special dietary needs, however. If you have dietary restrictions, we invite you to bring your own vegetarian meal. Please note that nuts may be used in our kitchen.
- The meditation halls do not allow food and beverages, including water.
- We strongly recommend you dress in layers since the temperature in the meditation hall varies throughout the day. The hall thermostat is set to a comfortable temperature range; however, it’s best to have a range of clothing options, as individual preferences for warmth or coolness differ widely and cannot be accommodated.
- Masks are optional. Some masks are available at the entrance of the Center.
- CIMC provides zafus (round cushions), zabutons (large mats), meditation benches, blankets, and chairs. At the end of the program, we request that participants brush off their zabutons and plump up their zafus. All other items should be returned neatly to where they belong.
- Hearing Assistive Devices are available in the Meditation Hall. The wireless receiver has a standard headphone jack, and we provide headphones and neck loops.