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Samatha Beginners Meditation Retreat in Sri Lanka July 2025
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Samatha Buddhist Meditation Retreat in Sri Lanka July 2025
We are pleased to announce that there will be a seven day beginners Samatha Buddhist meditation retreat in Sri Lanka from Thursday 3rd July to Saturday 12th July taken by Charles Shaw and Dr Sarah Shaw. This event will take place at the Subhodharama Retreat Centre, (elevation ~1500’) at Ambuluwawa, Kadamuduna, Gampola. This will be the 9th course of this kind which has been run in Sri Lanka. The first of these was in 2011/12 taken by the late Lance Cousins in Kandy.
There have been meditation practices for millennia and some of these were used and pioneered by the Buddha. In particular, he advocated the use of breathing mindfulness as a technique that is suitable for most people and which, when cultivated and developed, can be of benefit. It helps to balance mindfulness and concentration that, when combined together, bring about greater happiness, stillness and freedom. In this school of Samatha practice, the emphasis is primarily on developing ever-deeper states of calm through mindfulness of breathing so that insight might arise naturally. Both calm and insight come into play and either may take precedence at any given time. In order to assist the development of the practice, meditators regularly report individually to the meditation teacher who can offer personal guidance. Alongside the practice of developing sixteen stages of this practice, meditators may also be encouraged to pursue other areas of development. These might include such things as walking practice, chanting, mindful work, physical activities, Dhamma discussion and periods of silence.
Places are strictly limited to around 12 in total due to accommodation constraints. The fees cover meals and mostly, ensuite accommodation. External participants from abroad may join at the cost of $200 (£160), including a donation to meet the teacher’s air-fare. The cost for locals would be RS22,000 with concessions for unwaged. Additional donations are welcome. The price also includes the possibility of a return trip to the Centre from Colombo. Apart from opportunities to explore Sri Lanka, flights can be booked locally to Asia often more cheaply than from the UK. For applications and inquiries, please contact Rajith: rajith@mac.com .
About the teachers: Mr Charles Shaw and Dr Sarah Shaw each started to practise meditation whilst undergraduates in the UK in the 1970’s. Since then, they have taught meditation practice in this tradition - including chanting and working with the suttas and abhidhamma - since the 1980’s. Charles is a trustee of the Samatha Trust and is a retired university administrator. Sarah teaches Buddhist Studies at Oxford University and has written a number of books, including The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisattas (2006) Mindfulness (2020) and Breathing Mindfulness: Discovering the Riches at the Heart of the Buddhist Path (May 2025).