The Taste of Freedom

In the Udana we hear these words of the Buddha: 
“The Mighty ocean has one taste, the taste of salt. Just so the Dharma has one taste, the taste of freedom”  
On this day retreat together we will be exploring: 

• What the Buddha meant by freedom
• And what spiritual freedom might look and feel like for us in our lives.

We will be doing this through: 

• Meditation and reflection
• A talk Introducing the Taste of Freedom Sutta
• Sharing our thoughts and ideas with each other
• A short ritual

The Day Retreat will be held via Zoom (details below) and everyone who has attended one of our Newcomers' Courses is welcome

If you would like to explore some of the aspects of this day in advance, you can listen to Sangharakshita's talk on Free Buddhist Audio here:

https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/texts/read?num=139&at=text

PROGRAMME 

10.20 Arrive and settle 
10.30 Welcome and introductions 
10.40 Mindfulness practice: Body Scan 
11.10 The Taste of Freedom: The Great Ocean 
11.30 BREAK 
11.40 What is Freedom? Discussion in small groups 
12.00 The Buddhist Vision of Freedom 
12.30 LUNCH and break/walk 
14.00 The Point of Freedom and The Wheel and the Spiral 
14.40 BREAK 
14.50 Freedom and You: Discussion in small groups 
15.20 Plenary 
15.40 BREAK 
15.50 Short Mettta Bhavana 
16.00 Three-Fold Puja dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha 
16.30 Close

This day is based on a seminar that was led by our founder in November 1980. You can find the text here:
https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/texts/read?num=139&at=text
Or you can listen to the actual talk here (recommended if you really want to get a sense of Sangharakshita himself):
https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details?num=139

There is also a book based on the seminar 'The Taste of Freedom by Sangharakshita.' You can download this for free here:
https://www.sangharakshita.org/_books/taste-freedom.pdf

We will forward the Zoom link a few days beforehand.
 

Taravandana who is based in Manchester, joined the Order in 2000 having met the Dharma at Taraloka on a Newcomer’s Weekend. She enjoys meditation  especially Mindfulness and Metta practices and connecting with Green Tara  through walking in woods. She is a Breathworks Trainer and takes her Dharma practice out into the world through supporting others to be their best through mindfulness and leadership training. She really enjoys spiritual friendship and  teaching the Dharma