Pilgrimage - the practice of turning towards
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Registration is open until Friday 14 August, 12:30pm.
Join us on Sunday 16th August to explore the meaning of pilgrimage as a spiritual practice of Awakening our Heart through moving and walking.
Event details
We associate pilgrimage with long, demanding journeys that were often undertaken as repentance practice. Whether pilgrimaging on Mount Kailash route, Camino de Santiago or North Wales Pilgrim’s Path - it’s never an easy stroll down the lane. It seems to be all about physical exertion and testing your limits. But ultimately pilgrimage is the act of turning towards our heart’s deepest longing. The act itself can be effortless but it has to be purposeful. It doesn’t have to be strenuous but it has to challenge our preconceived ideas.
The heart’s longing can be symbolised by a holy mountain, a sacred site or an island of a thousand saints. Whatever it may be that we want to turn towards, the pilgrimage is a way to follow through with our aspirations. Get up and go. Facing whatever’s there along the way. Only to discover at the end of the journey that what we were seeking was there with us all along. The paradox which strangely does not undermine the meaning of a pilgrimage - since only through this process will we discover what was there all along.
Doesn’t this sound analogous to the process of meditation? Meditation does not produce awakening but only through meditation we recognise that awakening is here…“Here, there is nothing to remove and nothing to add”.
Timetable, zoom links and liturgy
7:00am - 8:00am Morning Puja (liturgy p14)
9.00 - 10:00 Shakyamuni Puja
11am - 12:30 Introduction and Walking Meditation
2:00pm - 2:45pm Formless Meditation
3:00 - 4:30 Talk (incl. group discussion and Q&A)
4:30 - 5:00 Tea and chat
5:00 - 6:00 Evening Puja (liturgy p22, Long Life prayers and Guru Yoga for Khenpo Rinpoche & Rigdzin Shikpo & song book)