Welcome & Registration / Retreat Schedule and Plan - Open Discussion

Students will register for the retreat and participate in a welcome from our Teachers, David Roylance and Sararut (Sara) Pilakun. David will lead an open discussion to provide Students with an overview of the retreat schedule and plan so that Students can get acquainted with the retreat activities and each other.

This is the perfect opportunity to connect with Students who will participate in the retreat and meet new friends while gaining insight into all the retreat events and activities.

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Spa World

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You are invited to relax and settle in from the travel by joining The Community of Students and Teachers for a peaceful experience at Spa World. Enjoy this communal spa experience benefiting from saunas, massages, food, and fresh natural drinks to nourish the body along with warm conversations getting to know your fellow Students and Teachers all in a comfortable and relaxing environment.

Start the retreat with a calm and peaceful mind.

Spa World Website
http://www.spaworldusa.com/photo.html

Innovative Alignment Yoga with Sararut (Sara) Pilakun

Specially designed yoga program that ensures you enter, hold, and exit each yoga pose with correct body alignment. Sara will dedicate significant time to assist and support each Student’s individual practice so that you can realize the most benefits of each pose preparing the body and mind for the day ahead.

Meditation Instruction: Breathing Mindfulness Meditation (Seated & Walking)

Learn Breathing Mindfulness Meditation in the seated and walking positions to train the mind to cultivate mindfulness and concentration to attain Enlightenment through The Teachings of Gotama Buddha on The Path to Enlightenment.

David will guide you in understanding Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, how to do Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, guide you in doing Breathing Mindfulness Meditation during a group meditation session, and will accept questions from students to help you develop your "life practice”.

Meditation Instruction: Loving-kindness Meditation (Seated)

Learn Loving-kindness Meditation to eliminate anger, hatred, ill will, resentment, negative self talk, and other discontent feelings associated with the unEnlightened mind.

David will help you understand "What is Loving-kindness Meditation", how it can help you, and how to do Loving-kindness Meditation during guided group meditation sessions of Loving-kindness Meditation.

Buddhist Chanting

Buddhist chanting has been used throughout multiple generations to orally remember The Teachings of The Buddha. Each generation of Practitioners have learned specific chants and practiced those in the Pāli language as a way of sharing The Teachings of The Buddha with the next generation through the oral tradition.

Today, these Teachings are in the English language in multiple formats including written format so there is no need to learn chanting as a way to remember The Teachings in the Pāli language. But, Practitioners can still learn these traditional chants as a way to develop mindfulness, concentration, memory, and to ease the mind in and out of meditation sessions gaining more benefit in each meditation.

David will help you develop your Buddhist chanting practice through group chanting prior to and after each meditation session.

Enlightenment: What is “Enlightenment”?

Enlightenment is attained gradually over time through learning and practicing The Buddha’s Teachings so that you can observe truth that will allow you to acquire wisdom. 

But what is Enlightenment?

David will help you to understand the mental state of Enlightenment, how to progress on The Path to Enlightenment, and how to attain Enlightenment.

The Four Noble Truths: Establishing Right View

For anyone interested to explore and study The Path of Enlightenment, one must begin with a deep understanding of The Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths is the first discourse offered by The Buddha as his very first Teaching upon him attaining Enlightenment as The Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths is the core understanding required to establish “Right View”. Right View gives a Practitioner’s mind the foundation in which to apply all the other Teachings and practices taught by The Buddha. A Practitioner would have no ability to attain Enlightenment unless they learned, reflected, and practiced The Four Noble Truths to establish “Right View”.

David will share The Four Noble Truths explaining the noble truth of discontentedness, the noble truth of the cause of discontentedness, the noble truth of the elimination of discontentedness, the noble truth of the way leading to the elimination of discontentedness to help you establish Right View.

The Three Poisons: Craving, Anger, and Ignorance

The Buddha’s Teachings to eliminate, craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality) are known, for good reason, as The Three Poisons, The Three Unwholesome Roots, and The Three Fires. Also known as, greed, hatred, and delusion.

These are The Three Poisons that exist and are present in the mind as part of rebirth into the human realm. It is our goal, through these Teachings, to eliminate these Three Poisons through practice of non-craving or generosity, non-anger or loving-kindness, and non-ignorance or wisdom. To attain Enlightenment, one would need to completely eliminate The Three Poisons.

David will help you understand The Three Poisons, how they cause you problems in life, and how to eliminate them from the mind.

The Eight Fold Path: The Path for All Humans to Enlightenment

The Buddha gave us “The Path” forward to pursuing our own Enlightenment as The Eight Fold Path. In his explanation of The Eight Fold Path, we learn exactly how to attain Enlightenment through a life practice or a better way of life.

The Eight Fold Path is the way to completely eliminate all discontentedness from the mind. You will need a detailed and thorough understanding and practice of The Eight Fold Path to attain Enlightenment.

David will share The Eight Fold Path in detail helping you to deeply understand each individual step to develop your life practice and progress towards Enlightenment.

The Five Precepts: A Householder's Guide to Daily Practice

The Buddha gave us guidance to conduct life without harm to other beings or ourselves. This is titled “The Five Precepts”.

These are not commandments nor rules to follow, rather how to ensure you are not causing harm to others or yourself. By causing harm to others, we cause harm to ourselves by The Natural Law of Kamma. Through practice of these precepts, you will drastically eliminate unwholesome Kamma production and, thus, experience a more peaceful and content existence. 

The Buddha’s Teachings are not to control an individual nor dictate what they should or should not do. But instead, provide guidance that when practiced will lead to Enlightenment, liberation of the mind, a peaceful and content mind and, thus, a peaceful and content life.

David will help you understand what The Buddha taught regarding The Five Precepts and how to apply them to your daily life in modern times.

Practicing in a World of the Unknowing: Relationships with Non-Practitioners 

Practitioners may encounter challenges of how to practice The Path to Enlightenment while surrounded by individuals who are not practicing these Teachings. This talk will focus on sharing Teachings that guide you in how to practice these Teachings when surrounded by family, friends, and associates who are not practicing these Teachings.

True Love: Love Without Attachment

Love and relationships are one of the most challenging aspects of life. We oftentimes sabotage our relationships without even knowing it.  In the unEnlightened state, we misunderstand "What is True Love?" and how to love in relationships.

David will teach you how we misunderstand "love" and "what is true love" providing you guidance to develop relationships that are lasting, fulfilling, and full of "true love”.

Sharing The Path to Enlightenment: How to Guide Children Along The Path?

During the lifetime of The Buddha, children were known to attain Enlightenment as young as age 7. A child who is progressing on The Path to Enlightenment from early in life will find that the struggles and difficulties of life can be completely eliminated through acquiring the wisdom of these Teachings.

A household that is learning and practicing these Teachings as individuals but yet are able to provide support to each other along The Path to Enlightenment, will be able to experience improved results through mutual support and encouragement.

David will help you understand how to gradually introduce these Teachings to children starting as early as when they are in the mother’s womb or at any time throughout their life journey helping you to create a peaceful, calm, serene, and content home life with joy where all members of the family can support each other on The Path to Enlightenment.

Practicing Non-Attachment: How to Eliminate Attachment to Those Who Are Closest to Us?

Eliminating the mental longing with a strong eagerness to have our family, friends, and associates be a certain way comes with great challenges. The unEnlightened mind feels “it knows best” and “what is best” for everyone around us. But the inner struggle to get others to do as we want causes the mind to be discontent when others do not do as we want them to do.

The problem is not that others do not do what we want, it is that the mind wants everyone to be a certain way attempting to convince others to do things we expect. The mind needs to be trained to “let go” no longer pushing others to be a certain way.

David will share guidance that helps you understand how to actively eliminate attachments to those that are closest to us so that the mind can find peace and joy through harmony in personal and professional relationships.

Training The Mind to Acquire Concentration: Developing Singleness of Mind in a Distracting World

The advantages of attaining Enlightenment include increased and high degrees of focus, memory, clarity of thought, and concentration. But to achieve this goal, a Practitioner will need to gradually develop the mind through ongoing practice of these Teachings.

David will teach you how to develop deep concentration while living in a world that can be highly distracting that tests your will and resolve to develop the mind on The Path to Enlightenment.

Developing & Maintaining Relationships: Choosing Wholesome Friends and a Life Partner

The Buddha guides Students to cultivate wholesome friendships as part of The Path to Enlightenment. But, how do you accomplish this goal without judging others and continuous conflict?

David will help you understand how wholesome friends and life partners are a key factor of success in your development on The Path to Enlightenment. He will guide you in developing and maintaining vibrant personal relationships that are fulfilling and provide an opportunity for all individuals to prosper without any conflicts or discontentedness that creates heartache and separation.

The Path to Enlightenment: Practicing “The Path” in the Workplace

The work environment is a place that one spends an enormous amount of time. A Practitioner will need to learn how to practice these Teachings not only in your personal life but also in your professional life.

David will provide guidance that helps you understand how to practice these Teachings within a professional environment ensuring that you can develop healthy relationships and success in the workplace.

Eradicating Pollution of The Mind: Eliminating The Ten Fetters

In order to attain Enlightenment through The Buddha's Teachings, a Practitioner will need to eliminate The Ten Fetters from the mind. But what are The Ten Fetters and how do you eliminate them?

David will share what are The Ten Fetters and how to eliminate them. He will then discuss The Four Stages of Enlightenment and how eliminating The Ten Fetters leads to The Four Stages of Enlightenment on our journey to the Enlightened mind.

Eliminating Personal Existence View: Getting “The Self” Out of The Way

To attain the first Stage of Enlightenment, a Practitioner will need to eliminate the fetter/taint/pollution of mind described as “personal existence view”. The Buddha provided Teachings on The Universal Truth of Non-self to guide Practitioners to eliminate “personal existence view”.

David will teach you what is “personal existence view”, how it is complicating your interactions with others inhibit harmony in relationships, and how by eliminating it one can reside more peaceful.

Meditation Guidance to Realize Non-Self

Learn Meditation to Realize Non-self to train the mind to eliminate “personal existence view” and realize non-self.

David will guide you in understanding Meditation to Realize Non-self, how to do Meditation to Realize Non-self, guide you in doing Meditation to Realize Non-self during a group meditation session, and will accept questions from students to help you develop your "life practice”.

Excursions / Free Time

There are five (5) excursions and free time built into the retreat plan where you are welcome to enjoy an activity with other retreat participants or plan your own activities during the free time.

Excursions will include SpaWorld (Sunday), National Air & Space Museum (Monday), United States Botanical Garden (Tuesday), Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Wednesday), and a guided tour of a local Thai Buddhist Temple (Thursday). You and your family are welcome to join these activities or plan your own events during this time. We will travel by the Washington Area Metro Public Transportation System during all excursions except for Spa World.

Lunch & Dinners

Students will have a full range of restaurants to eat meals within walking distance to the retreat venue and activities. Students will need to support the cost of their own meals. If you are choosing to stay at the selected hotel for this retreat, Arlington Court Suites (Arlington, VA), there is a free breakfast buffet and a full kitchen in each room.

Closing Group Discussion with Questions & Answers

David will lead a closing group discussion providing the opportunity for Students to ask any remaining questions from all the talks in the retreat receiving answers to any questions that still remain while providing "next steps" for you on the journey to Enlightenment.