Using The Internet On Retreat - What's The Problem?

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Using The Internet On Retreat - What's The Problem?

On Fri, 2 September, 2016 - 22:32

mokshini

Maitreyi raises the point that it seems that more and more retreatants don’t heed the request not not to use their mobile phones on retreat. But what are we in danger of losing when we crave continual connection to friends and family or reach for our phone the moment boredom or aloneness sets in? She suggests that it is only when we allow ourselves to experience a sense of aloneness, and truly give ourselves a chance to be with our experience on retreat, that we are able to go deeper. It is only when we give ourselves this space that we can reach new decisions and come to new insights about ourselves, otherwise we may skim the surface and continue to feed our addiction to stay with the familiar. A challenging question for some of us?

Maitreyi lives and works at the Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre in the Brecon Beacons, Wales.

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ECA 2016, Triratna, retreats, internet, retreat, online

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Responses

richardbrummie1 — Sun, 4 Sep, 2016 - 22:42

Simples.wifi off and use connections in offices!!!

richardbrummie1 — Sun, 4 Sep, 2016 - 22:44

Or better still part of conditions hand in phones on arrival.no one smokes in shrine room do they so same principle.

NIGEL — Thu, 15 Sep, 2016 - 00:11

I have this question also. I was not invited to ECA 2016. People might be heedful that they are on retreat. And they take their shoes off at the door when on retreat. Why is technology a blessing? I’d carry a LED lamp with me for a while to find out. Do I really want to be alone if I can end my suffering with a cellphone? Well cellphone allows me to project my voice further than I can whisper. It allows me to continue what I am doing without recessing into a wait. I can switch the cellphone down into flight mode. Then I become something that is … well, acquainted with a cellphone. Some occasions the I get feeling of ‘all compass needles pointing towards me’. And I am really relieved I can get in contact with the part of me that is doing that. I’ve made many notes on Living with Technology. Could be crucial should technology become more wearable. Perhaps I can have something to share. The answer to the question about fear of loosing is not always well placed in frill seeking. I see Chinese temple now has robot for the tourists to learn about Buddhism. I see that Churches in England are lending their Spires for antennas to boost signal reception. A long while before the arrival of the Internet, after a retreat with Padmavajra, I conceived of a kind ‘infrastructure realm’ as a seventh or eighth realm to the traditional teaching on the wheel of life. I’m sure I’m not the first westerner who brought that into their practice. What is the duality that maintains the realm perception? Then perhaps it only a hungry ghost or human intellect? But then I feel myself starting to become irrelevant as loose touch with those who might want to understand Buddhism. So there could be something else that is maintaining a belief in an ‘infrastructure realm’. I see Chinese temple now has robot to teach Buddhism to tourists. I see also, Churches in England are lending their spires to antennas to boost mobile signal bands. What does the arrival of these things teach us about the way the mind works? Dose traversing different states of mind allow different modes of instructions to arise?