Retreats
All Retreats are included within membership.
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RETREATS
Whether you attend for the whole of a retreat or just a couple of sessions on a given day, retreat is a rare opportunity in our modern busy lives to take time out to let go of our normal physical, verbal and mental activities, in order to focus on spiritual practice and find true inner peace and happiness.
Open to All
Everyone is welcome and if this is your first time attending a retreat, there will be plenty of experienced meditators present who will be only too pleased to help and advise you.
Guided Meditation Sessions
In these guided sessions the Teacher will give a short talk and advice on the meditations we will be doing. These sessions are very similar to the general meditation class except that there is more time spent in meditation. So, this is a great opportunity to further develop our practice in the peace and tranquillity of KMC Plymouth.
You may attend as many or as few of the sessions as you choose. The more sessions you can attend the more benefit you will gain so you could try attending a full day if you are new to retreats. Our coffee shop will be open between sessions for light refreshments and there are plenty of cafes on Mutley Plain if you would like to go out for lunch.
Please note: not all retreats or sessions are guided but these will be labelled as “unguided”. Please see individual event details below for further information.
Fees
£3 per session unless otherwise stated
Members: Free (all sessions)
No need to book
Schedule
Please see the details below.
Tara 24-Hour Retreat
This is a FREE event.
Tuesday 31st December 2024 – Wednesday 1st January 2025
Start the new year inspired! Everyone is welcome to join us for this 24-hour retreat receiving the blessings of Tara, which are especially powerful for helping those in difficulty. Each session is about an hour long and you can come at any time and to as many or few sessions as you choose.
No previous experience required, there will be plenty of people to help and advise you if this is a new event for you, and as always, everyone is welcome.
Schedule
Tuesday 31st December: 7pm (Introduction) & 11pm
Wednesday 1st January: 3am, 7am, 11am & 3pm
Fees
This is a free event – everyone is welcome! No need to book, just come along.
The Stages of The Path Retreat
Friday 3rd January – Sunday 5th January 2025 – Various times
Join us for any part of this weekend retreat, Stages of the Path.
This is a special presentation of Buddha’s teachings that includes all of the essential instructions and meditations of the stages of the path to enlightenment. This special presentation is easy to follow and put into practice and is particularly suitable for our modern busy lives. The retreat will include prayers and guided meditations to enable a deeper and more focused experience of this special meditation cycle.
During the introduction on the Friday evening, Buddhist Monk Gen Kelsang Dragden will provide an overview of the Stages of the Path, what it is and why it is so important in building the permanently happy, peaceful minds we aspire to attain.
Short retreats provide the ideal opportunity to contemplate the teachings we have received and deepen our understanding and familiarity with them. An oasis of calm in the city, KMC Plymouth provides an ideal location to engage in retreat.
Between sessions you can enjoy a drink and something to nibble in our coffee bar, discuss the teachings with others or enjoy our meditation space for quiet reflection.
Suitable for beginners and those with meditation experience.
Schedule
Friday 3rd
Introduction: 7-8.15pm*
Saturday 4th
Session 1: 9am with guided meditation*
Session 2: 11am with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2pm with guided meditation*
Session 4: 4pm with guided meditation*
Sunday 5th
Session 1: 10am Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers with offerings (Free to attend for all)
Session 2: 12noon with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2.30pm with guided meditation*
Fees
*Advanced Booking or Purchase On the Door: £3 per session
Weekend Ticket: £16 (all 8 sessions)
Friday Evening Ticket: £3
Saturday Day Ticket: £10 (all 4 sessions)
Sunday Day Ticket: £4 (all 3 sessions – includes free prayers session at 10am)
KMC Plymouth Members: Free (all 8 sessions). To become a member, CLICK HERE
Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja on Sunday 7th: Free to all
Please note that should you book for a single session but decide to stay longer for more sessions, you’ll be very welcome to do so. Just see a member of the team in our Coffee Bar.
Mahamudra Retreat
Friday 10th January – Sunday 12th January 2025 – Various times
During this weekend retreat, Resident Teacher Gen Keslang Dragden, will give clear and inspiring teachings on laying the foundations and practice of Mahamudra meditation – enabling us to access more subtle and blissful states of mind.
Buddha explained many methods to liberate ourself and others from the suffering we experience in our lives. Of these, the uncommon instructions of Tantric Mahamudra of the Ganden Oral Lineage are an especially powerful way to purify our mind quickly and to reach our fullest potential, the supreme bliss of full enlightenment.
There is no better method for experiencing deep mental peace and no quicker method for tackling negative states of mind at their root and of finding a deep, stable and lasting happiness from within.
Through meditating on these instructions, we will deepen our understanding and experience of this rare and precious lineage of teachings given to us by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.
Schedule
Friday 10th
Introduction: 7-8.15pm*
Saturday 11th
Session 1: 9am with guided meditation*
Session 2: 11am with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2pm with guided meditation*
Session 4: 4pm with guided meditation*
Sunday 12th
Session 1: 10am Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers with offerings (Free to attend for all)
Session 2: 12noon with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2.30pm with guided meditation*
Fees
*Advanced Booking or Purchase On the Door: £3 per session
Weekend Ticket: £16 (all 8 sessions)
Friday Evening Ticket: £3
Saturday Day Ticket: £10 (all 4 sessions)
Sunday Day Ticket: £4 (all 3 sessions – includes free prayers session at 10am)
KMC Plymouth Members: Free (all 8 sessions). To become a member, CLICK HERE
Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja on Sunday 7th: Free to all
Please note that should you book for a single session but decide to stay longer for more sessions, you’ll be very welcome to do so. Just see a member of the team in our Coffee Bar.
Introduction to Tantra Retreat
Friday 17th January – Sunday 19th January 2025 – Various times
Tantra is the quick path to enlightenment. It is where we let go of our normal sense of self and generate ourself as an enlightened being. We can begin to get a taste of this experience on this weekend retreat.
Tantra uses the power of our imagination to create the pure and perfect world that we would love for everyone.
With beautiful prayers and clear guided meditations we can dissolve away this suffering world and arise in a pure land and start to feel the bliss of enlightenment.
Suitable for beginners.
Schedule
Friday 17th
Introduction: 7-8.15pm*
Saturday 18th
Session 1: 9am with guided meditation*
Session 2: 11am with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2pm with guided meditation*
Session 4: 4pm with guided meditation*
Sunday 19th
Session 1: 10am Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers with offerings (Free to attend for all)
Session 2: 12noon with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2.30pm with guided meditation*
Fees
*Advanced Booking or Purchase On the Door: £3 per session
Weekend Ticket: £16 (all 8 sessions)
Friday Evening Ticket: £3
Saturday Day Ticket: £10 (all 4 sessions)
Sunday Day Ticket: £4 (all 3 sessions – includes free prayers session at 10am)
KMC Plymouth Members: Free (all 8 sessions). To become a member, CLICK HERE
Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja on Sunday 7th: Free to all
Please note that should you book for a single session but decide to stay longer for more sessions, you’ll be very welcome to do so. Just see a member of the team in our Coffee Bar.
Highest Yoga Tantra Retreat
Friday 24th January – Sunday 26th January 2025 – Various times
Please note that you need to have been granted a Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment to participate in this retreat. If you are unsure of your suitability to attend, please contact the centre for further information.
During this retreat, Gen Kelsang Dragden, Resident Teacher at KMC Plymouth will lead us in the main meditations throughout the Quick Path to Great Bliss.
This is also a perfect opportunity for those new to the practice or anyone wishing to deepen their familiarity with the essential liberating meditations of Highest Yoga Tantra.
Schedule
Friday 24th
Introduction: 7-8.15pm*
Saturday 25th
Session 1: 9am with guided meditation*
Session 2: 11am with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2pm with guided meditation*
Session 4: 4pm with guided meditation*
Sunday 26th
Session 1: 10am Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers with offerings (Free to attend for all)
Session 2: 12noon with guided meditation*
Session 3: 2.30pm with guided meditation*
Fees
*Advanced Booking or Purchase On the Door: £3 per session
Weekend Ticket: £16 (all 8 sessions)
Friday Evening Ticket: £3
Saturday Day Ticket: £10 (all 4 sessions)
Sunday Day Ticket: £4 (all 3 sessions – includes free prayers session at 10am)
KMC Plymouth Members: Free (all 8 sessions). To become a member, CLICK HERE
Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja on Sunday 7th: Free to all
Please note that should you book for a single session but decide to stay longer for more sessions, you’ll be very welcome to do so. Just see a member of the team in our Coffee Bar.
Amitayus Retreat
Free Day Retreat
Saturday 15th February 2024, 9:00am – 5:15pm
To enjoy a meaningful human life, we need a long life and wisdom. Buddha Amitayus, the Buddha of long life, wisdom, and merit, has the power to bestow upon us immeasurably long life, profound wisdom and great good fortune. During this one-day retreat, we will engage in beautiful chanted prayers, meditations, and mantra recitation requesting blessings for ourselves and others to enjoy a long, happy and meaningful life.
It is traditional for Kadampa centres across the world to engage in short retreat on this beautiful practice early in the year and everyone is welcome to any or all of the sessions. No previous experience required.
For those with no previous experience, there will be plenty of experienced practitioners present who will be happy to advise and help you.
Schedule
Saturday 17th February
Session 1: 9am
Session 2: 11am
Session 3: 2pm
Session 4: 4pm
All sessions are unguided and will include prayers and a meditation.
Our Coffee Bar will be open during the break serving hot and cold drinks, delicious home-made cakes and a variety of snacks.
Fees
This event is FREE to attend for everyone, and everyone is welcome! There is no need to book for this event, simply turn up on the day for any or all of the sessions.
Nyungnay Purifying Ritual Practice
Monday and Tuesday 14th and 15th April 2025 – Various Times
This special fasting and purification practice is traditionally done by Kadampa Centres worldwide around the anniversary of Buddha’s Enlightenment.
Within the practice of Mahayana Precepts, this retreat involves fasting and making three sessions of prostrations, with the sadhana ‘Drop of Essential Nectar’, over two days.
Everyone is welcome at this free event but please contact the centre if you have not engaged in the practice before.
Schedule
Schedule for both days:
Session 1: 6:30am (Precepts – see notes below)
Session 2: 7:00am
Session 3: 10:00am
Session 4: 2:00pm
Fees
This practice is free to attend for everyone, and everyone is welcome. There is no need to book, simply turn up on the day for the sessions but please see the important notes below.
Important Notes
All attendees, whether attending for one day or both, must attend and undertake the Precepts session at the start of each day in order to attend the other sessions on that day.
The centre is shut during the week of this retreat for the pre-Easter break. Therefore, to gain access to the retreat sessions you may need to ring our doorbell as the front door will generally be locked. Please be patient whilst we make our way to the door to let you in.