Annual Fall Retreat, September 26-28, 2025

How to Cope and Survive in Perilous Times: Practicing with the Eight Worldly Winds

The Buddha spoke of the Eight Worldly Winds: Gain and Loss, Praise and Blame, Pleasure and Pain, Fame and Disrepute, as experiences that often toss us around in our daily lives. As we practice to meet the ups and downs of life, we learn valuable insights about ourselves and each other. Rather than getting entrenched in dichotomies and blown around by uncertainty, we cultivate the capacity to meet the world with more compassion and grace. As we deepen our practice we learn ways to cope and to survive in these perilous times.

This retreat will include noble silence, and opportunities to connect in spiritual friendship, still and walking meditation, guided heart practice and chanting together.

We invite GBF members, friends, queer people of all genders, to join us for our retreat at the beautiful Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel, CA: https://landofmedicinebuddha.org .

In this 3 day (two-night) partly silent retreat, we will sit and walk in meditation together, chant, eat, and be in connection with nature and each other. The emphasis will be on deepening our practice of mindfulness, lovingkindness, and wise action in relationship—with ourselves, each other, our community, and the wider world.

The 31st GBF fall residential retreat is scheduled for September 26-28, 2025. The retreat will be taught by one of GBF’s favorite visiting teachers, JD Doyle.

The Land of Medicine Buddha is a Tibetan retreat center located on 108 acres in the scenic coastal foothills above Monterey Bay (https://landofmedicinebuddha.org/). It is a delightful retreat space. The grounds are quite beautiful, the meditation halls lovely.

Retreat Format

Schedule: we gather at 5:00pm on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025 and depart at 2:30pm, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025.

We welcome both beginners and long-time practitioners to join in a program that blends elements of a traditional silent retreat – sitting and walking meditation – with talks and exercises led by members of the sangha. Free time is included to walk the forest and socialize with others.

Accommodations

Various sleeping arrangements are available.  See the registration page.

If you have any questions, please contact Henry Rabinowitz (hrabinowitz@gmail.com) or Matthew Perifano (mjperifano@gmail.com) .

Meals

The Land of Medicine Buddha staff prepares delicious and healthy vegetarian meals. Lunch is the heartiest meal of the day. Unfortunately, they cannot accommodate individual dietary restrictions, so be prepared to bring supplemental food if you are concerned. Some refrigerator space can be provided.

Retreat Scholarship Fund

We offer scholarships to those who find the fee unaffordable. Please send an email to ​gaybuddhistfellowship@gmail.com requesting a Scholarship prior to registering, and include

1. A description of your situation (e.g., unemployed, disabled, limited income), and
2. What you are able to pay.

You will receive a reply within 1-2 days.

The deadline for scholarship requests is September 8, 2024.