Special Events

Occasional courses, workshops, retreats, arts and special interest events. 

Special Events

Embracing Liberation for All Beings
Wed, Nov 1, 2023

Out now - New EDJI Blog Fall Edition

From SFBC Equity Diversity Justice Inclusion (EDJI) Group and friends,

with contributions from rodashruti, danadasa, helen, dayamudra and more:

  • EDJI Welcome- Dayamudra
  • Social Endosmosis - Dayamudra
  • Teaching Dharma: Arabs & Islam - rodashruti
  • An Archaeology of Silence: An East Asian Perspective - Danadasa
  • Indigenous People's Day - helen
  • SFBC Land Acknowledgment - Prasadachitta
  • Honoring Day of the Dead - helen
  • (w) AIR Course starting in January 2024
  • Karuna USA Green Film Festival News

See our Mission Statement

January 2024
Wed, Jan 31, 2024

Beginning Wednesday January 10

The Rainy Season Retreat is an opportunity for the SFBC Core Sangha of order members and mitras to spend more time practicing together. The tradition goes back to the time of the Buddha when he and his followers gathered together to practice while the rains made it difficult to travel and teach.

Our theme for 2024 is Waking up to Imagination and in January we'll bring our imaginative faculties to a series of Pali Canon Suttas. (See Sangha Nights for more.)

Rainy Season Highlights 

Wednesday Sangha Nights 7pm to 9pm (hybrid), beginning Jan 10

(Sangha Nights are open to everyone; other events are open to Order Members and Mitras only.)

Discussion Groups for Order Members and Mitras

If you'd like to go a bit deeper with the Suttas from Sangha night you can join one of these discussion Groups. Registration required.

Tuesday Night On Zoom, with Pete

Thursday Night in Person, with Shunyamala

Other Gatherings and Offerings: 

Pujas, practice, hikes etc - let us know if there's something you'd like to offer or that you'd like to be offered.  More to come.

Order Member gathering Saturday Jan 6, 10am to 12 in person

Co-created Communication Practice Group, in person, with Padmatara, Mary and Mokshasi.  Tuesday evenings, 6pm, beginning Jan 9.

Puja, in Spanish and English, Friday Jan 19, 6pm in person, with Mokshasi and friends

Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice for GFR Mitras and Order Members - at least one Monday evening and one Saturday morning - tbc. 

Silent Meditation morning/afternoon - Saturday tbc

Donations

Please consider making an extra donation for the rainy season - the suggestion is $50 to $100 for the month, based on $10 to $5 per class, but whatever you can offer is very much appreciated.

PayPal is convenient (info@sfbuddhistcenter.org), or PayPal Giving Fund (less convenient but no fees), or Venmo (@SFBuddhistcenter), bank transfer, a check to San Francisco Buddhist Center - Triratna, or cash or credit card at the center. Thank you!

Information on Core Sangha, Order Members and Mitras

Saturday June 8, 5pm to Monday June 17 at noon.
Sat, Jun 8, 2024 to Mon, Jun 17, 2024

There is an aliveness and awakeness that we can recognize at any moment. It’s an openness to our full being - in body, senses and awareness. It points to what we really are, outside of conceptual fabrications. In recognising and opening to a spacious yet embodied presence, here and now, we may discover a timeless awareness-emptiness that is inseparable from loving, compassionate energy.

We’ll explore all this through sitting meditation, experiential ‘lookings’ and by discovering our own direct experience as awareness, simplicity, intimacy and aliveness. These four awakened qualities are the essence of the wisdom of the five Buddhas and offer a very hands-on 'map' of our immediate experience, pointing to what has been here all along, unnoticed. 

Tejananda  lives full-time at a retreat center in Wales and has taught meditation for many years. He will guide us in embodied practice, based in the direct experience of the living energy of our body and being. Embodiment means realizing our undivided wholeness, our natural positivity and our intrinsic capacity to see dharma truth directly - all through being open to the energy of the body, and by becoming attuned to its actual nature.

Experience

The retreat is for people with experience of meditation wishing to go deeper into meditation and insight. You should be comfortable being in silence with others for extended periods of time. If you're not sure please feel free to email us

The Gift of Silence

We will be mostly silent except for teachings, meditation reviews and mindful communication. It's a rare chance to take a break from making conversation and to see what happens when we really let ourselves be. We will provide an emergency number so that you do not need to check your phone.  If you don't feel comfortable putting your device/s aside please consider not attending. 

Health and Safety

We ask everyone to take reasonable precautions to protect against infection in the days leading up to the retreat. Please check all our requirements here.  

If you consider yourself at increased risk you should not attend.

We recommend that you don't travel long distance since there is always the risk of cancelation or illness in these uncertain times, but if you do, please be sure you have refundable tickets and/or a back-up place to stay.

Food and Work Periods 

All food is vegan, with eggs and dairy options on the side. To simplify cooking and cleaning in silence we have a cook to organize lunch and dinner, and everyone on the retreat chooses a task that they can do every day - either preparing breakfast, chopping vegetables, or cleaning dishes. If you have a preference please let us know in advance. There is also a clean up session that we all share at the end of the retreat. 

Free Time

There will be plenty of free time to hike or stroll around the area or relax. 

Dharmadhara

Is a rustic residence with a very beautiful shrine room, located  in Lake County – about 2.5 to 3 hours North of San Francisco. The main building has a kitchen, dining room, sitting room with wood burning stove, 7 small dorms, some with 2 beds, some with 3 beds, 3 indoor toilets and 2 showers. There are no private rooms. If you do not feel comfortable sharing a room with others we may be able to find space in the living room or shrine room, depending on numbers attending, so please get in touch about this before you register.  There is also the option to camp, although it will be cold, and possibly raining or snowing. 

Travel and Carpooling

We encourage carpooling and if you would like us to help you find a ride please let us know on your registration. If you are driving and can offer rides, please also let us know. Thank you! 

I'm sorry that we cannot arrange airport or train station pickups. 

Timing and Cost

The retreat is nine nights, beginning 5pm Saturday June 8, and ending Monday June 17 at noon.

The cost is $730 to $990 for nine nights, including shared accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, tea, coffee and snacks. 

There is no weekend option - please register only if you know you are able to stay the whole time. 

Registration and Payment

Registration deadline May 25. 

To register enter the amount you wish to pay in the Event Donation box and click add to cart. You can pay in full now ($730 to $990), or reserve your place with a $200 deposit and pay the rest by May 25. In the event that we need to cancel we will refund all payments. If there is a waiting list and you have not paid a deposit we will do our best to contact you but if we don't hear back we will give your place to someone else. Deposits are non-refundable after the registration deadline. 

Please pay the highest amount you are able within the range of $730 to $990. This helps us to cover the cost of the retreat leader, the cook, and others needing help with costs.  

If you need to request a rate lower than $730 please email us at info@sfbuddhistcenter.org and we will send you an application.

When you get to the checkout you will have the choice to pay now through paypal/credit card, or pay later.  (If you click pay now and don't actually pay now, your registration won't go through - contact us if you have any problems.)  If you choose pay later please send your check, payable to San Francisco Buddhist Center - Triratna, to SFBC, 37 Bartlett Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.