A Weekend Retreat with Brendan Kennedy

Join us for a full weekend of meditation instruction and practice with our dear friend and meditation expert Brendan Kennedy!

When we meditate, most of us discover that we can’t let our minds just simply be without being any "thing". How can we free our minds from our karmic conditioning and habituation that prevents us from being who we really are—the innate Great Perfection? How can we begin to see or be the emptiness of mind and objects?

There are many methods to de-condition or de-habituate the mind so that it can start to be what it is; so it can start to be itself. For this weekend, we will explore one particular method (which involves other integrated methods) to help us be free from all the things that bind us—the practice of non-focusing. 

Brendan's teachings are suited to those who have cultivated a daily meditation practice and are looking to deepen their experiential understanding of the practice. Through practicing together and sharing about our practice in an open forum, Brendan guides us to look at and transcend our habitual blocks to awareness and clarity and to give up preoccupation and distraction from who we truly are. This approach leads each person toward freedom from the trappings of ego.

Brendan has been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for over 30 years. His main teachers are His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Sokste Rinpoche, and Lama Surya Das. Drawing on his deep study of Ramana Maharshi and Nisagardatta Maharaji, Brendan illuminates the complementary similarities between Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta in his teachings. Brendan offers a few intensive retreats each year but primarily focuses on synthesizing theory and practice at his desert hermitage in California.

Structure of the Weekend

Session One: Friday, March 26, 2021--7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Session Two: Saturday, March 27, 2021--10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Session Three: Saturday, March 27, 2021--2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Session Four: Sunday, March 28, 2021--10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Session Five: Sunday, March 28, 2021--2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Suggested donation for each session: $30

Suggested donation for the full weekend, or all five sessions: $150

Each session will be hosted via Zoom conferencing software. Links will either be sent with your order confirmation, or no fewer than one hour before the start of the event.

PMC Members, please enter your discount code when you register for the weekend. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Please email treasurer@pmctr.org for information about how to offer an amount of your choosing.