A Retreat for Young People

December 25 – 28, 2012

Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism – Plum Village Hong Kong, Lotus Pond Temple,
Ngong Ping Village, Lantau Island, Hong Kong

 Dear Friends,
 

We would like to announce the second Wake Up Youth Retreat at the Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism, Plum Village Hong Kong. Last January, we held our first weekend Wake Up Retreat. The memories from this last retreat made precious impressions on our spiritual journey and also offered good medicine to some of our mental and emotional ailments. We tasted together simple joys from the songs that we sang and the beautiful smiles seen on each others’ face. These happy memories have stayed with us and have continued to nourish our daily life.

Wake Up - Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, is a world-wide network of young people practising the living art of mindfulness. We share a determination to live in an awakened way, taking a 21st Century version of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings as our path and guiding light. Wake Up is a community of young practitioners who want to help their society which is overloaded with intolerance, discrimination, craving, anger and despair.

The retreat is lead by monastic brothers and sisters as well as long term practitioners from the Plum Village tradition. The retreat will be conducted in English, but Chinese translation will be provided at all times. In the retreat, we will practice mindful breathing and smiling. We will have guided sitting meditation sessions to help cultivate a healthy mind and train ourself in mindful breathing. Three meals will be served, which will be eaten in the spirit of mindfulness. We will do walking meditation and total relaxation to enjoy life and to connect gently with our body.   It is also a prime opportunity to practice Noble Silence; quieting our mind and refraining from talking. We come back to ourselves; to be still and know. We will also share in fun by performing songs and dance and being creative together.

The tentative program is as follow:

Accomodations & Cost: Accommodation for this retreat is limited to dormitory-room. Participants will be housed in dormitories (bunk beds) at Lotus Pond Temple and at the nearby SG Davis Youth hostel (25-minute liesurely walk to Lotus Pond Temple). Pillows, bed-linens, and blankets will be provided. The cost per person is listed below (in HK Dollars), based on bed space.

For those who are under financial constraints, please email us at retreats@pvfhk.org  

Working Meditation: Because the retreat is held in the monastery, all the preparation and cooking will be done by the monastics and some volunteers. During the retreat, we need help from participants in preparation works like: setting up the meditation hall and dining hall, washing up after meals… Participants will be grouped into Dharma sharing groups and will work together in the same groups to help with the retreat.

How to register: Registration is available online at the Plum Village Hong Kong Website at http://www.pvfhk.org on a first-come-first-serve basis. Registrations are not final until we receive your payment. Please make payment within one week after you register. If payment is not received within one week, your registration will be placed on a waiting list. For means of payment, details will be sent along with the confirmation email to those who completed online registration. Closing date for registration: December 18, 2012. Payment is not refundable for cancellation after December 15, 2012. For enquiries, please contact us by e-mail: retreats@pvfhk.org or by phone from 15:00 – 17:30 (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday): 2985-5033 (English), 2985-5281 (Chinese&English).

We are looking forward to seeing you at the retreat!

A lotus for you,
A Buddha to be.
Sr. Hanh Nghiem (Sr. True Adornment with Action) and Br. Phap Dung (Br. Dharma Courage)
The Retreat Registration Coordinators
Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism