Details:
Date: Friday 10th – Saturday 18th October 2025
Retreat Leader: Venerable Mary Reavey
Requirements: Everyone is welcome
Cost: Generosity Model – Donation only (via the donation form at the bottom of the page; no suggested amount).
Format: Onsite
Start & Finish time: Starting with supper at 18:00 on the first day and finishing after lunch on the last day. A more detailed schedule will be released closer to the time.
Accommodation: Land of Joy wishes for everyone who visits the centre to feel welcome, accepted, safe and secure. Our accommodation options are very limited, with mostly single-sex shared accommodation with two-four people sharing rooms and only one single room (which is sometimes needed by volunteers). This means single accommodation can only be offered to those who need it the most, but still won’t always be available. Camping can be an option at certain times of year if you have your own tent, but space is very limited. Please read the relevant sections of the booking form carefully.
About the Retreat
Shamatha is the development of attention which enables us to focus our attention on an object without agitation or dullness, eventually reaching the clear mind of. Shamata (calm abiding) is the clear mind that provides us with the focus we need to positively transform our minds for ourselves and others. We all need to start where we are so no matter what our level of meditation might be, you will find benefit from training your attention.
With these skills, you will learn to:
– uproot negative habits,
– develop Bodhicitta,
– experience insights into the nature of reality and radically
– alter our relationship with the rest of the world (B. Alan Wallace)
This retreat will include teachings, and many 24-minute meditation sessions with time for reflection, Q&A and discussion. The structure will be based on the B. Alan Wallace’s book ‘The Attention Revolution’. Participants are gently encouraged to review this short text and, if possible, bring it with them to the retreat.
Ven Mary has attended long retreats on this topic with Lama Alan Wallace as well as completing a one-year solitary retreat under his guidance on Holy Island off the west coast of Scotland.
About the Teacher
Born in Dundee, Scotland, Ven Mary was a staff nurse when she first encountered Buddhism at the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition’s mother monastery – Kopan – in Nepal in 1978. It was her love of adventure and trekking that led her to Kopan. Ven Mary attend a month long course taught by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa who emphasised the importance of meditation and taking complete responsibility for your own actions and their effects.
In 2001 Ven Mary took ordination as a nun with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, then until 2012 taught meditation and Buddhist philosophy at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds, Buddhist centres in Preston, Liverpool and at Armley Prison, Dumfries Prison, Leeds General Infirmary, St James’ Hospital and Wheatfields Hospice where she held regular meditation sessions. Ven Mary went on to take full Bikshuni ordination in 2015.
Over years Ven Mary has undertaken and led many meditation retreats. She completed a one year solitary retreat in 2014 and completes a three month personal retreat each year. She continues to regularly teach at Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds, Jamyang Liverpool and in York. She is kind enough to teach onsite and offsite at Land of Joy each year.