PLEASE BE SURE TO READ OUR COVID PROTOCOL (recently modified) BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE CENTRE

 
We’d like to wish you a peaceful 2022, of growth in wisdom, compassion, and in the knowledge of the Dhamma. We also hope that you will be able to join a meditation retreat here in Pian dei Ciliegi, or online in our virtual meditation hall, in the belief that a period of intensive practice helps to develop precious qualities such as awareness, kindness and equanimity, all the more important in these uncertain times.
 
On our website www.piandeiciliegi.it you will find our retreat program for 2022. Bookings will open on 15 January 2022 at 8.00 for our retreats in presence until 3 July and the August retreat led by Bhante Sujiva. From May 1st it will be possible to register for the remaining retreats.
 
These are the three steps to follow to sign up:
1. register on our website and log in (if you do not remember your username or password you can ask to recover it); make sure you are logged in before proceeding
2. apply for membership to the association by filling in the relevant form in the user menu (if you are not yet a member of the association)
3. in the user menu, click on "book a retreat", choose the retreat you are interested in from the list, click on "sign up", fill out the form and the questionnaire and send.
You will receive a first automatic e-mail with details about payment, which is to be made out within five days. When your payment is verified by the administration, you will receive a second final confirmation e-mail, with links to useful information files.
 
The retreat fee is 35 euros per day for retreats at the centre, and 20 euros total for online weekend retreats. The annual membership fee for 2022 is 25 euros.
You can apply for a sponsorship to cover all or part of your retreat fee, through our retreat fund, by writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
Also this month Ven. Viranani will guide us in the practice of Metta on Saturday January 15th, from 8.30 to 10.00. please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the credentials to enter the Zoom virtual room.

There will be a Karuna (Compassion) online retreat  from 19 to 26 of March led by Sr Virañani assisted by Federica La Rosa with translation by Donatella Levi. Instructions are provided in the morning session and a Dhamma talk at 2 pm every day. If you would like to register please follow the link  
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.piandeiciliegi.it/it/iscrizioni-ai-ritiri-online.html

We remind you of the opportunity to enter the "Cherry Tree", a virtual International Meditation Room run by Pian dei Ciliegi open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for all those who practice mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) and Loving Kindness (Metta) wherever they are and at any time of the day. You can find more information on our website.
 
With Metta
The Pian dei Ciliegi Board
 

We have published our 2022 detailed retreat program. You can find it in the section “retreats” of our website.

Bookings will be possible starting from Saturday January 15^th 2022 at 8.00 for retreats from April 3^rd to July 1^st and for the August retreat, and starting from Sunday May 1^st at 8.00 for the remaining retreats.

To book a retreat you need to follow the following steps:

1. register on our website and log in (if you are already registered but have forgotten your username and / or password you can ask to recover it) - make sure you are in the user area before proceeding

2. apply for membership to the association by completing the form in the user menu (unless you are already a member of Pian dei Ciliegi APS)

3. in the user menu, click on “book a retreat”; a list will open with the teacher's photo, available places and other useful information.

4. choose the retreat from the list and click on the photo; a page will open with the label "subscribe"- click on it

5. fill in the booking form, then click on "send".

Make sure that the procedure is successful (you should receive an automatic confirmation email, which sometimes ends up in the junk mail)

In case of problems, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Due to the regulations relating to the containment measures of Covid19, we must reduce the number of participants in our retreats to 19/20; this is the only way to ensure regular distancing between people in the meditation room and, above all, in the dining room.
 
We will ask you to respect the other restrictions required by the legislation, that is to wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, to use the hand cleansing gel (which will be made available), to wear the protective mask in the common areas inside the building and to use gloves made available for cleaning the bathroom (or your personal ones, preferably).
 
It would be desirable that those with greater autonomy of practice meditate in their own room; in this way there would be more space in the meditation hall. The same goes for those who want to feel more protected.
 
Meals will be served individually by the kitchen staff and not as a buffet as before. There will be two seats at the table, separated by a divider.We will take care to ensure sufficient air exchange in the common areas.
 
We ask you to make sure that you have no flu symptoms in the days prior to your arrival and that you have not recently been in contact with people with Covid19. You will be asked at check-in to sign a release in this regard.
If you develop flu symptoms during the retreat you will be asked to leave the center as a precaution. If, when you return home, symptoms attributable to a Covid19 infection occur, we kindly ask you to let us know.

To join a retreat in Pian dei Ciliegi, it is necessary to comply with the current Italian legislation, in force from December 6th 2021 to  January 15th  2022, which requires the person either to be fully vaccinated against Covid, or to have recovered from Covid or to have had a Covid Test carried out in the 48 hours prior to  their arrival.
 
Here is a list of things to bring for your stay at the center:
• Comfortable clothes
• enough  clothing to cover the duration of the retreat
• Sheets or sleeping bag and pillowcase
•Towel
• Personal toiletries
• Any medicines you may need
• Meditation cushion or bench (if you want to use your own, but the center can provide cushions of various sizes suitable for meditation; individual mats are arranged in the room)
• House slippers
• Notebook and pen
• Personal masks 
• Personal blanket or shawl to use during meditation.
 

Welcome to the Association Pian dei Ciliegi, which organizes meditation retreats in Vipassana (Insight) and Metta (Loving Kindness) for the development of Mindfulness and other human qualities through the practice of meditation. Vipassana mindfulness goes beyond the ordinary mindfulness we have in quotidian life, and may be developed to the point where it becomes a Spiritual Power that permits us to experience a Transcendent Reality known as the Unconditioned or Nibbana. The path progresses through the development of “insights”, experiences of wisdom, or an intuitive understanding into the three universal characteristics of existence: Impermanence (Anicca in the Pali language), Unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha) and the Absence of a Self (Anatta). The scriptures and commentaries list 16 levels of insights leading to the experience of the Unconditioned. This very real goal presents an enormous opportunity for human beings, and is within reach of all those who dedicate themselves to the practice with faith and determination, following the method and the indications of the teachers. We would like to stress the value of a retreat especially in the context of modern society where such an opportunity is hard to come by, for here we have the possibility to enter along a path of interior research traced by the Buddha himself, and which has been followed by many Noble Persons in the course of time.

At one of its recent meetings, the Board at Pian dei Ciliegi has decided to establish a fund that will permit its more motivated yogis to participate in extended retreats here at Pian dei Ciliegi itself, or at other related centers such as the Panditarama Lumbini International Vipassana Meditation Center, the Panditarama Shwe Taung Gon Sasana Yeiktha in Yangon, the Santisukkarama Centre in Malaysia, the Centres that followthe tradition of di U-Janaka).
It is the feeling of the Board that the fund be comprised of donations made by meditators or supporters, in such a way as to allow them to develop the virtue of Dana (generosity) which, alongside Sila (moral conduct) and Nekkhamma (renunciation), is a fundamental aspect of the practice, and which we will never tire of underlining.

Dana, or Generosity is one of the cornerstones of Buddhist teaching and of the practice of Vipassana meditation. Along with Sila, Morality, it is both a pre-requisite and grounds for training, in so far as we develop these during our practice. Without the support of these two factors it is not possible to develop right concentration, and hence the wisdom that leads to liberation; they go hand in hand with each other, and as we grow in wisdom and in our understanding of the Dhamma, so too does the wish to develop these qualities grow spontaneously in us. As with Metta and the other Brahma-Viharas, they are innate to human beings who have exercised right effort in the cultivation of mind, rather than abandoning themselves to their more basic instincts related to the mental defilements.

Let's go on a tour around the center

photos by Roby Morleo