In this moment of difficulty in which we find ourselves, unimaginable even a month ago, our lives have been turned upside down. We are faced with a growing global problem, and in our personal lives, the obligation to remain at home has curtailed our basic freedom of movement.

As practitioners of Vipassana and Metta we would like to turn this period to our advantage by developing human qualities and spending our days in a beneficial way.

The Board at Pian dei Ciliegi, having already had to cancel a few retreats due to the administrative restrictions, has decided to offer an opportunity for practice by organizing an online sitting of guided meditation every evening of the week (including weekends) from 20:30 to 21:30 through the platform Zoom. The session will be open to all – members as well as non-members – and will be guided in turn by Luisa Lazzarotto, Federica La Rosa, Dario Curti, Adriano Emina, Albina Locarno and Massimo Bonomelli.

If the initiative meets with the positive response we hope for, we will be in a position to invite other teachers to participate, offering teachings in English as well, to make the proposal beneficial to everyone.

At the moment we have space only for a hundred participants, but in the event that there is a greater request we will try to provide a larger meeting room.

In order to enter ‘the virtual meditation room’ it will be necessary to download the app Zoom available for Android, iOS, and the computer.

If you use a computer you can do it via the link: https://zoom.us/download

For an android smartphone use the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.zoom.videomeetings&hl=it

For I pad or Iphone use: https://apps.apple.com/it/app/zoom-cloud-meetings/id546505307

Once downloaded, follow the registration instructions.

(For computer users, if you prefer not to download the app to your desktop, you can use it directly through the browser Chrome, or another browser if problems were to arise).

This is the link to join the meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/990040673

This is the code, should it be requested: 990 040 673

We encourage you to arrive to the meeting room already prepared, having already registered your account, so there is no delay in entering. At the same time, access will only be granted at about 20:30, with early arrivals kept waiting till the room is opened by the administrators.

Please leave us your feedback (even of a technical nature) on this page.

We wish you good practice.

Dear friends,

we sadly have to announce the cancellation of all our meditation retreat scheduled until April 25th 2020.

We had to make this difficult decision, as you can imagine, because of the new government measures to contrast the spreading of the Covid-19. Since the whole country is in a state of emergency, and we have great concern for the health and wellbeing of all, we have decided to close down the centre at least until April 25th 2020.

We hope to see you soon here in Pian dei Ciliegi for a retreat, and wish you good health and peace of mind in this difficult (and hopefully limited ) situation.

The Pian dei Ciliegi Board

WE HAVE PUBLISHED OUR 2020RETREAT SCHEDULE

Please keep in mind that retreat bookings will open on Saturday, January 11^th at 8.00 a.m.  and have to be made through our website. To apply for a retreat you have to be a member of the Pian dei Ciliegi Association; if you aren’t,  you can apply for membership by logging in with your credentials, going to the user’s menu and clicking on “apply for membership.

Dear Members,

This is a particularly important communication for the future of the Association Pian dei Ciliegi, so we ask you please to read it carefully.

After prolonged deliberation, the Directive Council has decided to introduce certain changes to the regulations as regards the amount and payment of the retreat quota and membership fees.

1a. Payment of the Membership Fee irrespective of participation in a retreat

The Council has decided that membership fees to the association should be paid irrespective of one’s participation in a retreat.

From a spiritual point of view this would mean adhesion to the Association and a sharing in its fundamental mission, namely the diffusion of Satipatthana Vipassana and Metta. As you know, and as the present Sangha testifies, Pian dei Ciliegi offers a unique opportunity for practice, in Italy as in Europe, even in terms of its cost/quality ratio, as well as the teachings which are freely offered in this tradition.

From an economic point of view, this will allow us to rely on a more stable and dependable number of members, which also means it will allow us a more secure source of income to cover the costs of the ordinary maintenance of the center (rent, bills, secretarial costs etc.) that represent about a quarter of the total expenditure.

So we hope that members, recognizing and appreciating the activities of the center, will choose to adhere to the Association, independently of their participation in retreats in 2020.

1b. Anticipated Payment of the Membership Fee

            To encourage greater participation on the part of members in the life of the Association, and to enjoy a more serene economic outlook, the Directive Council has also decided to ask associates to pay their annual membership fee for 2020 by 31^st December 2019. This is not a binding date, as it will be possible to pay the membership fee even further on, but not after 20^th September 2020. But we hope that later payments will only occur with new first-time members.

1c. Loss of Membership Status

            A direct consequence of the non-payment of the membership fee will be the forfeiture of one’s membership status. Starting in 2016 – year in which the admission procedure was modified and digitalized – there has been an ever-growing membership list (which now numbers more than 1700) with its additional secretarial costs and responsibilities. So, as unpleasant as it may be, in October 2020 the directive council will deliberate the exclusion of all non-paying members of 2020, to facilitate the management of the Association and of the annual assembly.

1d. Request for New Membership

            A disqualified member can in future re-participate in a retreat at Pian dei Ciliegi by reapplying for membership in the manner described on the website, and already in use.

2. Amount of the Membership Fee and Retreat Quota

            Another change will be to the amount of the membership fee of 15€ which has remained unchanged for the last 17 years. From 2020, in fact, it will become 25€. But the daily quota of the retreat will be reduced once again to 30€ because there is no longer a necessity for the large outlay of expenses for the construction of new bathrooms and the phytodepuration plant that characterized 2019. The modification to the amounts of the quotas will not change the total cost for those who participate in just a single weekend retreat, well as for those participating in longer retreats it will represent a substantial savings.

            We hope that these changes will be well-received by you, because we also recognize that there have been several substantive changes in the last years which you have already had to accommodate. However, there is also a growing complexity to the management of the Center, and as the Directive Council we have to face situations – normative or economic – that require our careful consideration. Entrusting ourselves then to your understanding, we wish you fruitful practice and good progress in your meditation.

Associazione Pian dei Ciliegi

Bank: Unicredit  

Address: Via Roma, 2 29027 Podenzano (PC) - Italia

IBAN code: IT36S0200865410000104574143

Foreign bank transfers: SWIFT CODE: UNCRITM1V57

A heartfelt thank you from the Pian dei Ciliegi staff

Dear friends,

we have come to the end of our retreat season, and the centre will close until the end of December. This year about 400 people have joined our Satipatthana Vipassana and Metta retreats, and the places available in almost all our retreats were taken. We apologize with those of you who weren’t able to take part in a retreat because it was full.

We’d like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have supported Pian dei Ciliegi through the years (and are still supporting us), in manyfold ways; it is also thanks to your mindful presence and dedication that Pian dei Ciliegi has become such a valuable place for the practice of the Dhamma, and an important reference point for many yogis.

Our 2020 retreat schedule will be published around the middle on November, and communicated through our website www.piandeiciliegi.it, our mailing list and our facebook page (sangha di pian dei ciliegi). We will open our retreat bookings the second week of January 2020.

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