Online Workshop with Peter Ralston and Brendan Lea

[Mihael Keehl]

I wanted to share my experience of participating in an online workshop (called: Communication and Relationship workshop)  with Peter Ralston and Brendan Lea via Zoom. 

Participating in this workshop was so great that it inspired me to share it on this forum because I think many people here could benefit a lot from it or other workshops from Peter like "Experiencing the Nature of Being".

At first I was skeptical whether this workshop can be effective when you are participating online and are not present at the center, but it turns out that it works very well online. 

One thing that surprised me was the fact that this workshop was really fun! I suspected that it will be very strict and you just have to shut up and contemplate, but  that was a wrong assumption. Brendan was fascilitating most of the time and Peter Ralston came in the evening to answere questions. Brendan is very good at fascilitating and he clearly has a lot of experience. 

There are several different exercises that you do which are very interesting. You also get to work with most of the other participants and see their perspectives. 

During the workshop I had a few interesting experiences which can be described as "consciousness expanding". One time we were investigating what a relationship is. When Brendan made an assertion about it and I grasped it experiencially, it was suddenly so obvious that I had to laugh for a long time. The fact that I was able to grasp something already on the first day of the workshop showed me how powerful this is compared to my own meditation and contemplation practice. 

I already registered for the "Experiencing the Nature of Being" (ENB) workshop in April and I am planning to do many more in the future. They are worth every penny.

Here is a link for more information: https://chenghsin.com/workshops/

[puporing]

Thanks for sharing! Was just looking up if there are feedbacks from folks from his workshops. I am just saving up to attend either his or Rupert's Spira's retreat. It is so much when you convert USD to CAD and I want to do it in person, but like you said it was worth it. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by puporing

[Mihael Keehl]

Peter sends out a fewsletter a few times per year. There you will find a lot of information from him, a lot of feedback from participants and Q&A. You can sign in for the newsletter on his website.

[tsuki]

Did you find the timezone gap tedious?

[kieranperez]

On 1/5/2022 at 4:50 PM, puporing said:

Was just looking up if there are feedbacks from folks from his workshops. I am just saving up to attend either his or Rupert's Spira's retreat.

Highly recommend you go to a Cheng Hsin retreat over Spira’s. Peter doesn’t really facilitate workshops anymore. He only really facilitates apprentices at this point but he drops down every day if you do a workshop like ENB, IEW, or a CI. Brendan is a great facilitator. The whole retreat is concentrated on you having a breakthrough and does a great job not deviating from that. At the end of the day though, the concentration to stay focused and on target is on you even if you go to a retreat. 

[puporing]

@kieranperez Thank you for the recommend! Yeah I am leaning towards Peter/Brendan's as well, that's too bad though that Peter doesn't lead it much anymore... darn, all good. Yes I guess you get out what you put into it.

Edited January 19, 2022 by puporing

[kieranperez]

3 hours ago, puporing said:

@kieranperez Thank you for the recommend! Yeah I am leaning towards Peter/Brendan's as well, that's too bad though that Peter doesn't lead it much anymore... darn, all good. Yes I guess you get out what you put into it.

Tbh I doubt there would be much difference when it comes to who facilitates.

On 1/5/2022 at 4:50 PM, puporing said:

It is so much when you convert USD to CAD and I want to do it in person, but like you said it was worth it. 

If you’re interested in working with Cheng Hsin you could always just do other enlightenment intensives as that’s basically the format they do if they aren’t doing their more unique workshops like ENB or TEL or something like that. 

[Koeke]

I'm thinking of doing an apprenticeship (8 months) at the centre. any thoughts?

[kieranperez]

1 hour ago, Koeke said:

I'm thinking of doing an apprenticeship (8 months) at the centre. any thoughts?

willing and able to put up $15k without putting yourself into a financial hole? are you able to take that much time off from work? if so I'd say it's worth it's worth it. 

[Koeke]

@kieranperez Yeah, I really like his dogma-free style. I feel like you can't really find that level of 'pure', dogma-free principled teachings anywhere. But then again, I have barely looked  . I am 20 years old and deliver food by bike for work, so taking time off work is not a problem. I will probably get the money by being a guinea pig for a few months for some medical research company.. I'll have to look into that some more though. 

I assume you've been to a retreat of his. Have you been to other spiritual centres? How do they compare?

Edited January 24, 2022 by Koeke

[kieranperez]

17 hours ago, Koeke said:

Yeah, I really like his dogma-free style. I feel like you can't really find that level of 'pure', dogma-free principled teachings anywhere

So a few things to this…

First off, I get where you’re coming from. I’ve been there. That said, this whole “dogma free thing” if you pay attention, is a dogma. It is true that Peter and Brendan don’t peddle dogma and that’s because they’re not teaching you anything, depending on how you hold “teaching”. I would say there’s a lot you can learn and take away if you pay attention to how Brendan facilitates and communicates and really get his experience (as Peter doesn’t really facilitate workshops anymore).

Regarding “dogma free teachings”, yes a lot of teachers say a bunch of phrases like “don’t believe me” or “this is not about beliefs” and what not (including actual Izard.org) and then they go on peddling cosmologies and worldviews which all must be taken on by belief. That’s what you’re left with when you’re given all that stuff. Peter and Brendan don’t do that. I appreciate that. That said, I would argue (and I actually have gone back and forth with Brendan on this) that there is a place for lineages and worldviews and what not. As I’ve also gone back and forth with those that participate in lineages to get what they’re actually doing that take or believe in the form as a reality despite it creating powerful and effective results if done well.

To me I think it’s a useful thing to go down there and experience but I don’t think it’s unique to them as that’s the place from which Cheng Hsin was founded on as Peter mostly did enlightenment intensives which was a secular orientation to contemplative practice that was 100% oriented towards having a breakthrough. That said, that very secular invention was founded upon the inventions made within Zen and Advaita so I think it’s rather hypocritical and dumb to trash organized practice and try to toss the baby out with the bath water as I think they tend to do. 

17 hours ago, Koeke said:

I assume you've been to a retreat of his.

Yes, their IEW workshop.

17 hours ago, Koeke said:

Have you been to other spiritual centres? How do they compare?

I’ve been with many other teachers and I encourage you to do the same. Reach out, put your ass on the line, experience it for yourself and find out. Ultimately only you and you alone can awaken. Other people can help facilitate but in the end it’s on you. No teacher or drug will do it. 

[Koeke]

53 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

That said, I would argue (and I actually have gone back and forth with Brendan on this) that there is a place for lineages and worldviews and what not. As I’ve also gone back and forth with those that participate in lineages to get what they’re actually doing that take or believe in the form as a reality despite it creating powerful and effective results if done well.

I don't understand the point you're trying to make here. That belief can be powerful and provide effective results?

55 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

Reach out, put your ass on the line, experience it for yourself and find out.

Yes, will do.

55 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

Peter mostly did enlightenment intensives which was a secular orientation to contemplative practice that was 100% oriented towards having a breakthrough. That said, that very secular invention was founded upon the inventions made within Zen and Advaita so I think it’s rather hypocritical and dumb to trash organized practice and try to toss the baby out with the bath water as I think they tend to do. 

So in your experience, how does Cheng Hsin compare to these more secularly orientated institutions in Zen and Advaita? What is the baby that Peter and Brendan throw out with the bathwater?

 

[kieranperez]

51 minutes ago, Koeke said:

So in your experience, how does Cheng Hsin compare to these more secularly orientated institutions in Zen and Advaita

I’m saying Cheng Hsin is a rather secular orientation to contemplative work. I’m not saying that’s good or bad or that that itself is a complete view. 

As far as how Cheng Hsin compares to Zen and Advaita and what not, there’s no real ultimate way of answering that I’d say. Zen and Advaita are traditions that have evolved greatly over time. Cheng Hsin and the enlightenment intensive format that Cheng Hsin utilizes in their CI’s was derived from the fruits and results that came from traditional Zen sesshins and dyads that evolved out of Japan (which evolved out of China and of course India) and Advaita/Ramana Maharshi’s self inquiry. The enlightenment intensive format, I would make the case. is actually an Orange invention that transcended and included the fruits and results from thousands of years of work done within these fabulous yet incomplete inventions, namely the traditions. 

So again, asking me to compare the two is a rather broad question such that I don’t really know where to start to try and answer that. Which ones is best (for you) is what I imagine you might really be asking to which I of course don’t know. I don’t know your temperament, what you want, and so forth. I think the traditions offer practices and stuff that Cheng Hsin just doesn’t really offer. Such as monasticism, an orientation and opportunity to follow a contemplative life that is oriented towards transcending self, becoming conscious of the Absolute, and, in some cases be able to be of service to others, society, and the environment. They can also offers practices that aren’t really about enlightenment as much as you could say it is about maybe the capacities of the mind. Like the many practices the yogis undertake and so forth. 

Nonetheless, I would still nevertheless recommend you go to a workshop with them. To my understanding though, they don’t accept apprentices who haven’t done a workshop with them before. That said, I’d reach out to them about that if your serious and check out the website. If you’re new to this whole enlightenment thing I actually think a Cheng Hsin workshop would be a good place to start if you can afford it as you don’t have a lot of concepts that might get in the way. 

As far as what is the baby they’re tossing out with the bath water - the traditions and lineages. 

1 hour ago, Koeke said:

I don't understand the point you're trying to make here. That belief can be powerful and provide effective results?

First off, belief is inevitable. Really get what beliefs are. When you walk to a bus stop, there is an implicit assumption that the bus will arrive and so forth. Of course, you don’t really know (not that you really question whether or not your bus is going to come every time you go to a bus stop- for example) but your actions indicate something that doesn’t reflect direct knowledge. It’s useful to toss beliefs and so forth but beliefs inevitable. 

Secondly, my point was manifold. I recommend you read what I wrote again. 

Hope this helps.

[Thought Art]

I will attend one of these one day.

[Koeke]

@Thought Art Cool. Would love to read about your experience!

[blessedlion1993]

I went to a Ralston retreat, i did 2 of them back to back, was very insightful and also very difficult.