Vipassana Meditation weekend

Liberation in three movements

Human existence is dependent on various conditions that need to be fulfilled. As situations continuously change this causes external stress, often resulting in suffering. We become free from this conditioning, by being able to relinquish internal distress remaining equanimous. This liberation consists of three steps.

1. Based on some discipline (relaxed effort and friendly attitude) one can develop concentration, either in the form of increased attention or loving kindness. This gives temporary relief in the form of serenity.

2. Based on developed insight one can discover the mental mechanisms that keep us caught and relinquish them. This makes mind-states and behaviour more wholesome.

3. Still it is possible that new mental mechanisms leading to suffering arise. By understanding the need for this also this can be released. This way one obtains sustainable freedom.

The retreat will be given as a sequence of sitting and walking
exercises of each 45 minutes, together with instructions, Dhamma Talks about the theory, and Q&A sessions.

> Complete program and timetable here <

Language English translated in Italian

Teachers Henk Barendregt and Mirjam Hartkamp

Italian translation Antonino Raffone

Dana The retreat is based on the dana (generosity) > More informations <

Reader  Instructions and theory 

Book (as possible preparation, nice books but not compulsory)
Nyanaponika Thera: The heart of Buddhist meditation.

> Registrations closed <

After registering you will receive a message of your acceptance within ten days.

Henk Barendregt (1947) studied Mathematical Logic in 1971 at Utrecht University, where he received his PhD cum laude in 1971 under Dirk van Dalen and Georg Kreisel. His best known works in logic are The Lambda Calculus, Its Syntax and Semantics (translated into Russian and Chinese), 1981, Elsevier, and Lambda Calculus with Types, 2013, Cambridge University Press. Henk Barendregt studied from 1972 to 1979 Zen meditation with Kobun Chino Roshi (1938-2002) in California, and from 1977 to 2006 Vipasssana meditation with Phra Mettavihari (1942-2007) in the Netherlands. In 2006 he was qualified with 13 other senior students to teach vipassana in the style of Mahasi Sayadaw. Henk Barendregt has received substantial research funds from Nijmegen University (1997), the Spinoza award in 2002 from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO), and became in 2012 distinguished Lorentz fellow of the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies and Leiden University. Given funds enabeled him to direct an interdisciplinary research group towards understanding insight meditation and its effects in neuropsychological terms. Barendregt, Knight in the Order of the Nederlandse Leeuw (Dutch Lion), holds memberships of the Academia Europaea, the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences.

Mirjam Hartkamp, Ph.D is a meditation teacher with the Dutch Insight Meditation Society (SIM) and co-founder of IMI association (Insight Meditation Investigations). Since 2014 she is  teacher in residence of the prestigious Dutch Comenius Institute, and holds yearly international several vipassana-based mindfulness retreats, also in collaborating with prof. Henk Barendregt.  Mirjam received her training in art-, and psychotherapy at Leiden University of Applied Science and the Dutch Academy for Psychotherapy. In addition, she studied Buddhist philosophy at University of Amsterdam and holds a master degree in Cognitive science. She completed her PhD on the effects of meditation at La Sapienza, university of Rome, and is a reviewer for the Springer Journal of Mindfulness. In her teachings Mirjam emphasizes compassion and loving kindness, as a way to arrive to a state where we can be at ease and at peace with ourselves, in our relations and with life in general. She currently lives in Rome and Amsterdam where she teaches meditation and provides therapy based on insights from Buddhism. 

Antonino Raffone, Ph.D., completed a Ph.D. in Psychology at the Sapienza University of Rome, and the European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences. He holds a position of Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of the Sapienza University of Rome. Both research and teaching of Dr. Raffone are mainly focused on consciousness, attention and mindfulness, and their neural correlates, with different methods of investigation. Dr. Raffone has been author of several international research articles on these topics and related aspects, including publications in the “Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience”, “Psychological Review”, and “Consciousness and Cognition”. In particular, he has edited a theme issue of “Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B” on perceptual awareness. Antonino Raffone is active in promoting practice of mindfulness and meditation in several contexts, including prisons, and related research. He has organized several national and international events about mindfulness, and directs the Master in “Mindfulness: Practice, Clinical Applications and Neuroscience” at the Sapienza University of Rome. Dr. Raffone started to study and practice Buddhism and meditation in 2004 with Prof. Peter Harvey, and then became a dedicated Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner (with Ven. Dario Doshin Girolami), tradition in which he received a lay ordination in 2009. He assists Henk Barendregt in Vipassana meditation retreats.