Mitsuaki David Chi:
Sometimes, a person has to let go of some candy if he wants gold.
For me, I find it way more difficult to practice at home. The energy is just not the same.
The candy is meditating in a place labelled home, and the gold is meditating in a place labelled retreat centre? You talk about the energy not being the same. But, for example, couldn't one just investigate one's whole deal with their environment for meditation as a subject of vipassana. Or, if one is in jhana, how can there possibly be a difference in the practise? Unless you have kids hanging from your neck and your wife hitting the back of your head with a pan repeatedly, why go to a retreat center? You're paying people for a room when you already pay for a house!
Earlier in the thread I was questioned if I was even for buddhist practises in general, since this was an emulation of sangha. But as far as that's concerned, that's just it, it's an emulation. I thought he whole point of monasteries is that you're either in or you're out, and there are many good reasons why that is so. Working in the world like a dog for months, effectively forgetting the big picture, and then just taking a solid few weeks to practise just seems unintegrated. Of course, all this isn't about enlightenment or effective technique, it's about the whole thing, the world.
I mean, I certainly don't mind of course if people go to retreats or not, I can see their uses to an extent. But it has been said for hundreds of years by many meditators, "if you cant meditate in the marketplace, then it's not meditation", or the like.
I only mention this in the first place because Daniel Ingram's writings, among others on this website, is first rate and as insightful as reading something can be. But in the middle of this golden palace of actual practise hints, there is a dodgy scaffolding area.
It doesn't matter really, this is one of those 'morality' training things, and one is never going to convince another in either direction by talking about it.
Joshua