Peace House Community Programs

We make our first floor available to organizations engaged in work or practice consistent with our mission on a limited basis. If you are interested in exploring the use of our space for a retreat or other occasional gathering, please reach out to us at cambridgepeacehouse@gmail.com

Mini-Retreat, Sunday, April 26, 2026,  9am - noon, in-person Art and Soul of Insight Dialogue

with Jan Surrey, Marsha Lawson, and Annie Hoffman 

 Anicca Dukkha - Suffering and Release and Change and the Eight Worldly Conditions (8 Worldly Winds)

(Registration details at end of email - all are welcome) 

“Bhikkhus, these eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions. What eight? Gain and loss, disrepute and fame, blame and praise, and pleasure and pain. ”  

‘This pain [of the worldly conditions] that I have met is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change.’  AN 8.6

This year, the Northeast Insight Dialogue Sangha is offering mini retreats on The Three Characteristics of our human existence:  Anicca: impermanence, Dukkha: suffering or stress, and Anatta:  no inherent, unchanging self or other.  

What is important about knowing the three characteristics of our human existence, seeing them deeply, practicing with them, navigating our lives with them, knowing the suffering of them, knowing the impermanence of them?  What does it mean to know the truth of the impermanence of the worldly conditions, sometimes translated as the eight “worldly winds”? We will investigate the continuous challenge of meeting our reactivity to these very human experiences of gain and loss, disrepute and fame, blame and praise, and pleasure and pain. 

Is there release in knowing ‘This pain [or pleasure] that I have met is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change.’?

In April, we will contemplate this teaching, practicing with the Insight Dialogue guidelines of Pause, Relax, Open, Attune to Emergence, Speak the Truth and Listen Deeply.  

The framework of this investigation is the practice of Insight Dialogue, a relational practice developed by Gregory Kramer and the Insight Dialogue Community. We will practice together to explore the teachings based in the Pali Canon, the collection of suttas in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

Please use the following link for more information about Insight Dialogue:  https://insightdialogue.org/relational-practices/insight-dialogue/. 

Registration: Please email Marsha Lawson at mjlawson118@gmail.com for registration - stating that you wish to attend. The program is limited to twenty people. We encourage you to register early to help us with planning. 

When: Sunday April 26, 2025. 9 am to noon.  Doors open for check-in at 8:30am. 

Where: Peace House, 362 Broadway, Cambridge 02139. A note from the Director of Peace House: "Peace House has a two-fold mission. We provide a sacred place that is first and foremost a monastic residence: a supportive place for monks to further their spiritual development. Second, through various offerings, we invite visitors to engage in spiritual discovery, meaningful community, and practice. We aim to create conditions where individual and collective peace, connection, and discovery can flourish." 

Cost/Dana: There is a suggested donation of $20, more or less, to go towards the maintenance of Peace House. Please bring cash, check, or donate directly to Peace House at their payment/donation page: https://www.cambridgepeacehouse.org/donations. 

Jan Surrey and Marsha Lawson will offer the teachings, and Annie Hoffman movement practice, on a dana basis. Dana is the system of generosity in giving and receiving that the Buddha initiated some 2500 years ago where teachers freely offered the teachings, and students gave what they could to support the teachers and the continuation of the teachings. To learn more about the practice of dana, please see https://insightdialogue.org/giving/.  You can give a financial donation to Jan via Jan's PayPal account and/or to Marsha via Venmo @marshajeanne or Marsha's PayPal  account.

Parking: Sunday parking on the streets is free. 

Questions: Please email Marsha Lawson at mjlawson118@gmail.com or call her at 207-233-8714. 

Health safety: Please do not come to this program if you have any symptoms of illness of any kind. Thank you for your consideration for the health of our group. Masks are optional.

‘Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine”… (Stephanie Kaza) . . . By keeping the precepts “one gives immeasurable freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression. By giving to immeasurable beings freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression, we ourselves will enjoy immeasurable freedom from fear, hostility, and oppression.” AN 8.39

For that's the purpose of discussion, that's the purpose of counsel, that's the purpose of drawing near, that's the purpose of lending ear: i.e., the liberation of the mind through no clinging. AN 3.67