This was the introductory talk for the annual one week retreat. Traditionally, Buddhist retreats begin with “Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha” and “The Five Precepts”. Peter described the intention of “taking refuge” and “the precepts” through a document provided for all the retreatants: COMMITMENTS FOR AWAKENING These commitments restate the intentions from a more contemporary perspective: commitments to persistently cultivate mindful awareness from waking to sleeping; to be mindful of the emergence of desire, the emergence of aversion, the emergence of speech (including internal narratives), the emergence of interpersonal dynamics, and the emergence of interactions with the environment.
These commitments are intended to foster the process of awakening, which was described as a dynamic awareness, not a state of being.