Yes. Students keep complete silence from the evening of the first day (after dinner) to the morning of the last (after breakfast).

Philosophical Study and Meditation retreats take energy, commitment and discipline. Especially for beginners, being in retreat is not easy and we have to adjust to keeping silence. Tushita aims to provide an environment conducive to self-reflection, and our silence policy is a crucial part of maintaining that environment. In order to best attune yourself to this, please read more about this Retreat Environment here.

There are 2 common misconceptions about silence on retreat:

1) Silence does not only mean not speaking, but any form of communication which will distract yourself or others from concentrating on the retreat (extroverted physical expression, gesturing or writing notes to other students, for example).

2) Silence on retreat also doesn’t mean the complete absence of noise. This is India, perfect silence is very rare! We're located in a forested area, so it's generally peaceful, but you can expect to hear a little noise from the local village, monkeys, delivery trucks etc.

Also, the focus here is on the study of Buddhist Philosophy, which involves lecture-style teaching. The teachers also make time during the teaching sessions for students to ask questions, and participants are allowed to take notes and keep journals related to their experiences on the course. Reading of Dharma books is encouraged. This is in contrast to meditation-only retreats such as Goenka Vipassana (see a related question which compares them here).

Through silencing our body and speech, we will become much more aware of the absence of silence in our mind. In working to quieten our mind, we may experience a lot of ups and downs during the retreat. True silence is the quietening of our own minds. Being in an environment where other people are respecting these rules is enormously helpful in maintaining them yourself, but the aim is not to control the outside environment and the behaviour of others, but to develop patience and stillness within ourselves. Therefore, please be gentle in your behaviour and sensitive to fellow course participants and staff.

The only time for communication with other students is a one-hour ‘discussion group’ session in each of the first 6 days. Students are spilt into groups of around 6 - 10 people and asked to discuss points raised during the teachings. All students are required to join these discussion groups. Although it can be difficult to return to silence after this hour, feedback from students at the end of courses consistently tells us that the discussion groups are of great benefit.

Please be aware that silence at all other times is compulsory. For many people, this may be the first time they have ever spent more than a few hours without communicating with others, and it can be a very challenging experience. Body and mind are not used to these very different circumstances and may react with discomfort, restlessness, boredom, doubt, criticism, or fatigue. Preparing yourself by anticipating these reactions, and committing to stick to the discipline of retreat even if they arise can be transformatory.

This is why, in addition to the silence policy described above, we ask you to ensure that you have completed all your outside communications/travel arrangements etc before you arrive for check-in, to put any communication or entertainment devices (phones, cameras, laptops, MP3 players etc) into our safe and not to leave the property for the duration of the course. Students who do not follow these rules will be reminded of them by teachers and staff; if the student has to be reminded a number of times, they will then be asked to leave the course.

You can read more about our rules of discipline here.