Candace Robb came to Vipassana meditation in 2001 on a weekend retreat at Kripalu Center in the Berkshires, adding it onto a weeklong yoga retreat out of curiosity. She found it a heart-opening experience. Afterward she explored various Tibetan and Zen practices, but once she discovered the weekly sits at Seattle Insight she knew she had found her sangha. Since then she’s supported Seattle Insight as a volunteer, a manager of non-residential retreats, and a member of the board for four years. She’s co-facilitated a kalyana mitta group for over 15 years and is active in another one. Still combining Zen with vipassana in her daily practice, she takes the 4 bodhisattva vows as her inspiration: “Beings are numberless, I vow to save them; delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them; dharma gates are endless, I vow to enter them; the buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.” As Norman Fischer says, “these vows are perfectly impossible…so we practice them with joy and good humor.”
By profession Candace is a medieval historian and writes historical novels, primarily mysteries, all set in the long 14 th century in England, Scotland, and Wales. One of her dharma teachers has said it’s a healthy way to explore one’s shadow in a non-violent fashion.
