Awakening the Bodhi heart

Opening to self and others with empathy and compassion

Sun

Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good, move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion. It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed. - The Buddha.

Genuine compassion arises as the ability to go beyond self. This requires that we transcend our preoccupation with our own happiness and suffering. This does not happen overnight. This happens through training the heart/mind (chitta). This happens by regular meditation where we see our self-cherishing for what it is and set about to consciously expand our awareness of others and learn to understand and love them.

Our starting point is openness to self and others. As meditators, one of the first things we can do is to look honestly at the world from behind another's eyes. Experience that person's craving for happiness and fear of suffering with the same immediacy that we would if their heart and mind were ours. We may see that this individual's immense hope and fear are even greater than our own. See the similarities we all share. We cannot even begin to commit ourselves to the path of selfless compassion if our mind is unable to sense the sameness of the ground we all stand upon.

Open to those familiar with the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana and practicing within the Triratna tradition.

Having empathy for others
One sees that all beings love life and fear death.
Knowing this, one does not attack or cause attack.

The Dhammapada

When

Start: 11 May 2018 at 7:00pm
Finish: 13 May 2018 at 12:00pm

Cost

$260 Waged
$210 Unwaged or low waged

Caring for each other's health

Before attending, please read our current Covid Guidelines. This is part of how we practice together.

Location

Image of Sudarshanaloka
Sudarshanaloka

Tararu Valley, Thames

Led by

Portrait of Karunajoti
Karunajoti

Karunajoti’s first introduction to Buddhism was through a meditation class at the Auckland Buddhist Centre in 1999. This led to a strong desire to…

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