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Taking it to heart: Making the Dharma your own

Repeats every week until Sun Dec 02 2018 except Mon Nov 19 2018.
7:00 pm Monday, November 5, 2018

Dharma study is rich with ideas for understanding our lives and how to live them. We can come out of a class with our minds buzzing:

"What about this aspect of karma?"

"Understanding impermanence really helped me come to grips with that loss in my life... I wonder what others took from it."

"I still can't get my mind around emptiness and dependent arising."

Our teachers advise us that discussion and debate are a good method for bringing the teachings alive and weaving them into our thought processes. In these facilitated discussion sessions, we invite everyone --  past and future Discovering Buddhism students and teachers, and anyone else who wants to discuss foundational Buddhist topics in the context of day-to-day practice. Each week will have its own topic as a jumping off point.

December 3 - There are so many ways to think about practice. "Sit Every Day" and "Daily Life is Practice" are two of them. What do you think?

November 26 - The Lion's Roar article "Turn Your Thinking Upside Down" is excerpted from Practicing Peace, by Pema Chödrön. It is rich with discussion material focusing on the idea "We base our lives on seeking happiness and avoiding suffering, but the best thing we can do for ourselves—and for the planet—is to turn this whole way of thinking upside down. Pema Chödrön shows us Buddhism’s radical side."

November 12 - Venerable Robina answers the question "What is Anger?" in this Mandala Magazine article. Also, reprinted from “Anger,” by Thich Nhat Hanh, this Lion's Roar article teaches you how to relax the bonds of anger, attachment, and delusion through mindfulness and kindness toward yourself. Which of these methods are helpful to you? How similar or different are they from conventional methods?

November 5 - In this Lion's Roar article "How to Practice Metta for a Troubled Time," Mushim Patricia Ikeda teaches us how to generate loving-kindness and good will as an antidote to hatred and fear. Have you tried this? Does it work? Is it possible to feel like we are making any impact when we think about these "troubled times?" Throughout the discussion weeks, we'll use this FPMT article "Method, Wisdom and the Three Paths" by Geshe Lhundrub Sopa to put our discussion into context. 

The discussion groups will meet November 5, 12 and 26, and December 3 and 10.  We will not meet the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa