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Crouching Ego, Hidden Buddhas
October 3, 2020 - October 4, 2020
A Weekend Experience
Online Classes: 9am-10:30am and 3pm-4:30pm MST on both days, October 3-4th.
You may have tried applying mindfulness and meditation techniques in the past, and find them helpful for ordinary problems, but not tough enough for the big problems, like climate change, inequality and all the change that comes with this global pandemic. Although humans are remarkably adaptable, this pandemic has brought greater isolation, deeper financial woes (for many), and a challenge to our core values.
At the same time, when our state is off, it’s no fun for anyone. The thing is, we don’t have to be part of an emotional plague, we can learn to cultivate wholesome emotional states that feel good. We can turn uncomfortable emotions around and tap into boundless love, compassion, joy and equanimity.
What You’ll Learn
In these four live streamed classes, Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei will share four sustainable, positive states, and how to spend more time in them going forward. These four states are called the Brahma Viharas in Buddhism.
The Brahma Viharas are sometimes known in Buddhism as the four sublime abidings or the four immeasurables. We’ll learn how to: transform anger into loving kindness for self and other, – channel our energy to act and speak our truth for the benefit of self and others, – experience empathetic joy for others, – and be unmoved in the face of ongoing and sometimes extreme change. We can leverage these four tools in everyday life, ultimately training ourselves and others how to be in a state of grace 24/7.
Over this weekend we’ll learn more about these four sustainable, positive states, and how to spend more time in them going forward. We also expect to explore Mudita more deeply, (one of the lesser known Brahma Viharas) and how we can further develop this emotional state through our connections with community/ Sangha.
Meet the Teachers
Catherine Pawasarat
Doug Duncan
Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat are Dharma and meditation teachers who founded Clear Sky Meditation Centre, BC, Canada. Achariya Doug Duncan received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 1978, and is a lineage holder in that teaching. Known for his direct, humourous and compassionate engagement with students, Doug embraces various traditions, contemporary psychology, and science, to mentor all beings to a more awakened state. Catherine Pawasarat has trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan since 1998 in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. She received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine also draws on generative living and the arts. With Doug she is co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center in the BC Rockies.
It has been sheer joy to be a participant in the Foundations of Buddhist Philosophy streamed classes. They made the practice come alive for me and accessible and pertinent to my every-day life. And of course, I always enjoy Doug and Catherine’s unfailing good humour which put a lighter touch on what can sometimes be a very dry subject.
Fabulous mindfulness teachers, presenting a variety of accessible tools for unfolding, in a mutual, community inspired way. It’s great that classes can be watched in person, virtually, or within a week depending on one’s schedule. Increase the awareness, compassion, wisdom, strength, and joy in your life!
[The online classes] are a fantastic tool for me to not get completely lost in Samsara throughout the year, especially because I don’t live in Canada and cannot be with the teachers so often. I still felt very connected and supported by the Lamas and Sangha. As a result I became much more aware of my state of mind than I would ordinarily.
Course Details
Fees and Dāna
This course is offered by the Teachers based on the ancient principle of generosity, or Dāna.
- Location: Online (Zoom)
- Dates: Saturday October 3rd & Sunday October 4th 2020
- Time: 9am-10:30 am and 3pm-4:30pm MST on both days.
Note: Video recordings will be available to those who are unable to make the live teachings starting on Monday, October 5th in the morning. They will be accessible until end of the day Sunday October 11th. You must register before the event in order to access these recordings.
The [Online] course went beyond my expectations, I feel I learned a lot of new things or new ways of seeing things. The teachers have an incredible way of presenting the themes in a way that makes it easy to understand. They also make the teachings fun and suggest exercises so that you can apply them in your life.
I was expecting to get pearls of wisdom and I always get and far far more. The teachings always speak directly to me. It is uncanny. It is like hearing a language that I spoke in some other life-form and suddenly it rings a bell. And bell after bell. Like a universal language that we all used to speak but have forgotten, and now as if a new pathway in the brain has opened up and the signals coming in are making sense! Directly from the cosmos via Doug and Catherine Sensei.
The teachers of Planet Dharma [Online course] aim to provide opportunities to learn from age old teachings while including modern information as they are examples of continuing to learn about the fascinating, yet troubled world we live in. They help one to develop ideas how to help out society, live in society and contribute to themselves and others.