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Warriors of the Heart: The Bodhisattva Path (Online Course)
November 12 - December 10
Warriors of the Heart: The Bodhisattva Path
Five Weeks|Online CourseNovember 12 – December 10, 2023
The world is on fire, literally. Mental health crises are the norm while capitalism crumbles and the environment degrades. With this struggle right in front of us, how can we respond? How can we best serve all beings? In this course, we will explore the age old way of the Bodhisattva – a well tread path for courageous warriors of the heart.
The Bodhisattva vow:
However innumerable beings are, I vow to meet them with kindness and interest.
However inexhaustible the states of suffering are, I vow to touch them with patience and love.
However incomparable the mystery of being is, I vow to experience it fully.
From this moment forth, with wisdom and compassion as my lamp and staff, I dedicate all my life energy to the welfare of all beings.
How does the Bodhisattva vow manifest in your life in the world?
Many of us are familiar with or recite the Bodhisattva vow regularly. It may even be our lifelong vow. And yet, you may be asking yourself: How does this profound vow translate to various complex situations in life?
Take heart. The way of the Bodhisattva is an actual path that beings have journeyed for over a millenia. Shantideva, a prince that gave up his throne, is one noble example. In this course we will learn from such experiences and apply them to our modern context.
Just like Shantideva in the 8th century, we all ask how our practice can be meaningful when there’s so much suffering in the world. We learn variations of how to relate to cultural and generational forms of struggle—like social justice, climate change, and war. We can study the path of the Bodhisattva to help us skillfully respond to our questions and uncertainty. Is it possible that these questions, and the path, may be more applicable than ever?
Why Study The Path of the Bodhisattva?
My body, every possession and all goodness, past, present and future, without remorse I dedicate to the well-being of the world.
–Shantideva, in Bodhicaryavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva)
The world is on fire…
The world is on fire, literally. Mental health crises are the norm while capitalism crumbles and the environment degrades. With this struggle right in front of us, how can we respond? How can we best serve all beings? In this course, we will explore the age old way of the Bodhisattva – a well tread path for courageous warriors of the heart.
Course Learning Goals
- What is the historical path of the Bodhisattva, inspired by Shantideva from the 8th century?
- Do I wish to take such a vow, and if so, what does that actually mean?
- How can I approach the many forms of suffering in the world—war, environmental disaster, social injustice—from the perspective of the Bodhisattva path?
- How does Bodhisattva activity translate to the various situations and contexts of modern life?
- Where does the Bodhisattva path sit within the Theravadin, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions of Buddhism?
Recommended Reading
The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva
Course Schedule
November 12 – December 10, 2023
All Teachings will be on Sundays
New Format: Morning Class, 9:30am Mountain Time
- Sunday November 12 – 9:30-11am
- Sunday November 19 – 9:30-11am
- Sunday November 26 – 9:30-11am
- Sunday December 3 – 9:30-11am
The formal and participatory teachings for this course will occur on four Sundays. There will be a live group class in the morning, 9:30-11am MT, though the timing could be subject to change.
We encourage you to connect with sangha outside of class times to discuss and deepen your learning of the material.
Flash Retreat Weekend: December 9-10
To deepen and integrate your experience, the final weekend during the course will also be a Flash Retreat (Dec 9-10). This can be done at home, or with us at Clear Sky Meditation Centre, in Eastern British Columbia. We highly recommend clearing your schedule over the weekend to focus on the retreat. Formal group sessions will be held at these times:
- Flash Retreat morning group workshop: 9:30-10:30am
- Flash Retreat afternoon group workshop: 2:30-3:30pm
Meet the Teachers
Catherine Pawasarat
Doug Duncan
Qapel 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.
Course Details
Time and Location
Each of the four weekly classes in this online course will be video streamed live at 9:30-11am MST. The recording will be available for one week after each class. We encourage you to connect with sangha outside of class times to discuss and deepen your learning of the material.
The course culminates with a Flash Retreat on December 9-10, 2023, with formal workshop times held at 9:30-10:30am and 2:30-3:30pm Mountain Time on Saturday and Sunday.
What Does the Course Cost?
This course is offered based on the unique combination of:
1) dāna, and
2) a $80-120 USD administrative fee.
Register four+ weeks prior: $80
Register two to four weeks prior: $100
Register less than two weeks prior: $120
Click on the tabs below to learn more:
You may have come across this elsewhere in the form of “pay from the heart.” Dāna is a Sanskrit term meaning “generosity.” With dāna, we give as a mutual exchange of generosity. It’s our joy to offer this course, and we trust you’ll match our time, energy, and passion by giving an amount of money that feels good and healthy to both you and us.
The dharma has been built on generosity. No one is excluded for lack of funds. However, it is also extremely beneficial to give as much as you are able.
Typically people give in a range of $120-$500 USD for a course.
As we’re committed to ensuring everyone has access to the Dharma, please feel comfortable to give less if you are not financially secure. Another form of giving dāna is to offer service, and if you are interested in providing support in a non-financial way, we invite you to contact us.
If you are financially secure, we invite you to generate merit by providing more financial support to the Triple Gem. Contributions like these make the difference in supporting our teachers, teachings, and center.
Learn more about the practice of dāna here.
In a traditional model of in-person teachings, a retreat center or urban meditation center invites teachers to visit. In these cases the centers have infrastructure and organization costs to cover, which might be covered by an admin fee. For the teaching itself, dāna to the teachers is offered in a bowl. This honors both the sustainability of the teachers, and of the supporting center.
We’ve tried to recreate this approach online. The teachers’ time and the teaching themselves are offered on the basis of dāna, separate to the admin fee. With our dāna offering we are making a direct gift of generosity to the teachers to support their teachings and livelihood.
The admin fee* goes to support the infrastructure and organization necessary to support them to teach. As anyone with an online business will know, the costs of setting up good infrastructure to support effective teaching and connection online can be surprising.
Our admin fee changes based on the date of registration.
Register four + weeks prior: $80
Register two to four weeks prior: $100
Register less than two weeks prior: $120
*We also do not wish to exclude anyone from the Teachings, so if you are not currently in a financial position to afford the admin fee, please contact the course Registrar via [email protected] so we can support you to attend.
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Below are a few of the work and benefits that your admin fee payment is supporting:
- High speed internet (to allow interviews and classes on-line)
- Online class systems (Zoom)
- Registration / admin systems (Eventbrite, Basecamp)
- Communication systems to keep everyone informed, share connection details, teachings and other resources (Mailchimp)
- Online storage (for example, Dropbox, to allow us to let students watch recordings, and to store and share selected teachings in other forms such as podcasts and video later, and Amazon cloud)
- Quality sound, video and editing equipment (both for live teachings and to provide good enough quality for later sharing as podcasts and video). We are regularly updating our equipment to improve your user experience.
- Online calendar booking system to allow students to book interviews
- Website hosting and maintenance for sharing upcoming courses, teachings, blogs and other resources.
We welcome any questions. May all our efforts be sustainable, abundant and for the benefit of all beings!
Flash Retreat in community: students at Clear Sky Centre and online, learning together.
Register Now:
