Enrich, calm, refresh, inspire yourself
Talks, Meditation retreats
with resident teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang, local meditation teachers & guest speakers
A COURSE ABOUT HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
A COURSE ABOUT HOW TO GET THE FEEL GOOD GOING
FEEL GOOD
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
A COURSE ABOUT MINDFULNESS
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
A COURSE ABOUT HOW TO BEGIN ELIMINATING ANGER IN A PRACTICAL WAY
A LIFE BEYOND ANGER
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
Here’s an interesting fact. Nobody ever chose to get angry. It might feel a natural emotion, it might even feel good, but this is the greatest and most harmful deception our mind plays upon us. We all have regrets. If we want to keep having regrets or hold on to them, just keep getting angry, because that is what caused them in the first place.
Anger is the enemy of our happiness. It is poison in our mind, corrodes all our good qualities, it makes us look ugly and unlikable, it is like temporary insanity. And it comes in many guises from a stony silence to wild outbursts or deep resentment. If we are serious about having a happier life there is no better place to start than learning how to understand, reduce and finally abandon anger altogether. This course will explain how to begin eliminating anger in a clear and practical way.
A COURSE ABOUT THE TRUTH OF IMPERMANENCE
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM
Gen Kelsang Devi is the Principal Teacher of Kailash International Retreat Centre and Kadampa Meditation Centre Switzerland.
Everything changes. Life changes moment by moment. We all know this yet still find ourselves holding on to our sense of self and our experiences in our world as a permanent reality. Through gaining a deeper understanding of the truth of impermanence taught by Buddha, we can learn how to really let go, move on and live more in the moment.
Buddha said all phenomena are like dreams. Discovering things are not how they appear to be, we can use their dream-like true nature to solve all our problems and find lasting freedom and joy. Now is the time to reconsider our reality and awaken ourselves to our pure potential to become the person we want to be.
A COURSE ABOUT THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
FEELING SAFE IN A SHIFTING WORLD
taught by Kelsang Wangmo
We live in a world where our sense of truth and certainty is rapidly disappearing. Many people feel lost, powerless and insecure about their lives and their futures, even if on the outside their lives appear comfortable. We can call it alienation, angst or whatever – but fundamentally people are unhappy and confused because they cannot find reliable truth and a meaningful path through life. We fill our outside world with technology while emptying ourselves on the inside.
Buddha recognised a deeper, underlying pattern to all our fears and insecurity, whatever age we live in. This is samara, the endless cycle of impure, uncontrolled life. He understood our longing for authentic, universal truths, truths that we can verify from our own experience. He gave us the Four Noble Truths – the only real answers to samsara’s problems. Even in today’s world these Truths still give us an unequalled, timeless insight into the nature and causes of our suffering. They tell us how to protect ourselves from our problems, how to attain temporary and permanent freedom and lasting happiness.
A COURSE ABOUT THE MENTAL FACTORS DISCRIMINATION & FEELING
THINK, CHOOSE, FEEL
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
Our feelings are caused by what happens to us. Well, it looks like that, it feels like that, and everybody agrees it is like that. So, we just have to control what is happening to us then we get the feelings we want and get rid of those we don’t. Basically, that’s what life is for most people most of the time, even for animals. There’s just one problem – it is not like that! And that is exactly why we always lose our pleasant feelings, continually experience unpleasant ones and never get the feelings we really desire. We live in a grey zone between what we want and what we get, all without any choice.
Our feelings are a response not to what is happening to us “out there” but to how we think and perceive what is happening – what Buddha calls our power of discrimination. If we learn how our feelings begin in our discrimination, we can start to gain control over them. By choosing to discriminate in a positive way we create positive experiences and relationships. But by continuing to discriminate in a habitually negative way we will experience only more problems and suffering.
DEATH & DYING
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
“Contemplating our own death will inspire us to use our life wisely by developing the inner refuge of spiritual realizations.”
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully.
Most of us are taught to avoid thinking or talking about death. The mystery of it all can feel terrifying to contemplate.
Buddha taught, though, that in order to live our precious life to the fullest, weneed to know about death, and even plan for it.
A COURSE ABOUT Prayer
THE POWER OF PRAYER
taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
Our human world is the creation of the people who inhabit it. Our homes, our clothes, cars, food all began in the wishes and imagination of designers, architects, producers and so on. Everything began in imagination. Something imagined correctly is not fantasy – it becomes a reality when mixed with aspiration. In particular, we can understand the world is changeable because it depends on imagination.
When we pray we are wishing for an imagined result: world peace in general or the freedom from suffering of specific individuals or groups. This is virtuous aspiration and correct imagination. Whereas an architect relies on his or her plans, in prayer we rely on Buddha’s wisdom and blessings. With these, our aspiration and imagination can become a reality.
THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
KARMA
taught by guest teacher Jeff Simm from Manchester
Buddha tells us everything has causes. Nothing is random or determined by fate. Even our own experiences are the effects of their own causes. These are inner causes – our intentions and actions. This is “karma” which means “cause and effect” in another language. It is scientific thinking. By changing our thoughts and actions now, we create positive results in the future. We start to build our own store of inner wealth.
EMOTIONAL HEALTH FOR 2021
RUNNING SMOOTH – THREE ESSENTIAL STEPS
3 sessions taught by Resident Teacher Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
This January course at Kadampa Meditation Centre Edinburgh is designed to help you break the grip of old tendencies and unwanted mental patterns. Find happiness and contentment instead of stress and anxiety. Patience instead of frustration. Wisdom instead of confusion. Gen-la Kunsang will help us to learn and practise the tools we need to do just this.
A COURSE on Dealing with stress, worry & confusion
Dealing with stress, worry & confusion
2 sessions taught by Gen-la Thubten from Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre in Ulverston, UK
The talk will cover how to use simple meditation techniques to:
• REDUCE stress
• STOP worrying
• OVERCOME doubt
An introduction course
Meditation Made Easy
2 sessions taught by guest teacher Jeff Simm from Manchester
The most simple, easiest instruction you could give a human being is this: sit down, relax and breathe.
This is exactly how we begin to meditate. And we all know what happens. The most simple thing quickly becomes incredibly complicated. What should be so easy becomes very difficult. Our mind just goes everywhere. It just will not do what we want it to: it seems to have a life of its own. We might be smiling and serene on the outside but on the inside we are doing our Tesco shopping, dreaming of next year’s holiday, having a mental chat or finishing off an argument from 2016. We have all been there!
In these two classes we will learn the essential inner skills to become an effective meditator and we have the opportunity to practise using them in some guided meditation.
A MEDITATION RETREAT
Beating the lockdown blues
8 sessions taught by guest teacher Jeff Simm from Manchester
One newspaper reports “The lockdown in our own minds will be the last restriction to be lifted”.
But how do we keep negativity at a healthy distance and maintain a positive outlook during these difficult times?
This meditation retreat will teach us how to use Buddha’s wisdom as an effective tool for maintaining our inner strength, composure and hope.
LETTING GO OF WORRY
A workshop
2 sessions taught by guest teacher Gen Kelsang Tsangpa from Plymouth
This half day course will look at how we can use tried and tested Buddhist meditation techniques to let go of our worries and replace them with positive, constructive views that lead us to the development of profound experiences of deep and lasting inner peace.
