Saturday Meditation Courses
COST: £10/ Course. FREE WITH MEMBERSHIP
Read about our membership scheme here
Saturday 24 April, 2-3.30pm
Dealing with difficult people
with Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
LIVE-STREAMED (available to watch the replay up to 72 hours after the live class)
Do you ever have those days where it seems everybody else has got out of bed with the sole purpose of annoying you? Or where particular people seem intent on pushing your buttons? We all have those days and we all have those people: some who are deliberately hurtful or obstructive, others who just seem blind to our feelings. We may be very fortunate in our relationships or know how to navigate our way with a skilful mind. Maybe not. But don’t despair. Meditation gives us that skilful mind. Meditation makes us fortunate.
Gen-la Kunsang will help us to identify and develop special attitudes and mental skills which protect us from being upset, irritated or hurt by other people. And, as there is no way we can avoid people, these are skills we definitely need. Otherwise, we can only resort to anger, retaliation, withdrawal or hardening our heart. So, let’s learn how to improve all our relationships, to withstand the pressure and become a happy and skilful “people person”. Let’s learn how to make others feel better for having met us.
Saturday 8, 9 May
Seeking Certainty – Finding Truth
with Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
LIVE-STREAMED (available to watch the replay up to 72 hours after the live class) & IN-PERSON
Teachings and Retreat on the Path to Wisdom
Wisdom begins in doubt. It is better to ask questions than be certain about something that is wrong. But we need to know the right questions – what is mistaken and what is true in my life? Do I have firm foundations or is my life built on illusions and false hopes?
Buddha says our root problem is that we simply make the wrong assumptions about how we, others and everything in our world exist. It is that basic. We think we are right when we are hopelessly wrong. And we keep getting it wrong. That much we do know – as our problems tell us every day. The beauty of Buddha’s wisdom is that just by hearing the right questions we can start getting it right. We begin to sense different possibilities. Life can improve, problems can weaken, we can live more lightly.
Gen-la Kunsang will introduce Buddha’s wisdom – called emptiness teachings – and how we can begin to lift the clouds of confusion from our minds. We will ask such questions as who do we think we are? What do we find when we look for our self? What is the real nature of our body? And how do things actually exist? The answers have great practical application for our lives. Genla will also guide a retreat on Sunday to help us get a taste for this special wisdom.
Saturday course 2-3.30pm
Sunday sessions 10-11am, 11.30-12.30noon, 2-3pm, 3.30-4.30pm
Saturday 15 May, 2-3.30pm
How to deal with anger bombs
with Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
LIVE-STREAMED (available to watch the replay up to 72 hours after the live class) & IN-PERSON
Sometimes we supress our anger because we are afraid of the consequences or of the person making us angry. This eventually makes us feel bitter, weak and disempowered. Sometimes we express our anger because we want to hurt or retaliate. This generally leads to regrets and even more harm for ourselves and others. Is there not another way of dealing with anger? Because, one way or another, we are all constantly faced with people or situations that just make us want to explode!
Anger is our worst enemy. It makes people do irrational things, lose their self-control and common sense. It makes them look ugly and unattractive. It causes physical and emotional hurt and destroys reputations. Yet what can we do without ouselves becoming demons or doormats?
Gen-la Kunsang will explain Buddha’s special methods for deflecting, defusing and disposing of our anger habits – and responding more effectively to the anger of others. This is a rare opportunity to learn the middle way of avoiding the harmful effects of our own and others’ anger.
Saturday 22 May
Day course and retreat on mental clarity and inner peace
with Gen-la Kelsang Kunsang
LIVE-STREAMED (available to watch the replay up to 72 hours after the live class)
Our problems are like bad weather in the mind, our delusions like clouds in the sky. We all know that when the storms disappear and the clouds fade away, the sky becomes clear, still and bright. We don’t have to make the sky like that. It is like that, always, before and after the storms and clouds.
In the same way our mind always has the potential to be peaceful, clear and positive. That is its true nature. We don’t have to force peace into our mind. We just have to understand our own mind and how to uncover its natural potential. The first session will help us to find the answer to the question “what exactly is my mind?” And the following retreat on sessions will give us the opportunity to experience the vast space of mental peace that already exists within all our minds. We will learn how to stop identifying with our mental bad weather and instead with the innate clarity our mind.
