Class: “The Path is the Way” with Patrice Koelsch
| April 6, 2010 | ||
| 7:15 am | to | 8:30 am |
| April 13, 2010 | ||
| 7:15 am | to | 8:30 am |
| April 20, 2010 | ||
| 7:15 am | to | 8:30 am |
This past winter I’ve been invigorated by listening to a series of talks by the heterodox Buddhist scholar and practitioner Stephen Bachelor (“Buddhism Without Beliefs,” “Verses from the Center,” and “Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist”). Inspired by Bachelor’s pragmatic approach to the Buddha’s most basic teachings about day-to-day living, this three-session class will examine the three aspects of the Eightfold Path: clear comprehension (skillful understanding and skillful intention), non-harming activity (skillful speech, skillful action, and skillful livelihood), and cultivated awareness (skillful effort, skillful mindfulness, and skillful concentration). Participants are welcome to attended any and all of the sessions.
PATRICE KOELSCH is a frequent teacher at NBMC. Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice Koelsch is a writer and educator who began sitting at Common Ground in 1995. She has been facilitating meditation groups in correctional facilities since 1999. Patrice has also practiced meditation at monasteries in Burma and Thailand. In 2006 she completed a year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. Patrice has been certified to teach through Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program. You may contact Patrice at pckoelsch@yahaoo.com.
Patrice Koelsch Dharma Talk: “The Vast Embrace of the Middle Way”
| April 4, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 11:00 am |
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
-from “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver
The Buddha’s Middle Way famously lies between the extremes of a life devoted to sensual gratification and a life focused on self-mortification. Often this Path is imagined as narrow and precarious, best traversed single file and on guard. Such hyper vigilance is itself extreme, and tends to blinker the mind and close down the heart. This talk will focus on the vastness of the Middle Way and the possibility of engaging our experience with amazement and embracing the world with compassion.
PATRICE KOELSCH is a frequent teacher at NBMC. Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice Koelsch is a writer and educator who began sitting at Common Ground in 1995. She has been facilitating meditation groups in correctional facilities since 1999. Patrice has also practiced meditation at monasteries in Burma and Thailand. In 2006 she completed a year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. Patrice has been certified to teach through Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program. You may contact Patrice at pckoelsch@yahaoo.com.
-RESCHEDULED- Entering the World of Tibetan Buddhism
| February 16, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
| February 23, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
| March 2, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
| March 9, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
The class will introduce Tibetan Buddhism through four different lenses: history, cosmos, path, and mind. Each session will consist of an hour of lecture and discussion, followed by a half-hour of guided meditation.
1. February 16:
Lecture (1 hour): “History.” An introduction to the major features of Tibetan Buddhism through a survey of its historical development, stressing its relation to other traditions of Buddhism and its religious, philosophical, and institutional development within Tibet.
Meditation (1/2 hour): Tibetan techniques of concentration meditation
2. February 23:
Lecture (1 hour): “Cosmos.” A discussion of the Tibetan Buddhist world-view, including the structure and functions of the cycle of rebirths known as samsara and the vast and complex pantheon of buddhas and bodhisattvas that represents our potential for awakening.
Meditation (1/2 hour): Tibetan techniques of insight meditation
3. March 2:
Lecture (1 hour): “Path.” An overview of the graded series of meditations — rooted in both the sutras and the tantras — through which we evolve from self-centered, ordinary beings to fully awakened buddhas possessed of maximum understanding, compassion, and skill.
Meditation (1/2 hour): Tibetan techniques of compassion meditation
4. March 9:
Lecture (1 hour): “Mind.” An examination of Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on consciousness, which is seen as the source of both our afflictions and our eventual awakening, and whose nature must be clearly understood in life, death, and beyond.
Meditation (1/2 hour): Tibetan techniques of meditation on the nature of mind.
To register for this class, please send an email to contact@northfieldmeditation.org. As all events and teachings at NBMC, our classes are offered in the spirit of Dana, generosity.
Your generosity, in the form of voluntary contributions, pays for all the center’s expenses (rent, maintenance, etc.), and supports the livelihoods of our teachers. You may leave donations in the bowl on the information table in the center or donate via the Just give “Donate Now” button on our home page.”
Roger R. Jackson (Wesleyan, BA; Wisconsin, MA, PhD), 1983-84, 1989-, teaches the religions of South Asia and Tibet. His special interests include Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and ritual; Buddhist religious poetry; religion and society in Sri Lanka; and contemporary Buddhist thought. He is co-author of The Wheel of Time: Kalachakra in Context (1985), author of Is Enlightenment Possible? (1993) and Tantric Treasures (2004), co-editor of Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre (1996) and Buddhist Theology (1999), and author of many articles and reviews. He served for many years as editor of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and is currently co-editor of the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies.
-RESCHEDULED- “Who is the Dalai Lama?” Dharma Talk by Roger Jackson
| March 7, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 11:00 am |
Roger is unable to be with us this Sunday due to a family emergency. Our thoughts are with Roger during this difficult time.
Who is the Dalai Lama?
The Dalai Lama is one of the world’s best known religious figures, respected almost universally and revered by millions. The question of just who — or what — the Dalai Lama is, though, is not easy to answer. This talk will present a variety of perspectives on the Dalai Lama, including those of western scientists, politicians, and religious figures, as well as his Chinese critics, but will focus primarily on the complex role that he plays within Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the implications of that role for understanding the nature of Buddhism in the modern world and the future of Tibetan culture.
Roger R. Jackson (Wesleyan, BA; Wisconsin, MA, PhD), 1983-84, 1989-, teaches the religions of South Asia and Tibet. His special interests include Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and ritual; Buddhist religious poetry; religion and society in Sri Lanka; and contemporary Buddhist thought. He is co-author of The Wheel of Time: Kalachakra in Context (1985), author of Is Enlightenment Possible? (1993) and Tantric Treasures (2004), co-editor of Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre (1996) and Buddhist Theology (1999), and author of many articles and reviews. He served for many years as editor of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and is currently co-editor of the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies.
