Drawing on the Unconditional Love and Wisdom of our Buddha Nature

Instructor(s): John Makransky

Course Description:

In this weekend retreat, we will explore ways of accessing and settling into primordial awareness, also known as our buddha nature, through practices adapted from Tibetan Buddhism (Dzogchen tradition). By participating in an empowering field of loving spiritual connection, we can become increasingly receptive to the unconditioned openness, clarity, and compassionate capacity of our buddha nature. Then, we can draw on that innate capacity to cultivate unconditional powers of awareness, love, and compassion for all parts of ourselves and others. This retreat is both for practitioners who identify as Buddhists and for people of other faiths and backgrounds who seek an accessible way to cultivate unconditional love and wisdom for action. Guided meditations, explanation of key principles, Q&A, and small group discussion will inform our collective practice.

Commitment to attend all sessions of the course is required. Keeping your video on is encouraged (but not required) to support a communal practice environment. 

Interested participants should read as much as possible of John Makransky’s book, Awakening through Love, before the course. A meditation manual will be provided for use during the course.  

Prerequisites:

Any level of Buddhist meditation experience or contemplative practice experience in another spiritual tradition.

Online Schedule:

This program is hosted on Zoom and closed captions are available. Our intention is to build sangha and provide meaningful virtual interactions with each other and with teachers in our online programs. We encourage you to participate as fully as you are able. You can check the time of the group sessions in your timezone here: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com. The schedule of Zoom meetings for this program (shown in US Eastern Time) is as follows:

Saturday Sept. 3:

10:00 am -1:00 pm

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

7:00 pm -8:30 pm

Sunday Sept. 4

10:00 am -1:00 pm

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Please note that although sessions will be recorded, they will not be available to participants.

Cancellation Policy:

Registration fees for online programs are nonrefundable after the program start date. Cancellations prior to the program start date will incur a $25 cancellation fee. For intensive, application-based programs, the cancellation fee is $50.

DEI:

As we work to become a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, we invite feedback/suggestions you may have regarding ways that we can make participation in the program more accessible and welcoming. Please email us at contact@buddhistinquiry.org.

About the Instructor(s):
• 

  John Makransky

  John Makransky, PhD, is a professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, senior advisor for Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre of Buddhist Studies in Nepal, a fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, and developer of the Sustainable Compassion Training model for accessing innate capacities of compassion and awareness. John's scholarly writings have focused on connections between practices of devotion, compassion and non-dual wisdom in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, on adapting Buddhist practices to meet contemporary minds, and on theoretical issues in interfaith learning. In 2000, John was ordained as a Lama, a meditation teacher of innate compassion and wisdom, within the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.  As a meditation teacher, John is known for guiding participants in their discovery of underlying powers of unconditional love and wisdom. For the past twelve years, John has taught meditations of innate compassion and wisdom, adapted from Tibetan Buddhism, for modern Buddhists, those in other spiritual traditions, and for people in caring roles and professions.