Fear and Fearlessness

Instructor(s): Ying Chen, David Lorey, Diana Clark, and Kim Allen

Program Description:

The Buddha faced immense challenges along his path to Awakening, including fear and persistent distractions. But engaging with fear leads to less fear and eventually to fearlessness. How might we learn from his experience and teachings to engage our own challenges in practice or in life? In this program, we will read suttas in which people encounter difficulties along the path, as well as suttas treating challenging topics like death. The Buddha’s compassion and wisdom come forth as he encourages skillful engagement with even the deepest difficulties – those with the potential to transform the mind. This program includes teachings, meditation, and small group discussion.

Online Schedule:

This program is hosted on Zoom and closed captions are available. 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:

Meeting Times: Thursdays 7:00-8:30 PM ET

Meeting Dates: October 17, 24, 31, November 7

Please note that sessions will be recorded and made available to participants within 48 hours of each session. Recordings remain available for two weeks from the program end date with the exception of one-time events, available indefinitely on our website.

Cancellation Policy:

Registration fees for all online programs are nonrefundable after the program start date. Cancellations prior to the program start date incur a $25 cancellation fee. Application-based and online Path programs incur a $100 cancellation fee.

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):
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  Ying Chen

  A brief encounter with Chinese Mahayana Buddhism in college ignited Ying’s interest in Buddhism. In graduate school, Ying took refuge to become a Buddhist with Venerable Ji Ru. After graduating and moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Ying began her exploration of the Chinese Agamas and suttas in a Chinese Buddhist sangha. Since 2005 she has been practicing primarily at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal. The Pali Canon has been a source of inspiration for Ying’s practice and teachings. She currently facilitates a support group for people living with health challenges and co-leads Asian Dharma Circle with Lilu Chen at IMC. She also volunteers at the Insight Retreat Center and serves on the board of Sati Center. In recent years, Ying also practices and teaches at Dharma Ground under the guidance of Phillip Moffitt and Dana DePalma. Ying has a Ph.D. in computer science.

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  David Lorey

  David Lorey began meditating as a teenager in the 1970s, in college began intensive training in transcendental meditation and then came to practice in the container of the Buddhadharma in the early 2000s. Integrating tranquility and insight practices forms the core of his current path; in addition, he explores the early teachings embedded in the textual tradition of the Pali canon for insights into practicing and living in accord with the Dharma.  He occasionally co-teaches retreats in Spanish at the Insight Retreat Center in California.  A student of Gil Fronsdal’s, David currently serves as president of the board of IMC.  He holds a Ph.D. in history.

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  Diana Clark

  Being inspired by the Buddha’s teachings on peace and freedom and supported by her own discoveries along the path of practice, Diana Clark teaches with an emphasis on both the beautiful and the practical. She has trained in the Theravada tradition, including cumulatively many years of silent meditation retreats. In addition, she studies and teaches about the early Buddhist teachings found in the Pali Canon and is the president of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and on the Executive Committee of the Insight Retreat Center in California. Diana’s education includes a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a MA in Buddhist Studies. Just as studying biochemistry helped her understand the workings of the human body, practicing Buddhism has helped her understand the workings of the human mind.

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  Kim Allen

  Kim Allen began meditating in 2003, seeking both a path out of suffering and the deeper truths of life. She trains mainly under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center and has also practiced in Sri Lanka and, more recently, with a few Mahāyāna teachers. Kim was drawn early on to long retreat practice and has sat cumulative three years of retreat. Engagement with the Pāli Canon and texts from other Buddhist traditions inform her practice and life. A teacher and author, Kim aims to bring classical Dharma to a modern context and to encourage lay practitioners in discovering a life of Dharma. Kim also serves on the board of the Sati Center. Her education includes a Ph.D. in physics and a master’s degree in environmental sustainability, and her website is http://www.uncontrived.org.