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Practicing the Brahmavihāras and Cultivating Bodhicitta: A Tibetan Approach

Online Program
Dates: Oct 04, 2021 - Nov 01, 2021

Instructor(s): Gregory M. Seton

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Program Description:
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According to the Nyingma Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, bodhisattvas cultivate the “mindset of awakening” (bodhicitta) as the very meaning of life itself: by aspiring to realize awakening for the sake of others and then by transforming their mindsets to be open, loving, and compassionate toward all in everything they do along the way. In order to give rise to this mindset in the first place, they must do the preparatory practice of the four Brahmavihāras, the unconditional qualities of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. This program will teach—through presentations, light readings, guided meditations, and discussion—how to meditate on these four unconditional qualities, how to personalize the practice, how to use the practice to work with painful emotional patterns and situations, how to give rise to the actual mindset of awakening, how to deepen that mindset through the three degrees of Tonglen (“exchange”) practice, and how to live in that mindset day to day.