Loading Events

« All Courses

  • This event has passed.
Spiritual Friendship and the Liberating Power of Dhamma Dialogue

Online Program
Dates: Feb 26, 2021 - Feb 28, 2021

Instructor(s): Charles Hallisey, Janet Surrey

Course Navigation

Program Description:
Share

In the Kalyana Mitta sutta, the Buddha proclaims the centrality of spiritual friendship as the “whole of the life of practice,” a treasure of refuge, and a dhamma doorway. What emerges from study and contemplation of the teachings on friendship is the value of dhammakatha (dhamma talk) as a crucial and creative element of such noble friendship. We will contemplate these teachings together and investigate the liberating power of non-hierarchical dhamma dialogue.

Drawing on Pali texts, we will consider examples of friends living and practicing together, particularly among the first Buddhist women and the lifelong friendship of Sariputta and Mogallana, chief disciples of the Buddha. We will explore ways these friendships can teach and inspire us and the challenges and great potential for valuing and cultivating such friendships in our own lives.

This online program will include periods of study and dhamma talk, silent meditation, and dhamma contemplation according to the guidelines of Insight Dialogue which establish embodied meditative qualities of the heart/mind in the relational field and allow speaking and listening to become a pathway for deep sharing of dhamma.

    About the Instructor(s):
  • Charles Hallisey is Yehan Numata Senior Lecturer on Buddhist Literatures at Harvard Divinity School where he teaches about Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist ethics as well as Pali language and literature. His translation of the Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women was published in the Murty Classical Library of India in 2015.

  • Janet Surrey, PhD is an Insight Dialogue Teacher. She teaches Insight Dialogue retreats worldwide and leads a longstanding practice group in the Boston area. She has practiced in the Insight tradition  for over 30 years, and trained as a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock. Since 2007, Jan has worked intensively with Gregory Kramer and is currently serving on the Teachers Council of the Insight Dialogue Community. Jan is a practicing clinical psychologist and founding scholar of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at the Wellesley Centers for Women. She is on the faculty and board of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. She is the author of The Buddha’s Wife: The Path of Awakening Together.