“Compassion” Intensive
January 21, 2018 @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
This Intensive will include a talk and guided meditations given by Gelong Lodrö Sangpo on the second of the four kinds of “Immeasurables” (Skt.: apramāṇa):
- loving kindness (maitrī);
- compassion (karuṇā);
- sympathetic joy (muditā);
- equanimity (upekṣā).
These meditations and contemplations are called “immeasurable” since, according to the Abhidharmakośa: “(a) they take an immeasurable number of sentient beings for their object; (b) they engender an immeasurable merit; (c) they produce immeasurable ripened effects”.
The topic of this intensive is compassion. The intrinsic nature of both loving kindness and compassion is described in the Kośa as being the same, namely, “non-hatred”, but the “mode of activity” differs. As for the first, the practitioner enters into meditation by reflecting: “How shall I make sentient beings acquire happiness”; as for the second, the practitioners enters by reflecting: “How shall I make sentient beings be free from suffering”.
Nāgārjuna defines compassion as “to think with compassion of sentient beings who undergo all sorts of bodily suffering and mental suffering in the five planes of existence”.
A well known stanza of the four immeasurables is the following:
- May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
- May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
- May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.
- May they dew ell in the great equanimity free from passion, aggression, and prejudice.
As such, loving kindness and compassion work in particular with the root or cause of happiness and suffering.
This Intensive will include practical step by step meditations on compassion.
Contact: kccl.contact@gmail.com; 902-576-3655
Who can attend this class: All different levels of practitioners. Everyone is welcome.
Location: KCCL.
Cost: $10 (including lunch).