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What Participants Say

I’m finding it so rewarding and illuminating.

Such a wonderful experience and opportunity for growth.

I found the depth of the teachings to be extraordinary and the practices wonderfully rich. It felt like an enormous privilege to have the opportunity to receive these teachings. I found the communal learning experience very helpful and supportive.

It moves on from Insight – although it also helps solidify the Insight learnings.

My experience is that Heather and Choden always create an atmosphere of inclusivity. They gently invite participation while at the same time their language supports all who are taking part. I felt very included and able to participate.

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November 2024
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Mindfulness Level 4 – Wisdom

 

This hybrid course (online or in person at Samye Ling for the retreats) is for people who have completed the Level 3: Seeing Deeply (Insight) training or who have completed the Insight module of the University of Aberdeen Masters in Mindfulness Studies.

It involves two annual six-day retreats with ten monthly evening sessions, weekly peer support group meet-ups in groups of five and a daily one hour formal practice commitment.

We cultivate wisdom by embarking on an experiential journey.  Intellectual understanding is not enough. This journey requires that we first train in Mindfulness, Compassion and Insight. They provide the necessary conditions for Wisdom to take birth in our heart and mind.

Wisdom refers to an innate state of being or awareness that is whole and complete but seldom recognised. This awareness is so simple, immediate and close to us that we mostly fail to see it. Yet when we do recognise it and learn to abide in it, this is the true homecoming of our life. We touch that place in us that is undamaged and pure despite the many ups and downs of our life.

This course will explore how we can approach this state of being, both in our meditation practice and in our lives. We will do this by following a two-pronged approach. The first one relates to the profound. We will engage in practices, including imagery-based practices, that allow us  to touch that place within us that is undamaged and pure. The second one relates to the everyday. We will explore how we solidify our sense of self, thereby feeling separate from others, and how this sense of separation shapes our thoughts, speech and action. Living simply and ethically is very important at the level of the everyday.  We will also reflect on the blocks we experience, such as suppression and projection, and through recognising them we will learn how to transform them.

We will look at both Buddhist and Neuroscience perspectives on Wisdom and we will explore a path of practice to approach this profound state of being, aptly summed up by the great poet, T.S. Eliot: “We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time…” (Four Quartets)

Try the practice with Choden below, which comes from our Wisdom training.

Try these practices from the Wisdom Training

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