TUESDAY EVENING

DAY:  Tuesday Evening

TIME:  6.30-7.30pm

TEACHER:  Gen Kelsang Zopa

COST:  $10 per class / Free for Members

WHERE:  970 Blanshard Street, Victoria

Imagine the world filled with loving-kindness.  No fighting, violence, hostility or prejudice.  Changing the world starts with changing ourselves.  Start your journey to loving-kindness by becoming familiar with the mind of equanimity.  Equanimity frees our mind from unbalanced attitudes such as anger, jealousy and fear; states of mind that disturb our inner peace. 

OCT 27 ~ SEEING GOOD WITHIN OURSELF

Each and every living being has within them the seed or potential to become a Buddha – this is our Buddha nature.  Our Buddha nature is like a blue sky, temporarily pervaded by clouds of delusion.  Through wisdom we can remove the clouds of delusion. 

NOV 3 ~ INTENTIONS REALLY MATTER

The principal function of intention is to create karma.  Karma is the principal determinant of the quality of our life.  Whether we have a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral experience depends on what karma is ripening.  Therefore it is critical for us to get control of our karma.

NOV 10 ~ NO ONE IS A STRANGER

Our mind is very uneven.  We perceive some people as friends, some as enemies and most as strangers.  In order to protect our ego we make these changing discriminations.  Friends, enemies and strangers all arise from the way we look at the world. 

NOV 17 ~ KINDNESS IS EVERYWHERE

We need others for our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.  We can’t exist without others, and they in turn are affected by everything we do.  Contemplating the innumerable ways in which others help us, we make a firm decision to cherish all living beings.   

When our family or friends are suffering we easily develop compassion for them, but we find it far more difficult to feel sympathy for people we find unpleasant or for strangers.  If we genuinely want to be of benefit in this world, we need to lead with powerful compassion that embraces all living beings without exception. 

NOV 24 ~ LETTING GO OF FAULT-FINDING

All the faults we see in people are actually the faults of their delusions, not of the people themselves.  Delusions are like a powerful hallucinogenic drug that forces people to act in ways that are contrary to their real nature.

DEC 1 ~ BLAME SELF-CENTREDNESS

All the problems of human society, such as war, crime , pollution, poverty, injustice, and disharmony are the results of self-cherishing.  If everyone were to practice cherishing others, many of the major problems of the world would soon be solved. 

DEC 8 ~ LOVE IS THE WAY

To increase our ability to cherish others, we think, “Just as my happiness is important, so is the happiness of everyone else.”  This way of thinking is called the practice of “equalizing self and others”.  It teaches us to cherish others as much as we cherish ourself.

DEC 15 ~ FIRST YOU, THEN ME

We need to train our mind in exchanging self with others because our selfish intentions interfere with our ability to benefit others.  When our intention is mixed with selfish concern, our ability to help others lacks power and we can never be sure that our actions are actually beneficial.