7-12 JANUARY 2012 MAITRIPA CENTRE, HEALESVILLE

Transcription

1 7-12 JANUARY 2012 MAITRIPA CENTRE, HEALESVILLE A rich tapestry of traditions and practices has been woven by various Asian cultures around the essence of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, who lived 2,500 years ago. The enduring nature of Buddhism is symptomatic of its purity and integrity as a spiritual discipline and remains contemporary in its methods of self development. Over the past several decades, Westerners have begun to learn from, and participate in, this diversity and essence. As part of its commitment to disseminate the Buddhist teachings, Kagyü E-Vam Buddhist Institute conducts the annual Buddhist Summer School as a vehicle of enquiry and learning. The popularity of the Buddhist Summer School is an indication of the developing range and depth of interest in Buddhism among Australians. This is reflected in enrolments of over 20,000 since the inception of the event in In acknowledgment of this, we continue to host distinguished Buddhist scholars and teachers from around Australia and overseas. This twenty-ninth Buddhist Summer School offers a stimulating variety of courses in both theoretical and experiential Buddhism, meditation instruction based on a number of traditions, as well as courses in comparative philosophy and psychology. Presented by Ph: (03) Fax: (03) office@evaminstitute.org

2 OPENING FORUM The opening forum is an opportunity to hear teachers from the various Buddhist traditions, as well as visiting academics and psychologists engage in discussion of one of life s big questions. There will also be the opportunity for audience members to ask questions. It is free of charge and is not restricted to those who have enrolled in the Summer School. TEACHINGS FROM THE RICH VARIETY OF BUDDHIST TRADITION INTEGRATED BUDDHISM Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche In this course Rinpoche will be speaking on Integrated Buddhism which we will be practicing at all of Rinpoche s centres. Integrated Buddhism emphasises using Buddhist insights into working with our body through the use of Indo-Tibetan yoga practices, and the use of Buddhist teachings on psychology to deal with our psychological issues. It also involves the cultivation of spirituality through the Buddhist teachings on our true nature. Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche was recognised as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg lineage and enthroned as Abbot of Tra gu Monastery. Rinpoche has undergone rigorous scholastic and meditative training under various Tibetan Kagyü and Nyingma masters in India and came to Australia in 1980 where he subsequently established Kagyü E-Vam Institute in Rinpoche regularly conducts courses and retreats and has travelled extensively in the U.S.A., S.E. Asia and Europe conducting lectures and courses. Rinpoche is the author of various books including the best selling The Essence of Buddhism and The Practice of Lojong. 3 Sessions Course cost: $80.85 THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF HUINENG Ekai Korematsu Osho This course will discuss The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, which is a Buddhist scripture composed in China. It is one of the seminal texts in the Chan/Zen schools and it is centred on discourses given at Shao Zhou temple attributed to the sixth Chan patriarch, Huineng. The key topics of the discourse are sudden enlightenment, the direct perception of one's true nature, and the unity in essence of śīla (precept), dhyāna (meditation) and prajñā (wisdom). The Southern Chan School of Chan Buddhism based its doctrine on this extremely influential scripture. Ekai Korematsu Osho is resident teacher of Jikishoan Zen Community in Melbourne. He is a transmitted teacher in the lineage of the Soto Zen tradition in Japan and has taught meditation in Japan, India and the USA for over 30 years. Since 1997 he has been a Faculty Member of Antioch University, USA, for Education Abroad Buddhist Studies Program. Course cost: $83.80 INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST MEDITATION AND PHILOSOPHY Venerable Joseph Tassone This course will explore how Buddhist philosophy and practice can serve our basic and constant underlying wish for happiness and to be free of suffering. It will reason for the very real possibility of eliminating our experience of a wide array of recurring suffering and problems and the possibility of achieving a state of existence in which we can experience lasting peace and bliss. Not only is it possible to achieve such states for oneself, through Buddhist practice one can develop immense capabilities to be effective at assisting others in their quest for peace and freedom on the basis of unbiased love and compassion. The theory and practice of formal meditation practice will be introduced with its purpose in the development of mind experienced stages along the path. Joseph Tassone is a Buddhist monk and practitioner in the Gelugpa tradition. He was a student of Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden for over ten years. He is a teacher and director at the Tibetan Buddhist Society. FROM MINDFULNESS TO EMPTINESS, THE BUDDHIST GRADUAL PATH TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT Ayya Dhammananda Bhikkhuni This course will be based on two Buddhist discourses, Anapanasati, translated as Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, and Sunnata Sutta, which is known as the Discourse on Emptiness. Both texts are part of the Pali Cannon and can be found in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Middle-length Discourses of the Buddha. Ayya Dhammananda is a Theravada Buddhist nun (Bhikkhuni) originally from Vietnam. She has trained in both Burma and Sri Lanka, and has studied a variety of meditation techniques under the guidance of several renowned Burmese Buddhist masters. After four years of study and practice in Burma, she graduated from the Buddhist Missionary University in Yangon, Myanmar with a Bachelors degree in BuddhaDhamma. She continued her studies at Kelaniya University in Sri Lanka where she completed an MA in Buddhist Philosophy and Psychology, and a PhD in Buddhist Studies. VISITING TEACHERS A GUIDED TOUR OF HELL: The Buddhist Approach to Working with Habitual Patterns and Addiction There are many Buddhist texts that give vivid descriptions of the hell realm and its various attributes. Rather than viewing these as purely mythology, this course will explore the meaning of these descriptions and the light they shed on physical and psychological wellbeing in this life and after. Included will be the teachings of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners (called delogs) that have travelled to the hell realm and have returned to provide their insights. A variety of addictions and habitual patterns can be the ingredients for the creation of a hell realm in our everyday life. These will be discussed along with the Buddhist teachings on working with and overcoming the various demons of the hells that we create for ourselves. Course cost: $95.80

3 MEDITATION, VISUALIZATION AND MANTRA: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PRACTICE Meditation practice is basic to almost all schools of Buddhism. The practice of meditation can be formless or with form. In addition to silent meditation are the practices of recitation of liturgies and the chanting of dharanis and mantras. In addition to presenting instructions and commentary on meditation practice, there will be an introduction to the practice of liturgies and mantra. The texts that will be employed are The Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hridaya), and two texts written by the great 19th century Tibetan Buddhist Master, Ju Mipham Rinpoche: Shower of Blessings and The Treasure Blessings of the Ritual of Buddha. Course cost: $95.80 is a senior teacher in the Kagyu, Nyingma, and the Shambhala lineages of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He has taught Buddhist meditation and philosophy courses and Shambhala Training courses throughout North America, Europe and Australasia since the early 1970s. He is the founder of Shambhala Publications, the leading publisher of Buddhist books in the English language, a founding trustee of The Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and co-editor of The Buddha and His Teachings. He has taught at the Buddhist Summer School since SELF AND NON-SELF, EAST AND WEST The doctrine of no-self (anãtma) is arguably the most difficult and misunderstood of the Buddha s teachings. This course aims to historically and philosophically contextualize this doctrine in two interrelated ways: firstly, by exploring the traditional and pre-modern notions of the self what it is, what its uses are, how it functions, why it is problematic which the Buddha and his Indian and Tibetan interpreters assume; and, secondly, by examining the historical and philosophical background out of which the modern and postmodern self emerges in the West. We will reflect especially upon the origins and development of notions implicit in the modern self such as the primacy of individuality and autonomy, the detached rational subject and the notion of authenticity, and consider how they have tended to shape Western responses to the anãtma doctrine. An overall focus will be upon issues of agency and subjectivity, and how and why exploration into the issue of selfhood may be significant for an understanding of ethics and the concept of transformation. Course cost: $87.80 WHY SO NEGATIVE? At first glance, Buddhist doctrine, especially in its philosophical expression, appears to abound in the negative : from the first Noble Truth of suffering/ unsatisfactoriness (duhkha), the doctrine of no-self (anãtma) and the Buddha s Noble Silence, to the doctrine of emptiness (sunyãtã) and the concern with the object of negation. This course will consider why absence and the negative might be so prevalent in Buddhist thought, beginning with an exploration of the Buddha s discourses and Abhidharma teachings, before moving on to the Madhyamaka understanding of emptiness, the Yogãcãra understanding of conceptuality and the theorization of types of negation and exclusions in Buddhist logic. Specific questions that will be asked include: what does it mean to know the ultimate nature of things when this nature is framed in apparently negative terms, i.e., emptiness? How is the Buddha said to know the emptiness of all things? and, finally, what might be the ethical and soteriological significance of all this concern with negations and all this talk about all this talk about what things are not rather than what they are? Course cost: $87.80 is Lecturer in South Asian and Indo- Tibetan Studies at the University of Sydney and has been a Numata Research Fellow at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. His research and teaching areas are in Hinduism and Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, comparative religion and philosophy, and Sanskrit and Tibetan language study. BUDDHISM & PSYCHOTHERAPY BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH THE FOUR FOUNDATIONS OF MINDFULNESS Resilience is the ability to bounce back or positively adapt in the face of adversity. In Buddhism the four foundations of mindfulness: mindfulness of body, of feelings, of mind and of the phenomenal world, are each associated with realising the truth of impermanence and nonsubstantiality in our own experiences and perceptions. Incorporating the four foundations in our daily life is the real working basis for building resilience and wellbeing since they loosen the misperceptions we have about ourselves and how things are. As a result, they help us face situations in our lives with more confidence. Incorporating meditation, contemplations and lectures this course aims to deepen participants appreciation for and familiarity with the four foundations. 3 Sessions Course cost: $59.85 BALANCING OUR SELF: Working with the Five Aggregates to Promote Wellbeing The teachings on selflessness are one of the most misunderstood of the Buddhist doctrines; it is often seen as promoting a negative view of the self. However, the foundation for these teachings is the investigation of what is in our experience in relation to body and mind through the five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. To understand the aggregates is to understand how we come to habitually relate to the world. When each of the aggregates is in healthy balance they are the basis for working harmoniously in accord with ourselves and the world. In this course, through meditation, contemplation and lectures participants will develop an appreciation for how we can work with the five aggregates to enhance balance in who and how we are and as a result, increase our sense of wellbeing. is a psychologist, academic, and a Buddhist practitioner for over sixteen years. She has an MA in Psychoanalytic Studies and a PhD in Comparative Philosophy. She coordinates the Master of Counselling program at La Trobe University, works in private practice, and has been a regular presenter at the E-Vam Institute on Buddhism and Psychotherapy.

4 THE COMPASSIONATE BRAIN: Lessons from Neuroscience and Attachment Theory In Buddhism, wisdom and compassion arises from a deep understanding of what it means to be truly human. As we develop insight into our own suffering we become more compassionate towards ourselves and can begin to relate to others in a more empathic and positive way. Science has found that how we were taught to relate as infants sets down neural pathways that influence how we relate as adults. With mindfulness meditation we are able to modify these pathways and develop more healthy, mature ways of responding in our relationships. This course will present some of the new research that is emerging on mindfulness and the development of compassion. We will discuss this in relation to the 6 paramitas (virtues) as a guideline for how we can conduct positive relationships. Participants will have the opportunity for discussion, meditation and other practices to help them to develop compassion for self and for others. COURAGE ON THE BUDDHIST PATH Tibetan Buddhism is full of inspirational stories of teachers and practitioners who have had to face many adversities on their path towards enlightenment. As modern Western practitioners we also have to confront certain obstacles. Through finding the courage to look at ourselves, work directly with our emotions and to relate fully to the world we can develop the resilience to continue on our path in a rich and profound way. This course will draw from the stories of the famous masters of Tibetan Buddhism as exemplars of courage as well as from contemporary Buddhist and Western perspectives on emotional resilience. We will explore the ways we can become more courageous in our practice and in our lives in general. This course will involve meditations, as well as group discussion. This course will be held on Wednesday afternoon. THE TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIP IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM: transference and devotion in the 3 yana system In Tibetan Buddhism the teacher-student relationship is an essential part of the whole approach. As we progress along the path this relationship changes as a reflection of our own spiritual development. This course will explore this special bond from the perspective of transferential theory and will be compared with the therapist-client relationship in psychotherapy. In particular, we will discuss how our meditation practice naturally deepens our devotion to the teacher throughout the 3 yanas (vehicles). This course will be held on Thursday afternoon. Heather is an experienced psychotherapist, supervisor and educator and works in private practice in Clifton Hill. She has been a practicing psychologist for more than twenty years working at some of the largest counselling and psychotherapy agencies in Melbourne. Heather has been a Buddhist practitioner under the guidance of Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche for more than seventeen years. BUDDHIST SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM TIMETABLE Lecture Hall 1 Lecture Hall 2 Lecture Hall 1 Lecture Hall 2 Wed & Thu AM Mon & Tues AM Sat & Sun AM am; pm am; pm am; pm Opening Forum am Saturday 1. Integrated Buddhism Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche 5. Meditation, Visualisation and Mantra 9. Why so Negative? 2. Building Resilience: Four Foundations of Mindfulness 6. The Compassionate Brain 10. Introduction to Buddhist Meditation and Philosophy Ven Joseph Tassone Wed & Thu PM Mon & Tues PM Sat & Sun PM pm; pm pm; pm pm; pm 3. A Guided Tour of Hell 7. Self and Non-self, East and West 11. Courage on the Buddhist Path & The Teacher-Student Relationship 4. The Platform Sutra of Huineng Ekai Korematsu Osho 8. Balancing Our Self: Working With 5 Aggregates 12. From Mindfulness to Emptiness Ayya Dhammananda Bhikkhuni

5 SUMMER SCHOOL REGISTRATION To register please fill in the registration form on our website and , fax or post it to us, or call the office on Early Bird (before 1 December) Standard Full Registration $423 $470 Members and Associate Members/Pensioners/Full Time Students/Unemployed $ $423 (proof required) It is possible to attend individual lectures at a proportionate cost see registration form for per session costs. Newly renovated and refurbished accommodation is available at Maitripa Centre for Summer School participants. This will be allocated on a first-in, first-served basis with preference to those attending the whole summer school. Please contact the office and book early to avoid disappointment. Affordable meals and snacks will be available for purchase, and Barista style lattes and cappuccinos are available at Dogen s Café onsite at Maitripa Centre. All course offerings are subject to change without notice at the discretion of the Summer School organisers. CANCELLATION POLICY Cancellations must be received in writing prior to 4 January If a refund is required this will be given minus 20% of the course price. DIRECTIONS FOR TRAVELLING TO MAITRIPA CENTRE Melway Map 270C1 From Healesville, turn into St. Leonards Road, which becomes Myers Creek Road. Maitripa is number 528, 6.5kms from the turnoff on the right. For further directions phone Presented by Ph: (03) Fax: (03) office@evaminstitute.org