Healing the Mind Through Wisdom and Compassion
with Venerable Jamyang
Healing often implies that something is broken or sick and therefore needs to be repaired or fixed. When we speak about healing the mind, we may unconsciously assume that there is something wrong with us, that our inner world is damaged, abnormal, or deficient, and that we must find a way to fix it.
Yet what truly obscures the mind and disconnects us from our natural state is not a flaw within us, but the ideas and beliefs we have adopted that are not in harmony with nature itself. Growing up within a particular family, culture, and country, we inherit traditions, belief systems, and ways of seeing the world that we come to accept as truth. We learn who we are through how our parents and caregivers relate to us, and we often take this reflection to be our identity.
Along the way, we carry pain from not being fully seen, heard, or validated, and we may continue to long for this recognition. We are hiding the parts of ourselves that were not welcomed or appreciated, and still fear abandonment or rejection when they surface.
To reconnect with our true nature, we need to recognize and question the limiting beliefs we have adopted about ourselves and the world. We need to understand how things exist: the ultimate nature of reality, and how reality functions on the conventional level. At the same time, we must learn to gently turn toward our painful inner places, and bring them into our awareness, allowing them to be integrated in a wholesome and compassionate way. Understanding the nature of suffering and cultivating self-compassion are essential to this process.
In these three teachings on Healing the Mind Through Wisdom and Compassion, you will discover that there is nothing wrong with your mind itself—and therefore, nothing that needs to be fixed. You’ll receive tools to identify some of the limiting beliefs you may be holding to, as well as the way Buddhism presents the nature of reality. You will also learn how to reconnect with the difficult places within yourself, and how to appreciate and make friends with them.
Ven. Jamyang returns to Shantideva Center having previously led a workshop and course online in 2022: Impermanence and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Recording) and How to Work with Fear (Recording).
Short Video
Ven. Jamyang introduces her upcoming class: Healing the Mind Through Wisdom and Compassion
Recordings
This is a playlist. To jump to a particular session, click the playlist icon (“3 vertical dots”) near the top-right corner of the video frame to select video.
About the Teacher
Venerable Jamyang, who is originally from the Netherlands, began her studies in Tibetan Buddhism at Tushita Meditation Center in Dharamsala in 1997. Here she realized that she had a strong connection with both Buddhism and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Over the next few years she did several retreats and took ordination as a nun in 2000 at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. She has completed the five-year Basic Program and the seven-year Masters Program in Advanced Buddhist studies, including the retreat requirements. Over the years, venerable Jamyang has taught and led retreats in Australia, New Zealand, and from 2019 she taught for 5 years primarily at Tushita Meditation Center and Thosamling in Dharamsala, India. Since January 2024, she has been living and teaching at Nalanda Monastery, France, in the role of the Masters Program Teaching Assistant.
Venerable Jamyang generously shares what she has learned over the past three decades. In her classes, she emphasizes the connection between Buddhist philosophy and practice. Her students say she is an engaging teacher with a knack for explaining complex topics.
