Awakening the Kind Heart:
How to Meditate on Compassion
with Venerable Sangye Khadro
Thu Oct 22; Tue Oct 27, 7–8:30pm EDT
Sat-Sun. Oct 24-25, 10:30am-4:30pm
Pujas: Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog Wed Oct 21, 7:30-8:30pm
Medicine Buddha Puja Mon Oct 26, 7:30-8:30pm EDT
IN-PERSON & ONLINE
A truly kind heart already exists in each and every one of us. It’s just a matter of learning how to bring it out and expand it so that we can feel it more often, for more people and more beings—and eventually for all living beings. In this intensive course of study and practice, Venerable Sangye Khadro will teach and lead students in discussions and meditations on the four immeasurables: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. They are called immeasurable because they extend to all sentient beings. It is the cultivation of these intentions and feelings that open our hearts towards ourselves and others, and they are fundamental aspects of the path of awakening.
While we set out to be kind, it can be quite difficult to practice. Our minds are innately pure but polluted by obscurations such as negative emotions. When we experience anger, jealousy, and pride, they can compromise our good intentions and create the conditions for unskillful reactivity. These obscurations can be identified and eliminated, allowing the true, pure nature of our mind to be revealed, which has the potential to experience boundless compassion. Venerable Sangya Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) is the author of Awakening the Kind Heart: How to Meditate on Compassion (Wisdom Publications), which shares the same teachings and meditations that will be explored in this course. As our teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche said, “This book will help you find happiness and true satisfaction and help you live a life of benefit to others.”
Venerable Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974. She took bhikshuni (full) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery. Venerable Sangye Khadro has studied with many Buddhist masters including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and Khensur Jampa Tegchok. At her teachers’ request, she began teaching in 1980 and has since taught in countries around the world, occasionally taking time off for personal retreats. Venerable has authored several books, including the best-selling How to Meditate and How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path. She now teaches and lives at Sravasti Abbey in Washington state.
Pujas
Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog
Wed Oct 21, 7:30-8:30pm EDT
This Heruka Vajrasattva practice and tsog offering–requesting verses combined with the recitation of the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva–has the power to purify negative energy.
Medicine Buddha Puja
Mon Oct 26, 7:30-8:30pm EDT
Participate in this deeply healing puja to help actualize your aspirations on the worldly and spiritual levels. This puja is particularly beneficial for those who are sick or have recently passed away.
Short Video
Ven. Khadro introduces her upcoming teachings: Awakening the Kind Heart: How to Meditate on Compassion. Venerable shares that a kind heart already exists within us, it’s just a matter of learning how to bring it out. Join this intensive program to learn how to embody the four immeasurables.
Important Note
This is an in-person and online event. For online, the events will be administered using Zoom.
After registering, the system automatically sends a confirmation email (if opted in) and/or a receipt email that contains the Zoom meeting link and/or other instructions. Some email domains like Yahoo, AOL are rejecting the auto emails. If you don’t immediately receive the system email(s) or you have any other questions, please contact us at registration@shantidevanyc.org.
Registration/Schedule
Suggested: $20 per session
Other offering options: free, $5, $10, $30
Weekend Schedule:
10:30am-12:30pm Teachings
12:30-2pm Lunch
2-4:30pm Teachings
If you prefer to donate using PayPal (i.e. outside the registration system), please click the Register button and select the “Donate via PayPal” option to get the Zoom link AND then visit this link to donate. Please note that donation via PayPal alone is not a registration.
Shantideva Center may publish recorded sessions in the public domain (e.g., on YouTube). By registering for this event, you are agreeing to give your consent to this process. Please be conscious of any personal information you share. Recordings are typically made to spotlight only on the teacher or facilitator so participants are usually not visible.
Time zone: US Eastern Daylight Time (GMT/UTC-4)
For questions regarding registration, please email registration@shantidevanyc.org for assistance.
Additional Materials
Link to purchase Awakening the Kind Heart at Wisdom publications: (Wisdom Publications)
Additional optional resources suggested by Ven Sangye Khadro:
The Dalai Lama: The Compassionate Life. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003.
Salzburg, Sharon. Loving Kindness – the Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Boston: Shambala, 1995.
Wallace, Alan B. The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless Heart. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications.
Recordings
Available soon.
Dana for the Teacher
About the Teacher
California-born, Ven. Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974, and is a longtime friend and colleague of Abbey founder Ven. Thubten Chodron. Ven. Sangye Khadro took the full (bhikshuni) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery, along with Ven. Chodron. Ven. Sangye Khadro has studied Buddhism with many great masters including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and Khensur Jampa Tegchok. She began teaching in 1979 and was a resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore for 11 years. She has been resident teacher at the FPMT centre in Denmark since 2016, and from 2008-2015, she followed the Masters Program at the Lama Tsong Khapa Institute in Italy. Ven. Sangye Khadro has authored several books, including the best-selling, How to Meditate, now in its 17th printing, which has been translated into eight languages. She has taught at Sravasti Abbey since 2017 and is now a full-time resident.
