01/2022. 'The benefits of liberation' and 'How to follow a spiritual friend' naturally follow on from reflecting on the Four Thoughts, and are usually dealt with as a pair. This course module completes the ordinary preliminaries. It will run for four weeks and will include two study groups and two ZOOM classes.
11/2021. The main point of dharma is to remember karma. (Sogyal Rinpoche) The fourth of the Four Thoughts that turn the Mind is titled 'Actions: The principles of cause and effect'. Karma teaches us responsibility and the wisdom of discernment, what to adopt and what to abandon. This will be an eye-opening module. It will run for four weeks and will include two study groups and two ZOOM classes.
10/2021. “We're like bees in a jar. We're madly flying around from one corner of the jar to the next, but actually there's a lid on the jar and we can't get out. So it doesn't really matter what we do. However many times we fly around, we're not going to get anywhere.”
Recognize the futility of living life as we do - it leads nowhere. This course module will run for four weeks and will include two study groups and two ZOOM classes.
09/2021. Impermanence is a footprint of the absolute in the relative. (Sogyal Rinpoche) We're going to focus on the second of the Four Thoughts that turn the Mind, titled 'The impermanence of life'. As with each of these four contemplations, if done deeply, it can lead you from the relative to the absolute, capturing the 'deathless and unending nature of mind' (TBLD, p.39).
08/2021. Welcome to our elaborate studies on the Four Thoughts that turn the Mind. This long module is divided into five parts covering the precious human birth, impermanence, karma, samsara, the benefits of liberation and how to follow a spiritual friend respectively. In the next five weeks, we will explore the Four Thoughts in general and will reflect on this rare and unique precious human birth in particular.
07/2021. 'Invoking the lama' is a very relaxed two-week course with only four assignments a week. It is about love, blessing and devotion, and you can go really deep in this course if you wished.
06/2021. This two week module is aiming at giving you a very simple introduction to the Vajrayana preliminary practices. This week is accompanied by seven live sessions where we can practice together what we've learned.
06/2021. This week we will run an adopted version of the first session of the 'Is Vajrayana for me' course. A monthly gathering will complement this study and allow us to explore this fascinating world together.
05/2021. 'The proper way to listen to spiritual teaching' has two parts: the right attitude and the right conduct. Attitude is divided into 'The vast motivation of bodhichitta' and the 'Vast skills in means: The attitude of the secret mantrayana'. Conduct consists of 'what to abandon' and 'what to adopt'. We're going to cover these topics over a period of two weeks. Just as in the last module you can choose to study this by yourself or in a study group.
05/2021. This week we will refresh and deepen our understanding of studying the dharma. You can do this self-guided week by yourself or with your study group.