Awakening the Heart by Transforming Resistance – A Tonglen Retreat
With Tim Campbell and Lama Liza Baer
August 12 - 13, 2022
Teacher: Lama Liza Baer and Tim Campbell
Registration coming soon! This event will take place in KCC’s Portland Center as well as livestreaming on Zoom.
Tonglen, or taking-and-sending practice, invites us to welcome what is challenging in our daily lives and to share what brings us joy and well-being. It gives us a method to work with whatever we encounter—the sweetness of a cup of tea or the difficulty of a challenging co-worker—to train our minds and hearts to be relaxed, open, clear, and able to be skillful in any situation.
One of the powerful aspects of tonglen practice is that it brings us into contact with our habituated patterns that try to protect us by closing our hearts, turning away, or becoming rigid or overwhelmed. By being present with these patterns and breathing with them, they gradually dissolve and we discover a natural clarity and resourcefulness in our own being. We come to know an innate capacity to be at peace and of benefit in all manner of circumstances.
Please join us as we spend two days exploring the practice of tonglen. We begin by preparing the ground with refuge and bodhicitta, the four thoughts that turn the mind, and the four immeasurables. We learn calm abiding to discover how to rest our attention and remain present, and guru yoga to connect us with the lineage and teachings. We will do several sessions of tonglen, learning the full formal practice and also practices that we can carry with us in daily life.
Tonglen is a simple but powerful practice to train our minds and hearts to be skillful and beneficial in our lives. It gives us a practice to do in uncomfortable situations, and also a way to share our good fortune with others. This is a practice that helps us train as bodhisattvas in this ailing world.
Schedule Each Day
9:00am-12:00pm with breaks
Brown Bag Lunch
1:30pm-4:30pm with breaks
Suggested Readings
No required readings. Suggestions to further understanding:
- Practice of Lojong by Traleg Rinpoche
- Training Your Mind by Trungpa Rinpoche
- Tonglen by Pema Chödrön
- Buddhism With An Attitude by B. Alan Wallace
About the Leaders
Lama Liza Baer
Lama Liza Baer completed a traditional three-year retreat at KCC’s retreat center in 2018. She is now an Associate Lama at Kagyu Sukha Chöling in Ashland, OR. Lama Liza teaches classes and meditations on the bodhisattva path, and leads a weekly meditation on YouTube titled Tonglen for Climate Change. Her background is in botany and […]
Learn more about Lama Liza BaerCategory : 5110 Class