Join Lama Liz Monson for a journey through the centuries-old tradition of Buddhism. This daylong online workshop will begin with an overview of the Buddhist tradition, what it is, how it developed, some of its main doctrines and philosophies, and its relevance for living well in our modern 21st century changing world. The course will also include an experiential component focusing on the practice of meditation as an art of being.
Some of the questions we will ask include: How can meditation help to ease painful habitual reactions, tensions, and emotional patterns? How can it serve as a source of resilience, clarity, and peace for negotiating the demands of daily life and the challenges of our changing world? How can finding a place of stillness and silence inside ourselves enable us to take a break from the endless cycle of doing and learn how to simply be?
We will explore what it means to let go of the constant urge “to do” and to relax into the spacious, vivid, healing and ever-changing state of being. This part of the course will include meditation instructions and practice to help us to access and live from the simplicity of being present with things as they are and with ourselves as we are. Together, we will practice meditation as an art of being. Registration is required.
Fee: $45
About Lama Elizabeth Monson:
Lama Elizabeth Monson, PhD, is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge. She has been studying, practicing and teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages for over twenty-five years. She has studied with Pema Chodron, Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Gyalse Tendzin Rabgye and others. Elizabeth is interested in accessing the energy and open awareness found in the natural world for awakening in everyday life. She also focuses her teaching on developing practical methods for incorporating the Buddhist teachings into this human life through the practices of kindness and compassion and on recognizing the natural state in every moment of our lives. These days she derives inspiration from the teachings of Anam Thupten, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Lama John Makransky.
Elizabeth holds a PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University with foci in Buddhist Studies, Tibetan Buddhism, and ethics. Her research interests include the ways in which Himalayan Buddhist biographical, autobiographical, narrative, poetic, and meditative literature work to provide a space for meditation on what it means to live a good human life. Elizabeth has lectured at the Harvard Divinity School and is the co-translator of More Than a Madman: The Divine Words of Drukpa Kunley (2014), a translation of the autobiography of Drukpa Kunley. She is currently working on a biography of Drukpa Kunley for a series being published by Shambhala, called “Lives of the Masters.”
