Thinking Out Loud Autumn Series

No events to show

Description

Schedule:

  • 4th October - 8th November 2020
  • 4 Sessions - Sundays 4pm UK time
  • 4 Q&A's - Following Thursdays 7pm UK time
  • Once you register for this event, you will not be able re-register for further sessions. If in doubt register for all and let us know if you are unable to attend.
  • This programme is offered on a Dāna basis (pay what you can afford, payment link here, and in your confirmation letter)

Presenters: 

Christina Feldman, Stephen Batchelor, John Peacock, Chris Cullen, Martine Batchelor and Jake Dartington. 

Information:

  • Please find detailed information on each session below under Event Details. 
  • If you are unable to attend the live sessions, recordings will be made available via a separate event here. 

A continued opportunity for dialogue and reflection with the Bodhi College faculty.

During the time of the current COVID19 pandemic, we offer our sangha a continued opportunity to connect, learn and reflect alongside our teachers, online. Although many of our retreats this year are unable to go ahead in person, we realise how important it is to continue to resource ourselves at a time where it’s never been more needed.

With this in mind, we have picked themes for the sessions that will continue to support you and your practice . Each session is led by one or two of our teachers, focused on a particular topic with a follow-up discussion later in the week. Please find detailed information on each session below.

The sessions are offered on a dāna basis (pay what you can afford).

Format:

A Two-hour Zoom Broadcast on a Sunday at 4 pm BST / 17:00 CEST (2 hrs)
Two teachers (whenever possible) of Bodhi College will present reflections on a chosen theme related to Early Buddhism. They will give their responses to each other’s presentations, and participants will be invited to engage with the topic in break-out groups. There will also be a period of silent reflection, and an opportunity for questions and comments from the audience.

The session will conclude with suggestions for deepening one’s practice and contemplative inquiry in the days ahead.
(No Zoom account is needed to participate).

Follow-up Session on the following Thursday 7 pm BST / 20:00 CEST (1 hr)
One or both of the teachers will discuss with each other and the audience their insights into the theme presented the previous Sunday. They will explore further ways of interpreting the material, while offering practical advice to help us embody its content in daily life.

  • Once you register for this event, you will not be able re-register for further sessions. If in doubt register for all sessions and let us know later if you are unable to attend.
  • If you are unable to attend the live sessions, please register to receive the recordings here.
  • The link to donate dāna will be in your 'further Instructions' letter with your email detailing the course information.
  • An email reminder with all essential information will be sent to participants on the day of each session.

Event Details

Session 1:

4th October at 4pm BST with follow-up discussion 8th October at 7pm BST
The Making of a Self

With Christina Feldman

Reflecting on the process of “my making” and “self-building” as presented in the early teachings and the impact of this process on our wellbeing and freedom.

Session 2:
18th October at 4pm BST with follow-up discussion 22nd October at 7pm BST
Early Buddhism and the Existential Dilemma

With Stephen Batchelor and John Peacock

Discussion  exploring the parallels – and differences – between approaches to the core questions of human existence. Looking at  the teachings of Gotama in the discourses of the Pali Canon and the works of 20th century Western existentialist philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre.

Session 3:
25th October at 4pm GMT with follow-up discussion 29th October at 7pm GMT
Stages of Awakening - stream entry

With Christina Feldman and Chris Cullen 

The Buddha frequently described awakening as a process and offered several maps to describe this process.  During this session we’ll reflect on one of the maps which describes the arising of unshakeable insights and the simultaneous falling away of patterns that reinforce dukkha and ignorance.

Session 4:
8th November at 4pm GMT with follow-up discussion 12th November at 7pm GMT
Emptiness and Fullness

With Martine Batchelor and Jake Dartington

Exploring emptiness as it is presented in the early Pali suttas, together with the further development of emptiness as found in the Heart Sutra. Also looking at the connection between emptiness and fullness.

 

Teachers: 

CHRISTINA FELDMAN is a co-founder of Gaia House and a guiding teacher at Insight Meditation Society, Barre, Massachussetts. The author of a number of books, she has been teaching insight meditation retreats internationally since 1976. She is one of the teaching faculty of the CPP programme, dedicated to the study and application of the early teachings of the Buddha and is engaged in teaching the Buddhist psychological foundations of mindfulness to those training to teach mindfulness-based applications in England, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her most recent book Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology, written with Willem Kuyken, was published in the summer of 2019. 

STEPHEN BATCHELOR is a translator, teacher, artist and writer known for his secular approach to the Dharma. A co-founder of Bodhi College, his books include Buddhism Without Beliefs, Living with the Devil, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist and After Buddhism. His most recent publication, The Art of Solitude, was published by Yale University Press in 2020. He lives in southwest France with his wife Martine.

 


JOHN PEACOCK is both an academic and a Buddhist practitioner of nearly fifty years. Trained initially in the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition in India, he subsequently spent time in Sri Lanka studying Theravada. After doing a doctorate in philosophy, he taught Buddhist and Western philosophy and then Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol. He went on to be Associate Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, co-direct the Master of Studies programme in MBCT(Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy) at Oxford University, and teach Buddhist psychology on the same course.  John is now retired from academia and continues to teach meditation, as he has done for more than thirty-five years.

Chris CullenCHRIS CULLEN has practised and studied the Buddha's teachings since 1994 and has been teaching Insight Meditation retreats since 2010. He is also on the teaching team of the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre, teaching Buddhist Psychology on the Masters course in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and running the mindfulness programme in the UK Parliament. He has a psychotherapy practice in Oxford.

 

MARTINE BATCHELOR author of Meditation for Life, The Path of Compassion, Women in Korean Zen and Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. Her latest works are the The Spirit of the Buddha, What is this? and The Definition, Practice and Psychology of Vedana.  She is a member of the Gaia House Teacher Council.  She teaches meditation retreats worldwide and lives in France. Recently she has been involved with the Silver Sante Study, teaching meditation, mindfulness and compassion to seniors in France to see if this could prevent ageing decline.

 

JAKE DARTINGTON has practised Buddhist meditation since 1995. After training as a Dharma teacher with Christina Feldman, he started teaching in 2007. He has a background in Philosophy and Buddhist Studies and has trained as a teacher of MBSR/MBCT. Jake lives in Nottingham where he teaches mindfulness and Insight Meditation.