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 recordings are offered on a dāna basis (pay what you can afford).
In case you missed the sessions and would like to access the recordings you can register for all recordings to date or for individual sessions as listed below. The recordings will be released on an ongoing basis following each week’s session.
Details
- Your confirmation email will include a link to access both an audio and video recording for the main session and an audio recording for the Q&A session.
- If you register for all recordings before the end of the Autumn series, please feel free to revisit the link in your order confirmation so as to obtain the latest files.
- This series’ recordings are offered on a Dāna basis (pay what you can afford).
- The link to the Dāna can be found here or in your confirmation email. Select the currency of choice and select Online Series Dāna from the Event drop down list. If your local currency is not listed, you can still make a payment, the equivalent amount in your local currency will be deducted from your account, you can search online the current exchange rate. If nothing is specified in the notes provided, your donation will be equally split between the teachers and Bodhi College.
- Parts of the video recordings may contain stills of the teachers to protect the privacy of our students.
Event description
Each session consists of:
A two-hour Zoom Broadcast
Two teachers 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 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.
A one-hour follow-up Session with questions and answers
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.
Please click here to register for the Autumn TOL recordings to date
You can then chose to download all or the session(s) of your choice listed below
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. Christina’s outside schedule
STEPHEN BATCHELOR is a Buddhist teacher and writer known for his secular or agnostic approach to the Dharma. Formerly a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan and Zen traditions, he is the translator and author of several books including Buddhism Without Beliefs, Living with the Devil and Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist. His most recent book, After Buddhism, was published by Yale University Press in 2015. 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 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.