Led By: Ananta, Laura Rivchun and Joy Hertzog
Monday Evenings
6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. EDT
November 27th - December 18th, 2023
Online via Zoom
Course Description:
This is a course in compassion, in getting to know it more intimately and exploring how it can inform our lives more.
What is compassion? It is an active emotion, or even a force, that responds to suffering. It isn’t a helpless or even an empathic bystander, but a desire to transform pain and difficulty.
In this 4-week course, we’ll explore the implications of this.
In what ways do we express compassion?
What is it like to receive a compassionate response?
How can we transform suffering?
What is within our capacity?
What do we do with the stuff we can’t change?
How about compassion fatigue and burnout?
Through meditations, reflections, and discussion, we’ll explore these questions and more to help us understand and live from a place of compassion.
Agenda:
Each week we will begin with a brief meditation, followed by a check-in. The week’s leader will discuss the material. A second small group discussion will take place, followed by reconvening with the entire class. If time permits, class will end with a short closing meditation.
About the Leaders:
Ananta has practiced within the Triratna Buddhist Community for 25 years. He has spent over three years on retreat. He was Ordained in 2007 and is a leading teacher of Triratna New York and of the Triratna US & Canada Men’s ordination training team.
He is the CEO of Karuna USA, a Buddhist-inspired international nonprofit tackling poverty and discrimination in South Asia, and formerly led global youth empowerment initiatives with the United Nations. He is a certified Mindfulness teacher with Brown University.
Laura Rivchun has been a practitioner with the Triratna Buddhist Community NYC since 2008. In 2015, she asked to be ordained within the international movement, deepening her commitment by Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha). Laura describes her journey as "profoundly beautiful and life changing." She continues to go on retreats enriched with meditation, dharma study and an ever-deepening connection with her beloved Buddhist community (Sangha).
Joy Hertzog has been practicing Buddhism for over 10 years. She is a Mitra (student) in the Triratna Community and is currently training for Ordination. She is an experienced meditator, teacher, and facilitator. Joy believes in creating a welcoming and safe environment for practitioners of all levels.
Course Registration:
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Payment Info:
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