Cultivating the Four Immeasurables: Keeping the mind sane
An evening workshop, Tuesday 29 January, 7-9pm, St Andrews on the Terrace
The Buddha talked about cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity as four “causes, or sources of human sanity”, saying, “Anyone who is unable to join one’s mind with these four causes, or sources, of human sanity will be constantly bound by the confusion of cyclic existence.”
Without these qualities the human mind is constantly trapped in the cyclic existence called samsara, “an unending game of hope and fear”. When the Four Immeasurables are manifested in our lives, however, we find we can achieve incredible things. We can cultivate our own happiness, reduce our suffering, learn to appreciate our good qualities, find equanimity in the midst of chaos and extend all these benefits to others.
This evening we will explore how to truly integrate the Four Immeasurables into our daily lives, addressing questions such as, why is it helpful to develop these qualities within ourselves? How can we use our own minds to cultivate the Four Immeasurables? The answers we find will determine the journey we will take to move along this path of practice.
Entry by donation
Without these qualities the human mind is constantly trapped in the cyclic existence called samsara, “an unending game of hope and fear”. When the Four Immeasurables are manifested in our lives, however, we find we can achieve incredible things. We can cultivate our own happiness, reduce our suffering, learn to appreciate our good qualities, find equanimity in the midst of chaos and extend all these benefits to others.
This evening we will explore how to truly integrate the Four Immeasurables into our daily lives, addressing questions such as, why is it helpful to develop these qualities within ourselves? How can we use our own minds to cultivate the Four Immeasurables? The answers we find will determine the journey we will take to move along this path of practice.
Entry by donation
Hojin Sensei is a Zen teacher and priest in the Mountains and Rivers Order, and serves as the co-director of the Zen Center of New York City, and the senior training co-ordinator at Zen Mountain Monastery. She has been in full-time monastic training since 1990, and received Dharma Transmission from Shugen Roshi in 2017. This is Hojin Sensei's 4th teaching visit to New Zealand. As well as this Wellington event, she will also be leading retreats in Canterbury, from January 18-27.
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