In difficult and confusing times, it’s especially important to remember the qualities and opportunities that give our life meaning and purpose.
Based on readings from Gelek Rimpoche’s transcripts and unpublished talks, this course explores ways to find motivation, encouragement, and joy in this precious human life.
The six sessions consist of online presentations by Jewel Heart Instructors Sally Tittmann, Christine Wright and Jim Winter, drawing from suggested readings, leading interactive discussions and providing guided topical meditations.
Cost: $25
COURSE SESSIONS (Quotes below from Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche)
SESSION 1: What makes life meaningful?
“If you are interested in the spiritual path, I urge you to find your goal. What do you want to achieve? What do you want to do with your life?”
SESSION 2: Appreciating life’s value
“Life has two purposes. The most important purpose is to put you on the correct spiritual path. The secondary purpose is that you appreciate your life. If you do recognize [the value of] your life, it is a tremendous source of joy and a motivation and encouragement.”
Session 3: Understanding life’s qualities
“We are all busy people who are constantly short of time, so we need leisure and opportunity in our lives. These are the qualities we have in our lives. According to the teachings of the Buddha, we have eight leisures and ten opportunities, even though we say we don’t have time.”
SESSION 4: What holds us back?
“We call it ‘spiritual development’, but it really looks like organizing our life, cutting down laziness, cutting down on the waste of precious time. Everybody will accept that time is precious. Nobody will argue with that. But why is it so precious? There we differ. We all agree that with time we can do so many things. But what kinds of things? There we differ.”
SESSION 5: What can we achieve?
“The capacity of human beings is unlimited, according to the tradition of these teachings. It is unlimited with regards to material development as well as unlimited with regards to spiritual development.”
SESSION 6: Integrating practice into daily life
“As long as your activities are not by nature non-virtuous or negative, you should be able to change everything into something positive. It depends on the motivation and on awareness.”
