THE BUDDHIST HEART

~ Loving-Kindness • Compassion • Gratitude • Altruistic Joy • Forgiveness ~

An Intensive with Whit Hornsberger (4 x 2 hour workshops) 

The landscape of ancient India was a melting pot of spiritual aspirants and their myriad methods for the emancipation from suffering. When the newly awakened Buddha arrived upon the scene he discerned wisely, through experience, those teachings conducive to his newly discovered ‘Middle Path’ (majjihimāpatipadā) towards spiritual liberation.

One of the ancient practices the Buddha deemed pertinent, and thus incorporated into his Dhamma (teachings), was the Brahmanic practices known as the Brahmavihāras. Oft translated as the ‘Divine Abodes’, it was traditionally believed that through the development of these four immeasurable qualities of the human heart - loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative / altruistic joy and equanimity - one would be gifted an auspicious rebirth within the heavenly realms of existence.

Although the Buddha did not adhere to this model of karmic reincarnation, he empirically saw that these boundless qualities of the heart were vital ingredients towards liberation in this very life, elevating the Brahmavihāras to a primary role within his Buddhadhamma (teachings).

In this intensive, through the cultivation and integration of these boundless qualities of the heart (loving-kindness - mettā, compassion - karunā, appreciative and altruistic joy - muditā and equanimity (upekkhā), we will reawaken The Buddhist Heart that resides within each of us - a heart characterized by boundless love, compassion, gratitude, altruistic joy, forgiveness and equanimity.

Our time together will entail the intellectual discussion of suffering and causes of suffering according to Buddhist science, Western neuroscience, psychology and primatology and how the reawakening of these innate qualities of the human heart are imperative for mindfulness (satipatthāna) / insight meditation (vipassanā) to gift us what it was designed to deliver - emancipation from suffering.

Through both study and personal experience each practitioner will gain intellectual and empirical understanding into how the dualistic division of self and other and concomitant mythology of separation gives rise to insecurity (and suffering) within the mind. A mythology of separation which, under the cohesive power of loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karunā), altruistic joy / gratitude (muditā) and forgiveness-born equanimity (upekkhā) dissolves, reuniting our hearts within themselves and with the hearts of all sentient beings with whom we share this planet. The result is a return home to our rightful place (vihāra) within the intrinsic interconnectedness of life itself.

This intensive is accessible to all levels of experience and is an essential undertaking for those practitioners interested in gaining the highest benefit from their mindfulness / vipassanā (insight) meditation practice, those dealing with physical, mental and emotional injuries, those interested in embodied and societal well-being and anyone curious about accessing the limitless potential of the human heart.

Each session includes a Dhamma (philosophy) talk/presentation and meditation practice (mettā, karunā, muditā, upekkhā).