Nalandabodhi New York: Independence and Interdependence Appreciating our personal identity is not inconsistent with the path of spiritual awakening. Correctly understanding our individuality can take us beyond the limited, habitual ways we see ourselves and our world and lead us to a deeper appreciation of all things. However, spending too much energy trying to define our individuality drains us of genuine inspiration. Rinpoche playfully and skillfully explores the dance between appreciating our unique challenges and qualities and expanding the scope of our relationship with other beings. Three talks.

Nalandabodhi Connecticut: The Altruistic Heart: Training in the Four Immeasurables By cultivating gentleness and trust toward ourselves, we can train our hearts and minds to become naturally concerned with the welfare of others. This gradual process needs the support of constant cultivation. The “four immeasurables” - loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and impartiality—are meditative trainings that transform our inherent qualities from dormant seeds to a loving presence that can be enjoyed by ourselves and others. Rinpoche’s teaching provides fresh insights, opening our hearts and encouraging us to bring these teachings into our world. Four talks, plus one short talk and Q&A session with Acharya Lhakpa Tshering.

Nalandabodhi Philadelphia: Emotions as the Path, Not the Problem The Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism holds that our emotions, in their essence, are undifferentiable from our enlightened true nature and that we can realize this by relating to emotions skillfully. Developing this skill with our most destructive emotions is a challenging and gradual process. With creativity and humor, Rinpoche shares his unique insights on how this process unfolds and presents pithy techniques for transforming emotions from sources of frustration into delightful reminders of the awakened heart. Two talks.