Difficult Situations, Transforming Emotions, and Tonglen (MP3 CD)

Description

Beginning the weekend teaching with a public talk, Working With Difficult Situations in Life, Lama Kathy Wesley explains the root cause of the suffering we experience when we encounter difficult situations in life. This root cause (self clinging) was identified by the Buddha in his earliest teachings. Lama Kathy goes on to explain that the practices on the Buddhist path are capable of dismantling our egocentric obsession and replacing it with loving kindness and compassion for others.
Cultivating bodhicitta or the mind of awakening through the practice of tonglen and associated lojong practices is presented in the weekend teaching as a complete practice for transforming mental afflictions. Lama Kathy Wesley begins by teaching shamatha or mindfulness meditation. She explains that by practicing mindfulness meditation we can begin to pacify our mental afflictions while at the same time cultivating the mental stability that is a necessary foundation for cultivating Bodhicitta, the mind of awakening. Shamatha alone cannot completely transform mental afflictions because shamatha does not cut the root of mental afflictions which is self clinging. Tonglen practice cultivates relative bodhicitta which transforms mental afflictions by replacing self clinging with compassion and loving kindness for others. Tonglen practice also cultivates ultimate bodhicitta which transforms mental afflictions through realizing emptiness of self. Lama Kathy Wesley’s teaching is lively and accessible. Each teaching session includes questions and answers which clarify the teaching and provide profound examples of the power of tonglen practice to cultivate loving kindness and compassion even in the most difficult circumstances.Five talks on one MP3 CD.

Features

MP3CD Recordings
MP3CDs look like ordinary CDs, but contain compressed audio files. While a regular audio CD holds a maximum of only 80 minutes of recorded audio, an identical-looking MP3CD can easily hold the audio files from an entire weekend or even week-long teaching. MP3CDs can be played in a computer and/or the audio files can be downloaded into an iPod or similar device. MP3CDs may also be played on a portable MP3CD player. Most ordinary CD players, such as the CD player in most older cars (roughly 2005 and earlier), will not play MP3CDs. Many but not all cars 2006 or later do have MP3-capable CD players. Any car or home stereo CD player that is capable of playing an MP3CD will have “MP3” or “MP3-WMA” clearly marked on the front of it.
The MP3CDs available for sale on this web site are all clearly labeled and packaged in a clear case. The audio files on them have proper ID3 tag information, which means that on a computer, iPod or similar device the audio files will display (and can be searched by) Album (Title of teaching), Song (Talk number within a teaching) and Artist (Teacher).