We review the teachings on emptiness in the context of the broader teachings on the centrality of developing wisdom and compassion, expanding our examination of these teachings from last time. The last part of the session involving doing several exercises, partly explaining experience as a flowing "stream" (and seeing what obstructs the flow) and partly doing a series of four exercises with "ordinary objects" designed to take us out of our ordinary way of constructing things.

Cultivating beautiful qualities of mind and removing the unskillful. The practice of ending suffering.

To know love as stillness is to embrace the world unconditionally.

Meditation is not an idea of getting to a mystical state but of helping us to release. It is not an exotic practice but it is more like eating, brushing our teeth - it is a way to nourish ourselves and to open and finally to let go. It is a lifelong journey where we learn to let go and stop grasping as we become aware of our life in each moment, accept each moment as it is. Meditation can help us to be more in the world, by being here and now we can be skillful and respond to whatever happens in the present. We develop clarity, we see the changing nature of things. When we are engulfed by feelings we can step back and say ‘how long will this last?’ We do not have to feed the feelings, we just need to be with them and watch them as they change. We can bring creative awareness to everything that we do and use it to be fully where we are, to be in our relationships in our life.

On knowing the part of Self that "Truly" knows...

One description the path of practice is as the ripening of the 10 paramis. This ties directly to the 3 trainings in Dana, Sila and Bahavana. This talk explains the practice of generosity as the foundation for out practice.

We are deeply connected with others and experience their pain as well as own own. Learning to relate to out own difficulty strengthens our capacity for compassionate presence with others.