We spend our lives being seduced by the outside world, believing utterly that happiness and suffering come from “out there”. Even more fundamentally, we assume that we are the handiwork of someone else; that we’re innocent victims who didn’t ask to get born and that there’s no logic for why things happen. The experiential implications of this are fear, blame, anger, and guilt, bringing ever-deepening levels of suffering and hopelessness.

Buddha’s view of reality is that we come into this life at the first moment of conception in our mother’s womb fully programmed with our own tendencies and the seeds of our experiences in this life. As the Dalai Lama says, the view of karma is one of “self-creation.” We are, literally, the creators of our lives, our happiness, and our suffering. We are the boss.

With this view we realize that everything we experience is our own “karmic appearance”, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche puts it. Everything is made by our own minds, in the past and in the present. And because of this there is no karma that we can’t change.

The experiential implication of this view is empowerment, accountability, and the courage to change and, combining it with an understanding of the Buddha’s model of the mind, we gradually loosen the grip of ego-grasping and the other neuroses, thus developing our marvelous potential for clarity, self-confidence, empathy and the other qualities that Buddha says are at the core of our being.

Date & Time: Friday 7th September 7 – 8.30pm & Saturday 8th September 10am – 4.30pm

Cost: $100 / $85 for VI members

At VI we aim to make Dharma teachings as accessible as possible, so if you wish to attend but are unable to afford the full cost of classes at this time please email spc@vajrayana.com.au