with guest speaker Karuna Cayton, author of

The Misleading Mind: How We Create Our Own Problems and How Buddhist Psychology Can Help Us Solve Them

(6) Thursdays, May 17th – June 21st, 7:00-8:30pm

Buddhism asserts that we each have the potential to free ourselves from the prison of our problems.  As practiced for more than twenty-six hundred years, the process involves working with, rather than against, our depression, anxiety, and compulsions.  We do this by recognizing the habitual ways our minds perceive and react — the way they mislead.

 This class series on the book will include lectures, discussion, and meditation. The lively exercises and inspiring real-world examples Karuna provides can help you transform intractable problems and neutralize suffering by cultivating a radically liberating self-understanding.

About the author:  Karuna Cayton (LMFT, 1992) has been a student of Buddhist psychology and philosophy for over 30 years.  A long time student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, he worked for the lamas at Kopan Monastery from 1975-1988.  During that time he created and taught the secular studies program for the resident Tibetan and Nepali monks.  He also assisted in running the Buddhist programs for foreign visitors and was the co-founder and director of the city center in Kathmandu, Himalayan Yogic Institute.  He has been on the FPMT Board of Directors since 1988.

After returning to the US in 1988 he received his MA in Clinical Psychology from JFK University in 1992.  He has worked at the Children’s Health Council at Stanford University and trained interns in Narrative Therapy at Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto.

Presently, he is the director of The Karuna Group (www.thekarunagroup.com) a coaching and counselling project.  The Karuna Group works with individuals, couples and families as well as assists business leaders in transforming their organizations into preeminent enterprises based upon the Buddhist principles of Wisdom, Compassion, and Ethics.  Karuna also teaches workshops and classes in the integration of western and Buddhist psychology.

Registration:

Discount Pre-registration.  Welcome to all or any of the talks.  Drop-ins welcome.  No one turned away due to lack of funds.  For more information:  Registration & Check-in

Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center is making a difference by teaming up to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life.

July 7th & 8th from 10:00 am to 10:00 am
at the Campbell Community Center track (map)

The two ways you can participate are: (A) donating toward our center’s $500 goal; and (B) signing up to walk with our team.

The impact we can make together is much greater than what any of us could do alone!

At the event, our team will camp out overnight and take turns walking around the track to raise money and awareness to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Relay For Life is an overnight community gathering that gives everyone an opportunity to fight cancer and help save lives. Our team will be at the Campbell Community Center track on July 7th & 8th from 10:00 am to 10:00 am, taking turns walking or running around the track and hosting our center’s booth. Join us for this fun community event.

A. Donate toward our center’s $500 pledge:

The Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center is proud to be a Sponsor for Campbell’s 2012 Relay for Life. We are seeking donations to fullfill our $500 commitment. Click here for our donation page and make a note saying “Relay for Life.” You can also give donations in person at our center. If you would like to mail in a check, our address is: GGBC, 1550 La Pradera Drive, Campbell, CA 95008. Make checks to GGBC, and again, make a note that it is for the “Relay for Life.”

Any donation will be gratefully accepted and 100% of the funds raised will go to the American Cancer Society.

B. Sign up to show your commitment to walk with our team on July 7 – 8:

Because cancer never sleeps, our team is committed to have a member on the track at all times. Once you have registered, write your name down on the track schedule at the center.

1. Click on the Gyalwa Gyatso team page:

2. Click on the purple “Join Our Team” link.

3. Select the Participant Type Team Member Registration (My Team Captain Pays) Your team is sponsored and there are NO REGISTRATION FEES for you to join.

Thank you for your participation.

Ven. Roger with Lama Zopa Rinpoche *

a Discovering Buddhism course
with Venerable Drimay

Learn how to get the most out of your relationship with your spiritual teachers.

May 22 to June 26 (no class on June 19)

See registration information below.

I am fortunate even to be able to find a few good qualities in my guru. If even my impure mind is able to see this many qualities, how many more good qualities there must be for someone whose mind is purer.
- Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen

In this course we will be finding out:

♦ what makes a person a qualified spiritual teacher
♦ how to make ourselves ready to learn
♦ the different types of relationships we can have with a teacher
♦ some tips on ways to think that help us have realizations quickly
♦ some of the etiquette in Buddhism
♦ what to do if things go wrong in a guru-disciple relationship

This year, we will be using the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice throughout the course, to learn a little about guru yoga and to create the causes for understanding this subject matter.

Reading materials:

Reading packets will be made available each week for download from our website on the Homework page

Sections of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand will be assigned in this course (and most of the rest of the Discovering Buddhism series). If you don’t already have this book, it’s easy to get from the publisher, Wisdom Publications, or other major booksellers. It’s also available as an ebook in various formats.

Suggested books (optional): 

• WISE TEACHER, WISE STUDENT: Tibetan Approaches to a Healthy Relationship by Alexander Berzin, Snow Lion Publications;  previously published as Relating to a Spiritual Teacher, which is available in an online version at www.berzinarchives.com.
• The Heart of the Path by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. (Also available as an e-book.)

Registration:

Discount Pre-registration  No one turned away due to lack of funds.  See:  Registration & Check-in

Discovering Buddhism page

Contact us

* Venerable Roger Kunsang has been Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s faithful assistant since the mid-80′s.

 Open Talks by Tubten Pendé

10am to 11:30am, once a month
Drop-ins welcome!

with Sharon Allen, our regular mindfulness instructor

♦  June 3,  July 15

Mindfulness Meditation is a practical tool to help us respond rather than react to our day-to-day circumstances. The essence of Mindfulness Meditation practice is to live more fully in the moment with awareness of the flow of the breath, body sensations, emotional feeling tones, and thoughts. Recognizing the relationship between the mind and body is vital to our health and well-being. Research shows that being able to settle the body and mind on a regular basis improves the immune system, normalizes blood pressure, sleep patterns, and helps us deal with pain and anxiety more skillfully.

Each month a different aspect of Mindfulness Meditation practice will be presented. Some of the practice themes include: Mindfulness and the breath, Body awareness, The thinking mind, The motion apparent in emotions, Working with pain, Mindfulness walking, and Loving Kindness.

Sharon Allen is a long time practitioner and teacher of mindfulness meditation and movement. She is a Health Educator, Stress Reduction Specialist and has taught classes at Stanford University , Kaiser, the YMCA, corporations, senior living centers, and many community centers. Sharon has a degree in Human Development, is Certified in Transpersonal Studies from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology , and trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which she taught at Kaiser for fourteen years. Sharon leads several meditation groups that explore spiritual growth through meditation and inquiry. Sharon encourages the practical applications of mindfulness in dealing with life’s ever-changing events.

Suggested donation: $15, no one turned away due to lack of funds.
No pre-registration required.  Drop-ins welcome!

See Sharon’s website:  Be Mindful Now.

Open Talk with Rick Tieszen, PhD, Professor of Philosophy at San Jose State University

“Can we envision a scientific methodology for the study of consciousness whereby a robust first-person method, which does full justice to the phenomenology of experience, can be combined with the objectivist perspective of the study of the brain?  …

Unlike that of modern science, Buddhism’s approach has been primarily from first-person experience.”  (The Universe in a Single Atom, H.H. the Dalai Lama, p. 134)

The Dalai Lama’s ‘Mind & Life’ dialogues on Buddhism and science have been taking place since 1987.  In the spirit of these dialogues, this two-part talk will be concerned with what science reveals and conceals about consciousness according to the phenomenological tradition in Western philosophy.  This tradition supports Buddhism’s reliance on first-person experience.  Some specific points of intersection regarding perception, emptiness, dependent arising, and impermanence will be discussed.  The second talk will conclude with a few remarks about the phenomenology of experience and Buddhist mind training.

From Rick:  “The success of science is probably the basis for a certain amount of skepticism in the West about ideas in Buddhism.  But is science in a position to be the arbiter of ideas in Buddhism or is science subject to some of its own limitations?  In these talks I discuss some of the limitations of science that are especially relevant for students of Buddhism.  H.H. the Dalai Lama has sought to bring Buddhism into dialogue with science in order to both deepen and widen Buddhist studies and practice.”

 Suggested reading:  Chapters 6, 7, 8 of The Universe in a Single Atom, by H.H. the Dalai Lama.

Rick Tieszen is Professor of philosophy at San José State University.  He has published books, articles, and reviews on phenomenology, logic, and the philosohy of mind, and is a Buddhist practitioner.

Discount Pre-registration  Welcome to all or any of the talks.  Drop-ins welcome.  No one turned away due to lack of funds.  See:  Registration & Check-in