From the Head to the Heart: Bringing the Buddha’s Teaching Home

Presenters: Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, joined by Dr. Pema Düddul and Ven. Tashi Choedup (Joining online from India, QLD, and India respectively)

Cost: By Donation

Metta Centre is deeply grateful to world renowned teacher and senior Bhiksuni, Jetsunma (The Most Venerable) Tenzin Palmo for accepting our invitation for a special dialogue with us, despite being retired from formal teachings. Please join us for a live Q and A (question and answer) session which will dissect the Buddha’s teaching through inquiry, questioning, and investigation. Jetsunma will directly address between 12 and 15 questions about Buddhism and its application to our lives. Send your questions to contact@mettacentre.com. Due to the anticipated high volume of questions, a selection of questions will be chosen from those received to be presented to Jetsunma. There is no guarantee that all questions will be answered. This session will be moderated by Dr. Pema Düddul and Venerable Tashi Choedup.

Following the Q&A session, Buddhist monastic and human-rights activist, Ven Tashi Choedup, will introduce the practice of Tonglen. Tonglen is also known as ‘sending and taking’. In Tibetan Tong-wa means sending your merits and happiness to others; len-pa means taking other non-virtue and suffering on yourself. This is a profoundly healing practice that comes highly recommended by many great teachers across the traditions; a practice to generate Bodhicitta (an enlightened mind) and to destroy the self-cherishing thought. Ven Tashi will lead a short practice of Tonglen and also explore what this practice means in a world where self-preservation and avoidance of suffering are the norms of life.

To close the evening, Dr. Pema Düddul will introduce us to the AH practice, a highly effective method for bringing the teachings from the head to the heart. The AH practice is an ancient Buddhist meditation that is the condensed essence of all of the teachings of the Buddha. In the Mahayana tradition, the AH mantra is known as the condensed essence of the Prajnaparamita, or Mother of Wisdom, teachings. In the Tibetan tradition it is known as a direct method for connecting with Buddha Nature (Tathāgathagarbha), our pristine awareness. As the condensed essence of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) and the Three Roots of Vajrayana (Lama, Yidam, and Dakini), it is the most direct way to relax into the joy and ease of our natural state. By reciting the seed syllable AH on the outbreath we are never separate from the essence of the Dharma. When we gain confidence in this, we can truly relax into the natural state, in full recognition that we are always and already one with the Buddha.

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