This program will be held online via Zoom. All registrants will receive the link to join the program in their Order Confirmation email.
Buddhist history and practice begin with the Buddha's awakening and his promise that what he awoke to is available to us as well. Yet when we look at the teachings of the Buddha and the long historical lineage of those awakened teachers who came after him we find a wide variety of what awakening means; the practices that foster it and the consequences for our lives when we actually find it.
What is "awakening?" What kind of freedom does it bring? How are we actually changed? Is each individual's awakening the same? Are there common factors that make it recognizable? Might any effort at all beyond a certain point be what hinders that awakening into freedom? Is it the freedom of nothing left to lose, or the realization that we already are everything we need; whole and complete even in the midst of our struggles. And, importantly, why are we not yet free?
In this course we will explore these and other related questions along with simple practices to support and deepen our awakening. We will also have the opportunity to share with each other our own understanding and experience of this gateway to freedom that the Buddha clearly taught is available to us all.
A sense of adventure and a daily sitting practice for a full year are the prerequisites for this class. Full and partial scholarships are available.
Doug Phillips has taught insight meditation since 1995. He brings a strong commitment and interest to the integration of formal practice and intimacy in relationships in daily living. His teaching has been deeply influenced by Larry Rosenberg, Vimala Thakar and J. Krishnamurti, and he is the Senior Guiding Teacher for Empty Sky Sangha in West Cornwall, CT and Lexington, MA. Doug is also an authorized teacher of Koan Zen in the Soto tradition and a psychologist in private practice in Newton, MA.