Tara Brach and Jonathan Foust

A Day-long Workshop  << FULL, no more space available

Buddhist Meditation, Emotional Healing and Spiritual Awakening

Saturday June 14^th

9:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Main Line Unitarian Church

     816 South Valley Forge Road, Devon PA, 19333

Contact: Cheryl, cheryl77@peoplepc.com

Buddhist practices of mindfulness and compassion have the power to free us from the bind of shame and fear.  In a safe environment, you will explore how challenging emotions can become the grounds of cultivating a wise and awake heart.  The day will include guided meditations and reflections, mindful movement, dharma talks and time for sharing.  

Tara Brach, Ph.D., is founder and senior teacher of Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C., one of the largest and most active Buddhist centers on the East Coast.  She has practiced meditation since 1975 and leads Buddhist meditation retreats throughout  North America .  A clinical psychologist, Tara has taught extensively on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing.  Tara is the author of Radical Acceptance – Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha and of the forthcoming book In the Shadow of the Buddha.

Jonathan Foust, MA is co-founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute of Washington D.C.  He conducts retreats and seminars that focus on cultivating embodied awareness and offers a style of movement particularly supportive of meditation practice.  A senior teacher and former President of Kripalu Center, Jonathan has practiced yoga and meditation for over 30 years.

This event being co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Shambhala Center,  the Clear Light Meditation Group, Springboard Studio, and At the Heart Productions.

** This workshop is now FULLY BOOKED ** 

 To register, please complete and mail this Registration Form with your check made payable to   "Philadelphia  Shambhala Center."  Please return completed registration form with check to:  M. Bergren, Registrar,   P.O. Box 18886,  Philadelphia,  PA  19119.  You will receive confirmation and directions via email. 

If you have questions, please email At the Heart Productions at cheryl77@peoplepc.com.

Cost:  Sliding scale $50 - $75  (Covers costs, teacher travel & dana)

Location:  The Main Line Unitarian Church

Click here to link to the registration form for this workshop

His Holiness the XVII^th Karmapa

His Holiness the XVIIth Karmapa will be visiting the United States May 15 - June 2nd, 2008.  His Holiness is the head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the most important teachers in all of Tibetan Buddhism. This will be his first visit to North America and his tour will include visits to New York City, Shamong NJ, Boulder and Seattle.  

Dungse Rigdzin Dorje Rinpoche

Please visit www.karmapavisit.org for information about the New York (May 17 & 18), Boulder (May 25) and Seattle (May 31 & June 1) teachings.  Visit www.ktcnj.org for information about the events on May 23 in New Jersey.  

The History of the Karmapas

An Evening Talk by Nancy McBride

at the Philadelphia Shambhala Center

Wednesday May 14^th

Registration:  6:30 PM

Community Sitting:  7:00 - 7:30 PM

Talk and Discussion:  7:30 - 9:00 PM

In honor of the upcoming first visit to the United States by His Holiness, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, on May 23rd, the Philadelphia Shambhala Center would like to invite you to an evening presentation about the Karmapas, their unique history and their relevance to us today.

By way of background, the Karmapa is the head of the Kagyu lineage, one of the four principal schools of Tibetan Buddhism.  While all four share the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, they differ in style and emphasis.  The Kagyu tradition is renowned for two things: its emphasis on personal meditation practice and on the importance of relationship with a realized master, receiving instructions personally.  Because of this, the Kagyus are also known as both the “practice Lineage” and the “Lineage of Ear-Whispered Instructions”.  The teachers place great confidence in the student's ability to learn through practice, direct experience, and devotion.

The tradition traces its roots back to classical India and the great Siddha Tilopa who passed along the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings from realized master to realized master- Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa, and the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (12th century).  The particular significance of the Karmapa is that he was the first master who consciously directed his rebirth and thus is the originator of the uniquely Tibetan phenomenon of reincarnate lamas, or tulkus. The present Karmapa is the seventeenth such rebirth in an unbroken tradition.

In 1974 at the invitation of the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the 16th Karmapa visited the United  States.  This visit initiated important changes in the development of our community, and  marked a genuine maturation of Buddhism in the West.  Through the intensive preparations, the community learned a sense of the value of formality, respect, upliftedness and appreciation.   You could say that this heralded the beginning of Shambhala culture.  Students observed the example of the student-teacher relationship demonstrated by the Vidyadhara, studied the meaning of lineage and devotion, and adopted an appreciation of formality.  In his turn, the Karmapa recognized the authenticity of the transmission of the teachings in the west, and delighted in meeting the members of the community.  The 16th Karmapa passed away in 1981 in the United States near Chicago, IL.  The details of his passing were quite remarkable by all accounts.

His successor, Urgyen Trinley Dorje, was recognized in 1992.  Born in Tibet, he lived under Chinese government control with restrictions placed on his ability to fulfill his responsibilities as spiritual head of the lineage.  To escape this situation, in late December 1999, the fourteen-year-old Karmapa secretly left his home monastery and undertook a daring trek to freedom by car, foot, horseback, helicopter, train and taxi.  His heroic journey made headlines throughout the world.  He arrived safely in Dharamsala, India, with a handful of attendants on January 5, 2000.  Because of his significance to Tibet and the delicacy of U.S.-Chinese relations, this long-awaited visit this month is his first to the United States.

The presentation will be given by Nancy McBride, Director of the ClearLight Meditation Group in Devon.  Nancy is a long-time practitioner of the Kagyu, Nyingma and Shambhala lineages, a student of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and a former Director of the Shambhala Center. She participated in the previous visits to the United States by the XVIth Karmapa from 1974 to 1981.

Cost:  $15

Location:  The Philadelphia Shambhala Center, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA  19103.  Telephone: (215) 568-6070 or 568-6071

Cancelled:  Adyashanti in Philadelphia

May 22nd - May 24th

Adyashanti’s May 2008 satsangs and intensive in Philadelphia have been cancelled.  For more information please visit www.adyashanti.org.  

The tentative visit by Loch Kelly to teach in place of Adyashanti has been cancelled due to the US visit from His Holiness the XVIIth Karmapa.