Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Teaching on the Foundations of Meditation and Medicine Buddha Initiation
11 am – 1 pm and 3 pm – 5 pm (approx.)
Gates open at: 10 am and 2 pm

Tickets:

- Adults: 45 CHF or 40 €/day

- Monks and nuns: free entrance*
- Youth (ages: 7 - 13): 20 CHF or 15 €/day

- Children under 6: free entrance* (if they sit in their parents lap)

* Registration is obligatory for all, including children and ordained Sangha. You will only be able to enter with a valid copy of an e-ticket. 

Teachings will be delivered in Tibetan with consecutive translation to Italian.

Morning session: 11 am – 1 pm

Teaching on the Foundations of Meditation

 

Shamatha & Vipasana

Shamatha is the practice of calm abiding that frees us from distractions and enables us to experience profound states of peace and genuine compassion through the development of the mind of Enlightenment.

Vipasyana is a superior type of Insight. Wisdom gives rise to great clarity, which is an innate quality of our minds.

The Four Noble Truths

This is the first teaching Buddha conferred in Sarnath, India.

-   The Truth of Suffering: our existence is contaminated by suffering, which prevents us from experiencing any kind of long lasting happiness.  
-   The Truth about the Origin of Suffering: we tend to attribute the cause of suffering to external factors. The Buddha, on the other hand, asserts that the causes of suffering should be sought within the mind.
-   The Truth of Cessation of Suffering: since ignorance is the main cause of our problems, the removal of ignorance creates the causes for liberation.
-   The Truth of the Path that Leads to the Cessation of Suffering: the main pillars of Buddha’s teachings the practice of compassion and wisdom that free us from ignorance.  

Afternoon session: 3 pm to 5 pm (approx.)
Medicine Buddha Initiation

The main quality of the Medicine Buddha is his great compassion. It is said that merely by hearing his name, one can be liberated from the sufferings of Samsara. The practice of the Medicine Buddha con heal our physical and spiritual wounds and free us from all sorts of difficulties through the purification of the three roots of Samsara (ignorance, attachment, and aversion).

A Buddhist initiation consists of a traditional ceremony that has been transferred for centuries in an unbroken lineage of Masters. Its purpose is to transform our gross body, speech and mind. In order to receive the initiation correctly, practitioners should generate a mind filled with compassion and wisdom. During the morning session, His Holiness will give us instructions on how to tap the potential of these two qualities.