OPENING THE HEART: MEDITATIONS ON LOVE AND COMPASSION

OPENING THE HEART: MEDITATIONS ON LOVE AND COMPASSION

This retreat is dedicated to deepening and expanding the ability to love and care for others. We naturally possess a wonderful capacity for love and compassion within our hearts. By following the beautiful meditations taught by the Buddha and practiced by countless others over the last 2500 years, we can further cultivate this profound force for goodness, and experience the joy, peace, and fulfillment everyone seeks.

During the retreat we deepen familiarity with a sequence of meditations known as equalizing and exchanging self with others, culminating in the profound practice known as taking and giving. The meditations help to develop imagination and concentration, and to cultivate connection with our innate potential to envision and experience a pure world, free from suffering and torment. The meditations rely upon two texts by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso—Eight Steps to Happiness: The Buddhist Way of Loving Kindness and The New Meditation Handbook.

People with all levels of experience, from complete beginners to advanced practitioners, will benefit and gain insight from this retreat. Noble silence will be maintained from the first evening through the final morning of the retreat.

Gen Kelsang Tilopa is a fully ordained Buddhist monk in the New Kadampa Tradition, and a close disciple and student of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. Born and educated in Scotland, Gen Tilopa has developed Kadampa centers, given teachings, and led retreats in Scotland, GA, SC, NC, and TN. He is the principal New Kadampa teacher in North Carolina and resident teacher in both Vajradhara Center in Charlotte and Kosala Center in Chapel Hill. Gen Tilopa is well loved for his clear teachings and joyful example that show how pure Kadampa Dharma teachings and practice can improve the quality of our daily lives at work, at play, and at home.