Cultivating the Compassion Instinct
With Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown
November 8 - 10, 2019
The new science of compassion has found that human beings have a fundamental instinct for kindness, but have developed habits of harshness toward themselves and others. How can this compassion instinct be cultivated? The ancient traditions of Buddhism and Shambhala have found powerful ways of awakening this instinct through practices that build from self-compassion to resilient compassion for others, including the difficult people in our lives. This retreat introduces several core lovingkindness practices of Naropa University’s Mindful Compassion Training, integrating the new science of compassion with ancient Buddhist and Shambhala meditation.
Bodhisattva vows will be offered during this program. If you would like to take vows please indicate that in your registration notes and a $20 materials fee will be added to the price of this program. For more information about the vow, please see the separate listing under our programs page.
Leader
Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978. As Buddhist practitioner since the early 1970’s, she became a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974, and was empowered as an acharya (senior teacher) by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in 2000. Her teaching specialties are meditation practice, Shambhala teachings, Buddhist philosophy, tantric Buddhism, and contemplative higher education. Her book, Dakini’s Warm Breath (Shambhala 2001), explores the feminine principle as it reveals itself in meditation practice and everyday life for women and men. She has also edited…
Learn more about Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown
