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August 23, 2013 By Judy Lief

8th Annual PROFOUND TREASURY RETREAT at Saco, Maine

June 12-24 at Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, Maine

Living Dharma: The Joy and Challenge of Joining Practice and Action

“Mindfulness practice is not just about what is happening to you individually and personally—it is about how much you are going to transmit your sanity and your insanity to the rest of the world.”—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” Charlie Parker

Living Dharma

The Joy and Challenge of Joining Practice and Action

In these times of turmoil, it’s important to reflect on ways to bring our lifestyle and our actions into greater accord with the dharma. If your life does not reflect your practice, what is the point of meditation and study?

The time spent in sitting meditation is much less than the time spent going about our everyday lives. Therefore, postmeditation practice is essential. The combination of meditation and postmeditation makes our practice complete—running through our entire life rather than something we turn on and off.

In this class, we will focus on the challenges of living a dharmic life, and how they are addressed in the three stages of the Tibetan Buddhist path. We will work with the foundational or hinayana guidelines for living life with simplicity and contentment. We will study mahayana teachings on how to activate compassion and benefit others. Finally, we will explore vajrayana teachings on how to engage more freshly and spontaneously by cutting hesitation and fixed views.

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Topics include:

The three essentials: discipline, meditation, and wisdom

Refraining from harm: working with the five precepts

Being of benefit: practicing the paramitas

Overcoming hesitation: engaging with the four karmas

Obstacles, mistakes, and fresh starts