Change Your Perception

Because “our world” is really only our personal experience of what we perceive and how we perceive it, Buddha has explained that if we change our mind we change our world. Our experience of the world depends on our state of mind.

At the heart of the Kadampa Buddhist tradition lies a unique arrangement of the key practices and insights of the Buddhist path that will lead us to this crucial shift in awareness and understanding. These meditations, arranged in the order in which they are to be realized, are known as the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, or Lam Rim.

In this course, Change Your Perception, we will journey through these 15 meditations, taking our time to gain a deep experience of each one. We will discover how every one of these meditations produces a profound change in our perception, transforming our experience of the world in the most profound and wonderful way, allowing us to experience our life as full of possibility and joy.

Series 3 – Our Existential Vulnerability: Acknowledging and Transforming Our Fear

Is it possible to live fearlessly? Buddha taught that because all of our fears, even the big existential ones such as fear of aging, sickness and death, have their root in the mind, if we learn to protect our mind, we can protect ourself from all fear. But to do this we first need to have the courage to acknowledge our fears arising from our existential vulnerability, as well as the dangers that surround us. Only through this acknowledgment will we open ourselves up to the special methods taught by Buddha that provide real existential protection.

In the previous series, we looked squarely at our fear of death. In this one, we will explore Buddha’s teachings on what happens after we die. As we’ve seen, at any moment, we can die and  all the things that we currently rely on for security will disappear. And then what? Because our future experiences, happy or unhappy, good or bad, depend on our mind, we come to see that how we live our life now has powerful consequences. We learn to transform our fear into a real determination to apply the wonderful and skillful methods taught by Buddha to bring about authentic inner protection. Through learning to acknowledge and transform these ‘big picture’ existential fears, we naturally become fully present to the meaning and power of this life. We begin to live fully and fearlessly, taking advantage of every moment, good or bad, to create the wonderful future that is open to all of us.