The Awakening Heart and the Divine Abodes – Vajraloka

Co-led with Rijumitra

Bodhicitta – the awakening heart – is both the heart–response of wisdom to the suffering of living beings everywhere and the urge to realise full awakening for the benefit of all. This retreat will focus on love, compassion, joy and equanimity – the four ‘divine abodes’ or brahmaviharas – in the context of cultivating bodhicitta.

To support this, we’ll also introduce tonglen, the ‘sending and receiving’ practice which opens the heart to universal compassion.

The divine abodes are also known as the ‘boundless states’,¬ because they are inclusive of all living beings without exception. The practices that we’ll explore together on this retreat are all ways of opening our hearts and responding to the joys and sufferings of living beings – opening to the inseparable wisdom and compassion of the awakening heart itself.

This retreat is suitable for people who have been meditating for at least 3 years