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Warm Heart, Wise Mind: A deep dive into our own compassionate nature
July 3 @ 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm
$110 – $200
A new course offered by Rigpa Brisbane | Wednesday evenings | 7:00pm – 8:45pm
For 10 sessions at Rigpa Brisbane
Starting 5 June 2024
With Jan van der Breggen
This course explores the transformative power of compassion, and how to respond to the challenges of our lives in an open hearted, compassionate way. In the Buddhist tradition compassion is treasured as a powerful source of healing and inner strength, and the key to building meaningful relationships.
We will take our life experiences as the starting point of our 10-week journey. They are the ‘raw materials’ for developing compassion. We will explore how opening our mind and heart to our own and others’ experiences of happiness and suffering helps us connect with our innate capacity for empathy. Compassion, then, arises when we take this natural capacity for empathy—that love and affection we all feel for one another— and combine it with wisdom. The basis of this wisdom is a deep understanding of suffering and its causes, and a realisation that our own happiness and the happiness of others are deeply connected and dependent on each other.
The course will draw on a variety of sources, ranging from insights of contemporary science and philosophy to the direct teachings of Buddha recorded in ancient texts called sutra and abhidharma, to contemporary masters who hold the living and unbroken transmission of the Buddha’s wisdom mind and are able to guide us from the depth of their insight and compassion.
About Jan van der Breggen
Jan has studied and practised the Dharma since the mid-1990s, learning from many great masters, but principally from Sogyal Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. From 2006 to 2009, he participated in a three-year meditation retreat in France.
In 2022, Jan was entrusted by Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche and Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche as one of the twenty-five, worldwide Rigpa Senior Teachers. In 2017 he was selected to be a participant of the Milinda program, a 10-year, international Buddhist teacher training program under the guidance of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Jan grew up in the Netherlands where he earnt his masters degree in Historical Anthropology. He is fluent in English and Dutch, and lives in Brisbane where he works as a data analytics professional whilst being involved in the Rigpa Brisbane and National Centre as a dharma teacher.
This course is suitable for: Beginners and experienced students alike
When: 10 weekly classes, Wednesday 5 June to 7 August 2024, 7 to 8.45pm AEST
Where: In person at Rigpa Brisbane, 19 Enoggera Tce, Red Hill (online attendance only available if you do not live in Brisbane)
Cost: $200 full fee or $110 concession
For Rigpa subscribers: The course is included in your subscription fees (registration is still required, just close the payment page that comes up after registration.)
