Sunday Open Meditation + The Three Jewels and their Symbolism

Please join us at Nalanda West for Open Meditation on Sunday, 28 July 2024 and an engaging dharma discussion about The Three Jewels and their Symbolism with Nalandabodhi Karunika Stephanie Johnston. We will practice shamatha (calm abiding) meditation and walking meditation, followed by a dharma discussion at 11:00a. Community lunch is served at 12:00 noon and is open to all.

Format

A hybrid teaching, the session will be simultaneously broadcast on Zoom. The Zoom link and recording will be shared with all registered participants.

Schedule

10:00 Opening Chants
10:10 Shamatha (Calm Abiding) and Walking Meditation
11:00 The Three Jewels and their Symbolism: A Dharma Discussion with Stephanie Johnston
12:00 Community Lunch

(all times are Pacific Time/UTC-7)

Bio

Stephanie Johnston

Stephanie Johnston, a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner since 1985 and student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s since 1996, is Nitartha Institute faculty and developed its Science of Creativity and the Arts courses. As a graphic designer and avid practitioner, she trains and supports practice instructors for Nalandabodhi. An alumni of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and certified in Museum studies, Renaissance Art Techniques, and Graphic Design, she loves digging into the symbolic and its applied meaning in art and everyday life.

The “Karunika” title: In 2021, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, with the support of the Nalandabodhi Acharyas, Lamas, and Mitras (the most senior group of designated teachers in Nalandabodhi), appointed over eighty long-time students to serve in a newly created supporting teacher’s role to assist in guiding our sangha members and to help share with the general public Nalandabodhi’s unique approach to spirituality. The Sanskrit term “Karunika” means “one who has compassion.” Possessing a wide range of backgrounds and sets of individual expertise, as well as formidable experience in the study and practice of the Buddhadharma, the Karunikas offer programs on themes connected to the paths of study, meditation, and mindful activity and on the “five fields of knowledge”: healing, the arts, language and communication, logic and epistemology, and the inner science of mind.