Clearing the Way To Enlightenment:
The Preliminary Practices of Ngöndro
with Venerable Amy Miller
Monday, March 2nd: 7-9pm
"Clearing the Way to Enlightenment: The Preliminary Practices of Ngöndro"
Before embarking on any new project or activity, it helps to know without a doubt why you are doing it and what greater purpose it can involve.
Our individual spiritual journeys are unique and the practice of Tibetan Buddhism often contains some ritualistic practices that can appear overwhelming. It’s hard to know what is best and what is essential in transforming the mind from suffering into a happier state.
As many of the time-honored Eastern traditions seem old fashioned in today’s world, it can be helpful to carefully explore their purpose before jumping to the conclusion that they are now obsolete.
As busy working people, how do we work to purify negative mind states and accumulate the conditions to develop along the path and not be obsessed with the slavish accumulation of getting certain practices done? Can preliminary practices such as these create a way to dismantle the veil of delusions obscuring our true enlightened nature?
This insightful program will not only give a thorough explanation of the various Ngöndro practices, but will also explore their place on the path to enlightenment and give a practical application to doing these practices in modern times. Open to all levels of students, but helpful to have some background in Buddhism.
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About Ven. Amy Miller
Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the spring of 1987 during a course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Since then, she has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management throughout the world. Prior to meeting the Dharma, Amy was a political fundraiser in Washington, DC and also worked for Mother Jones Magazine in San Francisco, California.
Amy also trained as an emotional support hospice counselor during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco and offers courses and retreats on death and dying and end-of life care. From 1992-1995, Amy managed Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco, California. She then served as Director of Vajrapani Institute, also in California, from 1995-2004. From
1998-2002, she was also the Manager of the Lawudo Retreat Fund (which supports the center in which the sacred cave of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is located) in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. In 2004, after resigning as Director, Amy completed a seven-month solitary retreat at Vajrapani. For most of 2005 and 2006, she organized international teaching tours for and traveled with the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist master, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, until Rinpoche’s death in 2006. Amy then became a touring teacher for the FPMT (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). From 2008-2014, Amy was Director of Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont.
Amy has also had the good fortune to visit Tibet in 1987 and again in 2001 as a pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in the United States. She has also led pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Darjeeling, and Sikkim for the Liberation Prison Project and Milarepa Center.
Amy was ordained as a Buddhist nun in June 2000 by the great Tibetan master, Ven. Choden Rinpoche, and has been teaching extensively since 1992. Her teaching style emphasizes a practical approach to integrating Buddhist philosophy into everyday life. She is happy to help people connect with meditation and mindfulness in an effort to gain a refreshing perspective on normally stressful living. Amy’s courses and retreats focus on establishing and maintaining a meditation and mindfulness practice, death and dying, overcoming anxiety and depression, battling addiction, dealing with self-esteem issues,
and cultivating compassion and loving kindness. She is also often involved in leading a variety of retreats.
Amy is the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshell - and a contributor to Living in the Path, a series of online courses produced by FPMT. Based in the United States, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amy teaches and leads retreats and pilgrimages around the world. Her teaching schedule and information about the next pilgrimage Amy is leading is a trek October 5-22, 2018 to Lawudo Retreat Center in the Mount Everest region of Nepal. A 3-day retreat will be included along with a visit to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthplace. See Amy’s website for more information www.AmyMiller.com.
"Clearing the Way to Enlightenment: The Preliminary Practices of Ngöndro"
Before embarking on any new project or activity, it helps to know without a doubt why you are doing it and what greater purpose it can involve.
Our individual spiritual journeys are unique and the practice of Tibetan Buddhism often contains some ritualistic practices that can appear overwhelming. It’s hard to know what is best and what is essential in transforming the mind from suffering into a happier state.
As many of the time-honored Eastern traditions seem old fashioned in today’s world, it can be helpful to carefully explore their purpose before jumping to the conclusion that they are now obsolete.
As busy working people, how do we work to purify negative mind states and accumulate the conditions to develop along the path and not be obsessed with the slavish accumulation of getting certain practices done? Can preliminary practices such as these create a way to dismantle the veil of delusions obscuring our true enlightened nature?
This insightful program will not only give a thorough explanation of the various Ngöndro practices, but will also explore their place on the path to enlightenment and give a practical application to doing these practices in modern times. Open to all levels of students, but helpful to have some background in Buddhism.
===================================================================
About Ven. Amy Miller
Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the spring of 1987 during a course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Since then, she has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management throughout the world. Prior to meeting the Dharma, Amy was a political fundraiser in Washington, DC and also worked for Mother Jones Magazine in San Francisco, California.
Amy also trained as an emotional support hospice counselor during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco and offers courses and retreats on death and dying and end-of life care. From 1992-1995, Amy managed Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco, California. She then served as Director of Vajrapani Institute, also in California, from 1995-2004. From
1998-2002, she was also the Manager of the Lawudo Retreat Fund (which supports the center in which the sacred cave of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is located) in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. In 2004, after resigning as Director, Amy completed a seven-month solitary retreat at Vajrapani. For most of 2005 and 2006, she organized international teaching tours for and traveled with the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist master, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, until Rinpoche’s death in 2006. Amy then became a touring teacher for the FPMT (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). From 2008-2014, Amy was Director of Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont.
Amy has also had the good fortune to visit Tibet in 1987 and again in 2001 as a pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in the United States. She has also led pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Darjeeling, and Sikkim for the Liberation Prison Project and Milarepa Center.
Amy was ordained as a Buddhist nun in June 2000 by the great Tibetan master, Ven. Choden Rinpoche, and has been teaching extensively since 1992. Her teaching style emphasizes a practical approach to integrating Buddhist philosophy into everyday life. She is happy to help people connect with meditation and mindfulness in an effort to gain a refreshing perspective on normally stressful living. Amy’s courses and retreats focus on establishing and maintaining a meditation and mindfulness practice, death and dying, overcoming anxiety and depression, battling addiction, dealing with self-esteem issues,
and cultivating compassion and loving kindness. She is also often involved in leading a variety of retreats.
Amy is the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshell - and a contributor to Living in the Path, a series of online courses produced by FPMT. Based in the United States, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amy teaches and leads retreats and pilgrimages around the world. Her teaching schedule and information about the next pilgrimage Amy is leading is a trek October 5-22, 2018 to Lawudo Retreat Center in the Mount Everest region of Nepal. A 3-day retreat will be included along with a visit to Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s birthplace. See Amy’s website for more information www.AmyMiller.com.
Registration
Your generous donations are essential for the continuation of programs like this. No one turned away due to lack of funds. Please contact us to make arrangements. Ordained Sangha (monks and nuns) are always welcome - no need to pre-register.
Your generous donations are essential for the continuation of programs like this. No one turned away due to lack of funds. Please contact us to make arrangements. Ordained Sangha (monks and nuns) are always welcome - no need to pre-register.