Extending ourselves to others with a warm heart, even in small ways, brings so much goodness in our world. Love and compassion are not foreign to us – these qualities are an inextricable part of our minds. Through Buddhist practice, we consciously cultivate and extend our instinctual affinity for kindness and our innate ability to empathise and share with others.

As our love and compassion increase, so does forgiveness. We become able to communicate better with others, listening to their stories and paying attention to their feelings and needs as well as to our own. This has a ripple effect in society, spreading a feeling of well-being within each person as well as among people, groups, and nations.

“Our happiness and well-being are interrelated with those of others. We depend on one another to have the necessities and enjoyments of life; so if others suffer, we too will be affected. Since we depend on others so much, they deserve to be treated well; repaying their kindness only makes sense.” HH Dalai Lama

The teachings known as The Four Limitless (or Immeasurable) Thoughts are a time honoured way of developing Love and Compassion, and also the qualities of Impartiality (or Equanimity) and Joy.

In this course we begin our explorations of these trainings, giving us the tools to step in the direction of being truly of benefit to ourselves and our families, and an offering to the world.

“A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. One experiences oneself, ones thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.” Albert Einstein

Lynne first met the Buddhist teachings in 1979, and has studied since then, mostly with Geshe Tashi at Jamyang London.  She is a registered teacher with the FPMT for the Discovering Buddhism course. Now retired, Lynne spent more than 25 years as a primary school teacher, and enjoyed checking to see how the teachings worked in daily life situations. She currently co-ordinates the Spiritual Programme for Jamyang Bath.

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Thank you and may you be happy.