Speaker: Sasha Dorje Meyerowitz. Sasha describes how discipline is a natural feature of our longing to attain a state of awakening. The Latin word ‘disciplina’ refers to teaching, learning and knowledge. A disciple is someone who listens and learns. In the conventional world, our lives are not patterned towards practice; practice feels inconvenient and seems to contradict our belief in finding happiness in samsara. The diligent practitioner recognizes that discipline aligns our actions and intentions, fortifying us against neurotic habits. The discipline of directing our minds towards the Dharma and away from ego-clinging provides us with a greater experience of confidence and freedom.

Speaker: Jill Oppenheimer. Jill explores the practice of self-reflection and shares her experience of working with hindrances that can arise as part of this process. The point of all Buddhist teachings is to reduce self-importance and make room for the truth, and this begins with self-reflection. It involves turning the mind inward and looking without judgment at whatever arises in our experience. Jill explains the necessity to pause before engaging in self-reflection as it is only with the discipline of shamatha and vipashyana that the wisdom to self-reflect is available. She explores how confusion can arise if we hold hopes of certain outcomes and try to use the practice of self-reflection to fix things. We also need to appreciate that self-reflection is not just a single practice but involves many skillful means such as simmering practice, analytical meditation, mindfulness, observing thoughts without judgment and contemplating the eight worldly concerns and the four immeasurables.

Speaker: Chris Holland. Chris examines buddhanature as the foundation of enlightened qualities, including love. In this talk, he sets the stage to understand the genuine or absolute ground of buddhanature in order to see how the path functions. He describes absolute ground as a living presence, primordially existent with radiant qualities, the "enlightened essence" or absolute nature. Love is the radiance of absolute nature. Chris sees the Four Immeasurables practice as the "structure" of enlightened essence because the practice stirs up the qualities of enlightened essence (wisdom, love and power). Enlightened essence is the limitless source of all worlds, all positive qualities, all goodness. What separates us from allowing this essence to flow freely through us is grasping to a limited self; the path is simply to purify the obstacles that block us from recognizing the absolute nature. From there, we become a limitless source of love.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la shares his experience of travel and the unique opportunity it brings to step out of our comfort zone and actively engage with our mind. He describes the difference between being a pilgrim or a tourist, the latter being one who seeks fun and comfort, the former being one who brings Dharma practice along for the ride, perhaps even seeking discomfort. Experiencing his own discomfort, Dungse-la closely examined his own mind and discovered that his experience was dependent on his attitude. Knowing there is no happiness to be found in outer circumstances, he allowed himself to relax into his discomfort and a positive mindset blossomed. That mindset allowed him to walk through the world and offer everything as if he owned it; his enjoyment and appreciation became a mandala of offering.

Speaker: Greg Seton. Greg delves into working with emotional pain, outlining the process from a ground, path and fruition perspective. Emotional pain or "klesha" in Sanskrit is loosely translated as "affliction". It causes pain and contaminates our thoughts, feelings and actions. The afflicted ego-mind is the cause of klesha. It is afflicted because it struggles to maintain what it constructs as self-image and becomes attached to that mental image, which is painful. In the path, we need to first learn to recognize our emotions, then apply antidotes. To learn about the relative-based, Mahayana approach, Greg recommends reading 'Light Comes Through' by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche as it covers the five, self-centered emotions and their antidotes. For the absolute-based, Vajrayana approach, he suggests we bring the pain of the emotion into our experience and then stare at it, seeing its emptiness and luminosity. Thus, the fruitional aspect (the goal of the Mahayana and Vajrayana) is not to end up emotionless but to have one's nature shine forth with non-dual wisdom and compassion.

Speaker: Scott Kleihege. Scott delves into the topic of conceptual mind in this LINK given from Fort Collins, Colorado.

Speaker: Catherine Houston. Catherine shares her experience of the parinirvana of her root teacher, Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, and her experiences in retreat following his passing.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This is a previously-recorded talk given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche from Northshire Book Store in Manchester, Vermont on August 31, 2018. The talk was from Rinpoche's 2018 Book Tour, 'Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on "Tsewa", the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World'.

Speaker: Kate Dobbertin. Kate speaks about her journey to bring her heart to a state of well being by breaking down the false realities within herself. Kate describes how being nearer to her mother during a time of illness and her siblings brought to light various attachments and storylines to reflect upon and investigate more deeply. Being part of a lineage built on self-reflection, coupled with Kate's hunger to shift her consciousness to a larger reality, she delved into what obscures her heart- a solidified sense of self. Kate describes how samsara, karma and attachment cut deep into the idea of self, and describes samsara as what we experience when we have preferences. It is represented by a constant wish that things were different from the way they are, driven by our own individual karma. She believes that every practice in this lineage offers healing, and healing is creating a state of well being, or a heart unburdened by layers of self-deception.

Speaker: Natasha Carter. Natasha discusses how the practice of staying open allows her to see more clearly her patterns of mind, particularly when the mind is disturbed and agitated. Caring for elderly parents can be challenging, but Natasha uses this as an opportunity to lean into her discomfort to cultivate self-awareness. Reading Rinpoche's book, "Peaceful Heart" with her mother has provided a framework for reflecting on her repetitive patterns of anger, irritation and remorse that sometimes arise while relating to her parents. In particular, she examines how the eight worldly concerns (pleasure and pain, loss and gain, praise and blame, fame and disgrace) show up to hook her, causing pain to herself and others. Rather than criticizing, she remains curious about her own disturbance of mind. The willingness to face these destructive mindsets takes humility, courage and resolve. It also requires an agile mind: the capacity to think clearly in the face of reactivity.