Living the Awakened Heart is a training in meditation, reflection and insight from the Mahamudra & Dzogchen traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The training consists of six overlapping areas:
Love & Compassion, Insight into Emptiness, Daily Life Awareness, Vaster Vision, Pranidhana, Ritual.
Learn more about the structure of the Living the Awakened Heart training and find out more about each of the areas below.
Listen to Lama Shenpen reflecting on the inspiration behind the six areas of Living the Awakened Heart (LAH) areas, as interrelated topics emanating from the DHB themes (8 min clip).
At the centre of each area is the Indestructible Heart Esssence, the essence of our being which goes beyond birth and death – it’s what we are seeking to realise, Awakening.
We can look at the LAH areas individually but essentially they are the same thing: the simplicity of the Awakened Heart.
“At the beginning they seem to be all different things and then the more you realise what they truly are, you realise they are all different names for the same thing….pointing your way home, back to your origin of the Awakened Heart.”
Lama Shenpen
The Six Areas of Living the Awakened Heart
LOVE AND COMPASSION
Developing love and compassion for all beings through heart connections to self and others, longing for freedom from suffering and well-being for all. The qualities of love and compassion can be cultivated in various ways, including practising the Bramhaviharas/Apranamas – that is, developing limitless love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity for ourselves and others.
Practising in this way can deepen our formless meditiation practice and understanding of the Vaster Vision.
INSIGHT INTO EMPTINESS
Deepening understanding of view with regard to ‘self’ and ‘not self’ through reading, reflecting and in our direct experience in formless meditation – this is essentially about recognising our own nature. The study materials include ‘Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness’ by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.
DAILY LIFE AWARENESS
Training how to act in, and relate to, the world and others through awareness of body, speech and mind. Areas of focus include ‘bringing meditation into daily life through body awareness’, ‘working with emotions’ and ‘death and dying’.
VASTER VISION
Deepening understanding about the limitless nature of Reality through exploring Mahayana Sutra Principles, the Six Paramitas and the Bodhisattva Aspiration.
PRANIDHANA
Exploring the practice of making pranidhanas (as powerful wish-fulfilling prayers) through the Samantabhadracharya Pranidhana (SBCP). This is about seeking to deepen our understanding of the limitless vision of Dharma and formless meditation.
RITUAL AND THE MANDALA OF SACRED SPACE
Training in ongoing sangha practices (such as daily pujas and full moon feasts) and the significance of how we commit and ‘show up’ in our shared space together.
“A simple ritual is the way we come and greet the shrine … so the way we behave towards the shrine empowers the shrine to empower us, and empowers our actions that we do towards it.”
Lama Shenpen