The Middle Way Initiative Newsletter: May 2024
Dear Friends,
We had a wonderful OQ Live Conversation with Elizabeth and Traleg Khandro on April 20th! Recordings are now available.
Registration is now open for both of Elizabeth’s May programs. We invite you to our second OQ Live Conversation of 2024 with Elizabeth and Sean Price, “Faith Grounded in Wisdom” on Saturday, May 11 at 10am MST.
May 25-26, please join Elizabeth Live at Pema Osel in Vermont, as well as streamed, for “Bearing Witness: Cultivating Courage and Engagement on the Bodhisattva Path.”
Last but not least, don’t miss Elizabeth’s new podcast episode just out: episode 502: Hail the Impossible!
Our “Tashi Delek Year of the Dragon” T-shirts are now back by popular demand and again for sale in our Bonfire store. They will also be sold at Pema Osel for Elizabeth’s upcoming program.
More information about all Eliabeth’s inspiring new teachings can be found below.
-MWI Team
Sharing Elizabeth’s photo of spring in Crestone!
Open Question Live Conversation "Faith: Grounded in Wisdom"
About this Event
Join us on Saturday May 11, 2024 from 10 am - Noon USA MT for the Open Question Live Conversation "Faith: Grounded in Wisdom" with Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel and Sean Price. Sean is a respected translator and is the Director of Tibetan Publications for the Tsadra Foundation. Elizabeth and Sean will discuss the 3 Wisdoms and cultivating the qualities of faith. Sean will bring forth the richness of translation by talking about the meaning of the English word "faith" as a translation for the Tibetan word "depa."
Sean Price
Sean Price became a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in 1994 and has since studied at various monastic institutes in India and Nepal; he has resided at Shechen Monastery, Nepal, since 1999. He has translated numerous Mahamudra and Dzogchen texts and has worked at the Tsadra Foundation as Director of Tibetan Publications since 2009.
Bearing Witness: Cultivating Courage and Engagement on the Bodhisattva Path.
May 25-26th
Event hosted by Mangala Shri Bhuti
In the tradition of the Mahayana, the great bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara serves as a primary example of bearing witness. In fact, his very name means, “One who does not avert his attention from the needs of beings.”
This story evokes many questions about our own path: What do we do when the suffering of the world gets overwhelming? Does bringing inquisitiveness to our own impediments necessarily have to be excruciating? Could it be freeing instead? How does this path help us create grace in our lives?
During this weekend Elizabeth will guide us through the annual Mahayana Essentials series providing discourse, guided meditations, and lively discussion. She will use the inspiring story of Avalokiteshvara as a basis for personalizing and digging deeper into the methods, vision and liberating insight of the bodhisattva path.
Program Details
This year’s Mahayana Essentials program is an in-person and live-stream program hosted by Pema Osel. Elizabeth will give three talks which will include Q&A.
On Saturday and Sunday there will be half-hour guided meditation sessions before the morning talks. There will also be discussion groups held before the Saturday afternoon talk. All of these sessions will be hosted on Zoom and led by senior students.
For those who are unable to watch the live stream in real time, the videos will be accessible until June 26th. Or if you wish to continue your study of the teachings, an Audio-Video Study Set is available for purchase which gives you access to the video for a full year and the downloadable audio indefinitely.
Audio recordings are available as well as a separate product. The audio recordings are downloadable and yours to enjoy indefinitely.
Open Question Podcast Episode 502: Hail the impossible!
At 7:15 am on August 7th, 1974, 1,300 feet above a gathering crowd, French high wire artist, Philip Petit, renowned for his unauthorized public stunts, stepped onto a 131-foot wire rigged between the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center. In this episode, Elizabeth recalls Petit 's "impossible" display of human courage and confidence as an analogy for faith, why we need to cultivate it, what it is, and how it works.
Open Question LIVE Conversation, "Faith: Seeking Refuge"
RECORDINGS
April 20, 2024 OQ LIVE Recordings are available in English and Portuguese Translation.
We will be making all 2024 Open Question recordings available through Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/oqlive2024
For those who register for a live event, you will receive a free access code by email to view recordings for free.
For those who do not register, recordings are available to purchase.
eB 133 - Mind Your Own Business. EveryBodhi Podcast: Jampal Norbu & Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
The Lojong mind training slogans don’t offer practitioners advice so that we might simply become nice or agreeable people. Mind training aims to aid us in genuine transformation, but we need to challenge ourselves to understand its deeper, nuanced layers. In this episode, Jampal Norbu is joined by Dharma teacher, Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, in contemplation of Verse 26: “Do Not Ponder Others’ Business”.
On all podcast platforms and at the EveryBodhi podcast page.
Back by Popular Demand!
We launched our “Year of the Dragon” T-shirt as a limited fundraising campaign that ended March 31.
Since we have received so many requests for the Dragon t-shirt, we are offering it again. We also have heard from many of you about how much you like the design and quality.
Thank you all for supporting MWI!