Below is detailed information about Doug Duncan Sensei‘s and Catherine Pawasarat’s teaching schedule that starts early November and finishes in early December. Dates have changed so please note different class times.
The themes for these teachings have been crafted to be accessible to beginners as well and long term meditators. Doug Sensei and Catherine have an interest in social engagement, yoga, dance, human rights and environmentalism, these teachings are ideal to bring your friends along to, those of whom may have not had experience of Dharma before. Topics will also be taught on with depth that will be of interest to more advanced students.
Doug Duncan Sensei is a colleague of Tarchin, Bonni and Lama Mark. Along with them, he studied with Namgyal Rinpoche and was amongst this first wave of teachers given authorisation to teach the Dharma, Sensei Doug has been teaching for over 20 years.
If you would like to have a meditation interview with Doug Sensei or Catherine Pawasarat, or to show Doug Sensei and Catherine around Auckland please contact Mira for further information:info@aucklandsphere.org
Doug Duncan Sensei’s and Catherine Pawasarat’s Auckland Schedule
November Teachings:
I)
Monday Nov 11th – 7:30 pm
Bliss, Clarity and Non-Clinging in relationship to Metta (Loving Kindness) Meditation.
Tuesday Nov 12th – 7:30 pm
Bliss, Clarity and Non-Clinging in relationship to Non-Dual Awareness. Teachings on Union and Flow.
Thursday Nov 14th – 7:30 pm
Bliss, Clarity and Non-Clinging in relationship to the development of Calm abiding and Insight (Vipassana), The Questioning mind, and signs to note when the meditation is working.
Venue for the three evenings: 175 Garnett Road (cnr Garnett and Faulder) Westmere.
Bliss, Clarity and Non-Clinging (Compassion, Wisdom and Non-clinging Awareness) comprise the essence of mindfulness practice. In this age of stress, anxiety and worry, many programs and courses are designed to improve how we feel. Too often these are mere band-aid fixes, rather than the lasting solutions that we long for. These teachings focus on cultivating the foundation that underlies good states.
Cost: $15 (waged) or $10 (assisted) plus Dana (Koha) – donation to the Teacher.
II)
Saturday Nov 16th – 9:30 am – 12 noon: MINDFULNESS: “The Profound Journey”
Approaching mindfulness through Body, Speech ( breath and energy ) and Mind.
All of life is communicating – how can we listen to it without feeling overwhelmed? How can we respond to our planet with all that we are? How can we give it the gift of our attention?
Without an awareness of our real relationship to the earth and all being’s living on the earth we will be unable to make the changes in lifestyle and social engagement necessary to live well into the future. Simple, direct mindfulness practice opens our minds up to these necessary explorations, and help give us the clarity of mind to make intelligent, informed decisions.
For more information visit: http://www.aucklandsphere.org/doug-mindfulness/
Sunday Nov 17th – 9:30 am – 12 noon: TANTRA: “The Fast Path”
What is Tantra and why does it work so well!
A meaning of Tantra is “thread”, weaving us together with life, waking up in the present, interconnecting with “others”, reaching fulfillment in the experience of unity.
Tantra is considered “The Fast Path’ because it uses everything that humans are, it gathers, redirects and transforms all our energies to enable us feel more connected, engaged and alive. Through creative meditation we will be using mantra, visualisation and movement to open our hearts and realize the deep intention of our being.
For more information visit: http://www.aucklandsphere.org/sensei-doug-tantra/
Venue for both morning classes: Kawai Purapura (Wellpark Albany North Shore Campus)
Cost: $15 (waged) or $10 (assisted) plus Dana (Koha) – donation to the Teacher.
December Teachings:
III)
Monday Dec 2 – 7:30pm
Teachings on the Mindfulness of Breathing
Tuesday Dec 3 – 7:30pm
The Six Perfections, Teachings on the Paramitas
These practices develop wholesome activity, growth and enlightenment.
Thursday Dec 5 – 7:30pm
Vajrayana – Symbols and Meditation – why they work.
VI)
Saturday Dec 7 – 9am-12noon
Wongkur of Prajnaparamita (Orange Tara)
Saturday Dec 7 – 7.30pm-9pm
Class on Prajnaparamita sadhana.
Sunday Dec 8 – 9am-12noon
Class on Prajnaparamita sadhana.
Sunday Dec 8 – 7.30pm-9pm
Class on Prajnaparamita sadhana.
Venue: to be advised
Cost for Wongkur: $25. Cost for classes: $15 (waged) or $10 (assisted). Plus Dana (Koha) – donation to the Teacher.
About Doug Duncan Sensei and Catherine Pawasarat:
Doug Duncan Sensei is a Canadian-born dharma teacher and counselor who has travelled, studied and meditated for most of his life. He has taught and founded centers for awakening in Japan and Canada as well as being a visiting teacher in many other countries. Known for his direct and compassionate engagement with students, Doug embraces the full spectrum of the various traditions he employs in order to mentor beings to a more awakened state. Doug’s non-sectarian approach features a strong foundation in contemporary psychology, philosophy and science.
With Doug Sensei and other students, Catherine helped found Dharma Japan in Japan and the Clear Sky Retreat Centre in Canada. In particular Catherine focuses on dharma training and helping to implement sustainability, and how sustainability figures in the practices of awakening. Traveling widely, reading eclectically, Catherine’s teaching style is embracive and inclusive, focusing on practical application to the personal and spiritual as well as social, environmental and economic concerns. Her great sense of humour makes sometimes difficult conditions enriching.
At the retreat centre Sensei and Catherine have helped create in Canada, they have integrated ecological restoration and education into their programming and operations. The native ecology of the retreat centre are grasslands, and the community there work intently on nurture this. They also have a green building program and operate all of Clear Sky as well as their farm/food forest as social enterprises. Permaculture weaves into all of this as well.
About Dana: It is important to note that most Dharma teachers do not receive fees for their teaching but are dependent on the generosity of student donations. One of the reasons no set fee is given by the teacher is so that all beings, no matter what their financial situation is, are able to come and receive teachings.
Dana refers to “a gift freely and joyfully given”, and therefore the giving itself and the actual amount given is to be determined by students themselves. Another way to look at what’s appropriate for working persons is to multiply the hours of teaching by your own hourly rate.
A supported rate is available if you can’t meet the costs of these teachings (please contact Mira).
Contact Mira for more information or to book for any class: info@aucklandsphere.org
or phone/text: 021 548 781
Doug Duncan Sensei on Wisdom, the Inner Guru
The Inner Voice: “That’s the voice from the bottom of the well. If the voices are arguing it’s not the voice at the bottom of the well. If there’s a discussion or a debate going on, it’s not the voice at the bottom of the well. The voice at the bottom of the well is the voice that comes up when you get so tired and worn out by all the other voices that you stop listening to them. And then quietly this little voice from the bottom of the well emerges… and that’s the voice you’ve got to listen to. If you don’t listen to that voice, it will disappear back into the subconscious, to the bottom of the well. It’s just a quiet little voice at the bottom. It only speaks when it’s necessary.”
For more information please contact:
Email: info@aucklandsphere.org
Web: www.aucklandsphere.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Auckland-Sphere-Group/202227256457843
Doug Duncan Sensei
and Catherine Pawasarat
November 2013 Teachings at the Queenstown Dharma Centre
12 Lake Street, Queenstown, NZ
Western Mystery Teachings
7 sessions: Nov 19, 20 and 21 at 7.30pm (weekdays) and
Nov 23 and 24 at 10am and 2.30pm (weekend)
(Mark up your calendar!)
The Western mystery tradition has continued in Western society since time immemorial. While repressed by the church, its meditative and psychologically transformative techniques survived through the ages. Focusing on the archetypes of our Western understanding, such as the High Priestess, the Hermit and the Fool, to name a few, the psyche is taken on a journey from its conditioned origin, subject as it is to suffering, forward to the liberated mind of a ‘master’.
A master is one who knows the order and place of things in both society and in transcendence. Masters are beings who can transform the root energies of depression, anxiety and the like into their original state of clarity, love and compassion. These teachings examine how this work is accomplished through the Path of the adept, moving through the archetypes into the light of wisdom and understanding.
more information
Non-Dual Awareness
5 sessions: Nov 26, 27 and 28 at 7.30pm (weekdays)
Using the path of the Buddhist Teaching of Totality (also known as Hua Yen philosophy), these teachings examine the ancient Chinese approach, translating them into a Western style. The original spirit of Buddhism was based upon its radical emphasis on achieving liberation and abolishing all philosophical speculation.
Thus we need to integrate Totality with non-obstruction. These teachings address how the all-embracing, completely aware aspects of the awakened mind confer freedom from all clingings and bindings.
The empowerment for Prajnaparamita, Mother of Wisdom
The Wongkur of Prajnaparamita
(Orange Tara – Mother of All Buddhas)
The Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom
Teachings on the Heart Sutra and Emptiness.
Nov 30 at 10am and 2.30pm (weekend) at the Queenstown Dharma Centre.
Meditations with Tara as a focus are compassionate and loving. This meditation focusses on the unconditional love and support that arises when we see life clearly.
Chogyum Trungpa writes “Compassion is not feeling sorry for someone. It is basic warmth.” This warmth is to be extended to oneself first with the help of meditation practice. “Meditation is a delightful and spontaneous thing to do. It is the continual act of making friends with yourself.”
Orange Tara meditation trains us to reside in this basic warmth, so that every cell in your body radiates with loving compassion.
For more information please contact Alan:
info@dharmacentre.org.nz
OR phone/text: ph: 027 434 3956