Prof. John Makransky - "We are Already Held in the Qualities We Seek" Day 3 by Rangjung Yeshe Institute

Prof. John Makransky's workshop was entitled : "We are Already Held in the Qualities We Seek: An Introduction to Innate Compassion Training."

Dr. Makransky will present the theory and practice of the Innate Compassion Training Model (ICT) that he has introduced to both Western Buddhists and to people in caring roles and professions. For Western Buddhists, these forms of practice can help energize and further inform their existing contemplative and ritual practices. Each session includes lecture, meditation exercises, and Q&A.

To generate inclusive and unconditional love and compassion and the wisdom that supports them, a secure base of trust and confidence in the source of those qualities is essential. In Buddhist traditions, such a base of trust is instilled in large part by devotional practices, where practitioners experience themselves and their world to be held by those who have actualized the same unconditioned compassion and wisdom that they themselves seek to realize, i.e., the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. This kind of practice comprises the “receptive mode” of ICT. This receptive mode of meditation can help strengthen the trust needed to settle more deeply into the source of compassion and wisdom found in the deep nature of our minds. Note that attendance at all four sessions is strongly encouraged, although participants may miss sessions if necessary.

John Makransky, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, senior advisor for Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre of Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, former president of the Society of Buddhist-Christian studies, and co-founder of the Foundation for Active Compassion and Courage of Care Coalition. For the past eleven years, in consultation with his Tibetan teachers, John has been teaching meditations of innate compassion and wisdom, adapted from Tibetan Buddhism for Western Dharma students and those in caring roles and professions. As part of this effort, John developed the Innate Compassion and Wisdom Training model (ICT) that he’ll explain in these lectures. He gave workshop to the students of RYI from 24 - 27th Sept. 2019