COURSE ONE

Nine Stages of Shamatha:
Cultivating Stability in an Uncertain World + 21 Praises of Tara Practice

Dates:
Sundays | October 18, 25 & November 1, 8, 15, 22

Location:
In-person at Wisdom River Meditation Center or Online via Zoom.

Time:
8:30 - 10:15 AM Pacific (Teaching)
10:15 - 11:15 AM Pacific (Tara Puja) - details below

We are living in a time of profound uncertainty and change. Amid political and social polarization, conflict, environmental instability, and the many pressures of our personal lives, it can be difficult to remain grounded and present. We may find ourselves pulled into reactivity, overwhelmed by what is happening around us, or simply carried along by the habitual momentum of our own minds.

Shamatha, or calm abiding, offers a way of cultivating the stability that allows us to meet our experience differently. Through practice, we learn to rest more steadily in the present moment, without being continually carried away by thoughts, emotions, and circumstances. This growing stability and equanimity creates the space to remember our deepest intentions and to respond to our lives and our world with greater wisdom and compassion.

The traditional teachings on the Nine Stages of Shamatha provide a detailed map of how this capacity develops. They describe the gradual stabilization of attention, the obstacles we encounter along the way, and the methods that help us work skillfully with distraction, dullness, agitation, and other challenges. Rather than serving simply as markers of accomplishment, the nine stages can help us understand our experience in meditation and recognize how to nurture greater stability, clarity, and ease.

For experienced practitioners as well, the continued cultivation of shamatha remains essential. The stability and clarity developed through shamatha provide an indispensable foundation for practices such as Mahamudra and the Creation and Completion Stages, allowing us to engage these practices more deeply and become increasingly receptive to their transformative potential.

Over six weeks, Lama Döndrup will guide participants through the Nine Stages of Shamatha, along with the factors that impede and support the development of calm abiding. Through teachings, meditation, reflection, and discussion, we will explore how this ancient map can support both a deepening meditation practice and our capacity to remain grounded, awake, and responsive amid the complexities of our lives and our world.

There are no prerequisites.

Fees:
$240 course fee
$200 (base)
$180 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)

The deadline to register is Saturday, October 17 at 12 PM (Pacific).

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Dharma Training Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in DTP, you do not need to register separately for this series. 

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Bodhi Program. If you are enrolled in Bodhi and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.

Shantideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (The Way of the Bodhisattva) offers a profound vision of what it means to shape a human life around wisdom and compassion. Having established the aspiration to awaken for the benefit of all beings and explored the inner qualities that allow us to remain faithful to that aspiration, the final chapters turn toward bringing the bodhisattva path to fruition.

In this six-week course, we will explore Chapters 7–10, which guide us through four essential dimensions of the path:

• Joyous Effort — cultivating the energy, confidence, and perseverance needed to continue on the path without becoming discouraged or overwhelmed

• Meditative Concentration — learning to gather and stabilize the mind, creating the inner conditions in which compassion and wisdom can deepen

• Wisdom — investigating the nature of self and phenomena and discovering how insight into emptiness transforms the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the world

• Dedication — offering the goodness of our practice for the welfare of all beings and allowing the vast motivation of bodhicitta to encompass every aspect of our lives

Together, these chapters ask us to move beyond simply aspiring to live with wisdom and compassion. They show us how the bodhisattva path becomes increasingly embodied: through the energy we bring to practice, the stability of our attention, the depth of our understanding, and the widening of our concern beyond ourselves.

Shantideva’s teachings on wisdom are among the most profound passages of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, yet they are inseparable from his teachings on compassion. As our understanding of the fluid and interdependent nature of experience deepens, our habitual ways of separating self from other can begin to loosen. Wisdom and compassion reveal themselves not as separate aspects of the path, but as mutually supporting dimensions of awakening.

Through teaching, meditation, reflection, discussion, and contemplative practice, we will explore how these final chapters can help us cultivate a mind that is more stable, a heart that is more courageous, and a way of being that is increasingly available to the needs of the world.

No prior study of the Bodhicaryāvatāra is required, and students are welcome to join the exploration at this point in the text.

Fee:
$240 course fee
$200 (base)
$185 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Bodhi Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in Bodhi, you do not need to register separately for this series. 

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Dharma Training Program. If you are enrolled in DTP and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.