Great Compassion Comes To Carbondale

The Way Of Compassion Dharma Center was honored to host Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi this past Saturday, June 10th.

Over seventy people gathered at the Third Street Center in Carbondale for two teaching sessions on Bodhicitta, also known as Great Compassion.

Venerable Tenzin based the talk on the text, Vast As The Heavens, Deep As The Sea, by the late Khunu Rinpoche, a compilation over three-hundred beautiful and poetic verses that praise the altruistic mind that wishes to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings.

“Usually we are very proud of ourselves even when we simply have a kind thought towards someone,” Ven. Tenzin said. “We can spend the rest of the day telling ourselves a story of how wonderful we are. But this is not the kind of compassion we are talking about. Bodhicitta goes far beyond that kind of ordinary thinking. Bodhicitta is the root of the path to enlightenment.”

Venerable Tenzin’s clear presentation of the topic, as well as his good humor and ability to bring these teachings into a practical, modern day context, were truly inspiring.

In the end, he called us all to task to consider not just listening to these teachings then forgetting about them, but to also put them into practice.

“Maybe since this is the very auspicious month of Saga Dawa you can commit to reading a verse from this text each day,” he said. “Then contemplate the meaning and bring these verses into your life.”