Sunday, June 11, 10:30 am –
Calm Breath, Calm Mind –
Geshe YongDong Losar, Homilist –
Lynne Bonner, Worship Associate –
“When the breath is not controlled, the mind is like a leaf blown around in a wind storm…When you cultivate mindful and slow breathing, you bring balance to your mind, creating peace and calm…Learn how your breath and mind are deeply linked.” Geshe YongDong Losar
Geshe YongDong Losar is our guest homilist for this service. Through Tibetan Bön Buddhist teachings, he emphasizes the inherent goodness in us all, the cultivation of compassion and acceptance of the world as it is, and all beings in it, as they are. He will help us practice this through chanting and a guided meditation. This will be an extended period of meditation and guidance that may be deeper than what some members of the congregation have experienced before. It is an opportunity to explore and lean into the spiritual practice of an ancient tradition.
Geshe YongDong Losar (Geshela) is a Tibetan Bön lama, or spiritual teacher, in the Yungdrung Bön lineage, which is rooted in the indigenous spiritual tradition of the Himalayas. He was born in Tibet, and at the age of 13, he entered the largest Bön monastery in Tibet. Eleven years later, he was awarded the geshe degree, an academic achievement of the highest order, similar to a Western PhD in theology. He escaped Tibet soon after, settling in India, where he had the honour of receiving teachings from some of the most eminent spiritual leaders of our time, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Geshela now lives in Courtenay, where he established and directs Sherab Chamma Ling, the only Tibetan Bön Buddhist Center in Canada. He teaches in many centres and universities around the world, and has written books in both Tibetan and English.
