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Becoming a Benefactor

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To receive love deeply and extend it impartially can help the mind relax into its most natural state—the wisdom of openness, simplicity, and presence beyond self-clinging. When this unity of love and wisdom is embodied in relationships, service, and action, it can become a supremely curative power for our world. In this retreat, meditation practices from Tibet are adapted for fresh access to Westerners, with a special focus on our innate capacities for loving compassion and wisdom.

John Makransky is Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, senior advisor for Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies in Nepal, co-founder of the Foundation for Active Compassion (a socially engaged contemplative organization), and author of the popular meditation manual Awakening through Love. Since 1978, Dr. Makransky has studied with lamas of three Tibetan lineages, and in 2000 was ordained a lama in the lineage of Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Since then John has taught meditations of compassion and wisdom adapted from Tibet in newly accessible ways to a diverse range of professionals and lectured at many institutions including Brown, Emory, and Harvard Divinity School.

Further information on his meditations is available at foundationforactivecompassion.com.