
Skillful Means Podcast
Skillful Means Podcast offers practical wisdom for everyday life. Host Jennifer O'Sullivan explores navigating life's challenges through the lenses of Buddhist mindfulness, yoga, Internal Family Systems, and positive psychology.
Each month, episodes feature grounded guidance and accessible practices for meeting whatever arises with greater ease.
Jennifer is a Certified IFS Practitioner with over 20 years of experience teaching yoga and mindfulness.
Skillful Means Podcast
#109 Training in Compassion
Continuing our series on Awakening the Heart, this month we're exploring the Buddhist path of the bodhisattva through the cultivation of bodhicitta - the awakened heart-mind that forms the foundation of compassionate living.
Drawing from Mahayana Buddhist teachings, we also take a look at Lojong (mind training), the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative practice that can be used as a powerful framework for developing genuine compassion.
Highlights include:
- Cultivating the open-hearted attitude of enlightened ones (Bodhisattvas)
- Two types of Bodhicitta
- Paramitas (Perfections)
- Short history and details of Lojong
- Unpacking of the First Lojong statement: Train the Preliminaries
- Tips for working with the Lojong phrases
Mentioned on the show:
- Judy Lief's online Lojong translation and commentary: https://judylief.com/offerings/slogans-of-atisha/
- Norman Fischer's "Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong" https://bookshop.org/p/books/training-in-compassion-zen-teachings-on-the-practice-of-lojong-norman-fischer/9663817?ean=9781611800401&next=t
- VIA Character Strengths & Virtues: https://www.viacharacter.org/
- Dalai Lama Poem "This Precious Human Life" https://mountainsangha.org/a-precious-human-life/
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