“Visions of Freedom: Recollecting the Buddha’s Disciples and Their Teachings” with Kim Allen

Online via Zoom

What does freedom look like in a person?  The early Buddhist teachings show that different prominent disciples of the Buddha displayed different character traits and emphasized different aspects of the Dhamma in their teachings.

In this session, we’ll get to know four key figures in the Buddha’s company through contrasting pairs. Gentle Ānanda, who loved community, and the Buddha most of all – so different from Mahā Kassapa, who delighted in simplicity and lone forest dwelling to the very end. And Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā, with her sharp analytical mind, in distinction to Queen Sāmāvatī, the embodiment of mettā (lovingkindness).

Two were fully awakened, and two had tasted awakening; all of them lived lives of deep devotion to the Dhamma. We will see how this does not dampen a person’s character into blandness, but rather brightens it into a unique and inspiring form.

The aim of the class is to use these disciples’ stories and teachings to enliven and expand our own practice and understanding. The class includes stories, teachings, meditation, and discussion.

About the Instructor:
Kim Allen began meditating in 2003, seeking both a path out of suffering and the deeper truths of life. She trains mainly under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center, and has also practiced in Sri Lanka and, more recently, with a few Mahāyāna teachers. Kim was drawn early on to long retreat practice and has sat cumulative three years of retreat. Engagement with the Pāli Canon, and also texts from other Buddhist traditions, informs her practice and life. A teacher and author, Kim aims to bring classical Dharma to a modern context and to encourage lay practitioners in fully living a life of Dharma. Kim also serves on the board of the Sati Center. Her education includes a PhD in physics and a master’s degree in environmental sustainability, and her website is http://www.uncontrived.org.