Complementing Buddhist Practices with Inner Work

We have all benefitted tremendously from the immense legacy that Buddha left us. We experience the value of having powerful and transformative practices like the bodhisattva vows, precept study, loving kindness practices, meditation and koan work to awaken us from suffering.

And yet, as Jack Kornfield, an American Buddhist Teacher wrote in A Path with Heart:

• At least half of the students at our annual three-month retreat find themselves unable to do traditional Insight Meditation because they encounter so much unresolved grief, fear, and wounding and unfinished developmental business from the past.

• Even the most successful Western seekers will, after periods of powerful meditation and deep insights, reencounter painful patterns, fear, and unconsciousness in whole other parts of their lives.

• We may experience understanding and peace in meditation, but when we return to the problems of daily life or visit our families or even fall in love, suddenly old patterns of suffering, neurosis, attachment, and delusion can be as strong as ever.

The truth is being human is complex. It is not a sign of failure as practitioners that we avail ourselves of different kinds of healing, psychological and spiritual tools in order to function more effectively and compassionately in the world.

Join a lineup of long-term Buddhist practitioners as they explore how Inner Work has helped them deepen into their Buddhist practices.

Some of the topics that will be covered:

• ⁠When painful emotions just wouldn't go away in meditation practice.

• The challenge of letting go.
• Spiritual Bypass: Are we using Buddhist teachings and practices to avoid dealing with our own problems?
• Consequences of not dealing with buried needs, forbidden feelings and dangerous impulses.
• ⁠Getting to know our inner critic that rob us of our joy in spiritual practice.
• ⁠If there is no self, is it necessary to understand the self?
• ⁠How our own preconceived biases may distort our understanding of Buddhist teachings.
• ⁠Does trauma work have a place in Buddhist practices?

Soh Wan started her study in Buddhism in Mee Toh primary school.

After attending a Buddhist meditation class in university, she fell in love with how Buddhism systematically explained life and suffering. Since then, she began her dharma study and attended many retreats with different organizations and different Buddhist masters, including the Mahaprajna Buddhist Society, Amitabha Buddhist Centre and Land of Compassionate Buddha. She is also a meditator, in Vipassana in Theravada tradition and Single-pointed meditation in Tibetan tradition.

Soh Wan has led several rounds of study and discussions on Tibetan Buddhist text Lamrim, The stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

More about Soh Wan

Ourania’s interest in Buddhism started as a young child when her father shared stories of Buddha and his teachings.

At the age of 20, she started attending Dharma talks, pujas, Buddhist classes of different traditions as well as meditation classes. In 1986, she studied the Buddhist course “The Path To Enlightenment”. She was also an active volunteer in The Mahaprajna Buddhist Society for about 16 years.

Ourania’s passion for the application of dharma in daily life led her to the Lamrim Discussion class on “The Great Treatise on the Stages of The Path to Enlightenment” at BW Monastery in 2003. Because of her passion to know Buddhism deeply, she is committed to life-long learning about Buddhism. She has been a facilitator for Bilingual Lamrim discussion classes for a couple of years and is currently a volunteer.

More about Ourania

Hun Tong is a Buddhist, who is also a faculty member and the staff advisor of the Buddhist Society at a local university. He volunteers at various agencies and Buddhist organizations.

More about Hun Tong

EcoHarmony is dedicated in promoting organic plant-based diets, holistic wellness, and balance between body, mind, spirit, and ecology.

Founded in 1994, Singapore Lapis Lazuli Light’s objective is to promote Dr. Chiu-Nan Lai’s “Body, Mind and Spirit” Total Health concept to all levels of society.

School of Inner Work is a psychospiritual school that offers transformational programs for personal and spiritual growth.

Also check out other Health & Wellness events in Paya Lebar, Workshops in Paya Lebar.