Yuka Nakamura has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1993 in the Theravada, Dzogchen and Zen traditions, and has been trained as a teacher by Fred von Allmen. Living in Switzerland, she teaches meditation and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
The teaching on the four ennobling truths speaks to our lived experience. It addresses the existential fact of facing suffering, pain, stress, and conflict in our lives and offers a way to understand the causes and conditions that lead to suffering and to the end of suffering. The four ennobling truths can guide us in our practice.
Brief description: How can we hold and meet the challenges of our time? Rather than falling into helplessness and despair, we can metabolize our fears and worries into energy and courage, allowing ourselves to be stirred up and to feel a sense of urgency. One specific area of practice is to see through our ways of perceiving and conceiving the world and self. Understanding the dependent and fabricated nature of all experience we can consciously and creatively play with ways of looking that contribute to peace, happiness, and harmony.
Compassion is a central mental factor that we want to cultivate on the path. It is both the sensitivity to suffering and the wholesome intention and action to alleviate suffering. Compassion frees the heart from unwholesome mindstates temporarily, is the foundation of moral conduct and supports the unfolding of wisdom.
Trust, faith or confidence is an important quality of mind on our path - enabling us to set out on the path, to engage with the teachings, to keep going even when facing challenges and to open up to the fullness of our experience. What prevents faith and trust and how can it be nurtured and developed?
