The Power of Love

Simple Thoughts That Change Your Life

A Practical Eight-Week Meditation Course

Time: Thursdays 7:15-8:30 pm
Venue: 
Globe Eco Centre, Church St, Uttoxeter ST14 8AG
Teacher: Mark Manning

* Seating on chairs *

Everyone wants to be happy and no one wants to suffer, but very few people understand what is the real cause of happiness and what is the real cause of suffering. 

In this eight-week course, learn to solve your daily problems and experience a purer form of happiness through simple yet profound Buddhist wisdom — scientific methods tried and tested, passed on from generation to generation. 

In these classes we learn special ways of thinking that easily overcome self-centredness and enable us to develop a heart of genuine love and compassion for all living beings. By gradually replacing our habitual ways of thinking with the mind that cherishes others, we align our mind with reality and discover that the true source of happiness lies not outside ourself, but within our own mind. 

"Pure, unconditional love never causes any pain or worry but only peace and joy."
- Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche 

This course will be based on the book The New Eight Steps to Happiness by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, which can be bought online or downloaded for free (click here).

Each class is self-contained, so you are welcome to join at any time. No previous experience is required. This is an ongoing weekly class held throughout the year. Please see below for dates and further information. Head to our What to Expect page for practical info about visiting us for a class.

Mark Manning is a qualified meditation Teacher of Tara International Kadampa Retreat Centre. His teachings are engaging, clear, and infused with sharp wisdom, inspiring people to put Buddha's teachings into practice.

Thur 29 Oct 7:15-8:30pm
Interconnected in a Web of Kindness
A Special Way of Seeing

Learn to view the world through Buddha's wisdom eyes, and discover yourself connected to all living beings in a web of kindness. As we learn to see the kindness in others, our sense of being an island - an independent self-sufficient being begins to dissolve, revealing the deeper truth of equality and interdependence among all living beings.

Thur 5 Nov 7:15-8:30pm
Learning to Cherish Others
The Solution to All our Problems, the Source of All our Happiness

Discover the precious mind of love — the key to developing and maintaining a peaceful mind, so you can be happy all the time. By contemplating the practical benefits of cherishing others, we come to a genuine decision to do just that. This is a practical method for overcoming our self-centred desires, beginning an inner journey from a mind constrained by self-concern to the altruistic attitude of those bound for everlasting peace and joy.

Thur 12 Nov 7:15-8:30pm
Increasing the Scope of our Love
Living Beings Have No Faults

One of the main obstacles to enhancing our love, and a major source of our negativity, is our focus on others' faults. Using Buddha's skilful and practical methods, we can free our mind from this negative habit which, far from naive, prevents us from seeing the best in ourselves and others and makes it impossible for pure love to grow.

Thur 19 Nov 7:15-8:30pm
What Blocks our Love
Identifying the Real Troublemaker

Dive deep into the core of our problems and discover where all our unhappiness and negative experiences are really coming from. At the root, operating from the depths of our heart, is a mistaken mind that exaggerates our own importance. The moment we let go of this obsessive self-concern, our mind naturally relaxes: our worries and anxieties simply disappear and a new sense of freedom develops.

Thur 26 Nov 7:15-8:30pm
The Most Radical Transformation
Exchanging Self with Others

Discover the practice of "exchanging self with others" — learning to climb down the mountain of ‘self’ and ascend the mountain of ‘other’, until we realise these two identities were never so different. As our view shifts from self-focused to other-focused, a confidence far beyond that of any self-centred being begins to grow. By changing the object of our cherishing, we uncover an inexhaustible source of happiness - our love for others.

Thur 3 Dec 7:15-8:30pm
Strong, Unshakable Mind
Taking by Means of Compassion

Purify your mind through the magical practice of 'Taking' — a sublime method for increasing our compassion, taking us closer and closer to complete purity. Through this practice, we develop a very strong mind that can bear adversity with courage. Undisturbed by whatever hardships life throws at us, we become like modern day heroes and heroines.

Thur 10 Dec 7:15-8:30pm
A Completely Pure Mind
Giving by Means of Love

Learn to harness the power of your imagination to create the future you wish for. By training in giving our own future happiness of enlightenment to all living beings now — using correct imagination based on wisdom — we create the causes to actually achieve it. In this way, travelling the inner paths of love and wisdom, we can fulfil all our wishes, temporary and ultimate.