A mandala may be seen as an enlightened container or a context through which we are able to understand and work with patterns which can distress or enhance our daily lives. Each of the Buddha families is imbued with both a wisdom aspect and its neurotic or distorted overlay.  By working with the teachings and images of the five wisdom dakinis, we can explore, understand, and begin to transform these obstructed patterns into the five wisdoms For example, the confusion and spaciness of the Buddha family can become spacious wisdom, etc.

In these five Saturday morning meetings, we will explore the nature of the different types of energy and how they operate in our thinking and feeling. Ways to integrate their positive energies into our daily lives will be explored through teaching, meditation and discussion.  Writing, art, creating mandalas, and working with sound are among the techniques we will incorporate in order to help enhance different aspects of our innate wisdom and to overcome conflicted patterns in ourselves and better understand them in others.

"Ultimately, the five wisdoms are teachings about bringing out the best of 

who we are and seeing the world with new eyes." Irini Rockwell

Recommended texts:

Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine by Lama Tsultrim Allione

The Five Wisdom Energies: A Buddhist Way of Understanding Personalities, Emotions, and Relationshipsby Irini Rockwell. 

Online links & resources will also be provided.

Sponsored by and a Benefit for Odiyana Institute. $45. For series or $10 per session. 

Registration Required: odiyanainsb@gmail.com.

Facilitators: 

Marilyn Avenali (M.A. Art History) is a long-time student of Tulku Orygen Rinpoche, and Vajrayana Buddhism.  Her other practices include improvisational piano, fiber art weaving  (Wisdom Weavers, Inc.), and writing.  For her workshop on the Vajra Wisdom Dakini, she will share some of her dharma-inspired wall hangings; and facilitate a writing session that explores ways to work with, and transform, the obstructed emotional pattern of anger and aggression (kleshas) into its wisdom energy.

Kimberley Snow, Ph.D., an author, teacher, and workshop leader, has assisted Tulku Orgyen in various administrative matters since 2004. Her books include Writing Yourself Awake: Meditation & Creativity and the recently reprinted Keys to the Open Gate: A Woman’s Spirituality Sourcebook. In this workshop, the group will focus on how the Five Buddha Family energies work together (or don’t) on a personal level and in relationships Meditation, writing, and contemplation will be included. 

Juliet Rohde-Brown, Ph.D., author of Imagine Forgiveness,  is a licensed clinical psychologist and chair of the Depth Psychology: Integrative Therapy and Healing Practices doctoral specialization at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She began a meditation practice in the mid-1990’s and she has co-led workshops and retreats. For this workshop, Juliet will focus on the Buddha Dakini and we will experientially work with sound and gesture. 

Marlene Zoellner, MA, MFT, has been a psychotherapist in Santa Barbara for over forty years In 1978 she started the Santa Barbara School of Massage and was the administrator and co-owner of it for eighteen years. Having an avid interest in the growth of body/mind/spirit has led her to many paths of exploration and study: neuroscience, somatic therapies, EMDR, and spiritual practice. During this workshop she will focus on the Padma Dakini wisdom energy. Together we will explore both the positive and problematic aspects of the Padma Buddha family qualities, with the goal of finding more balance in our own energies. As part of this process we will create our own simple mandalas.

Suggested links: 

Video: Lama Tsultrim Allione Introducing the Five Buddha Families:

May all beings benefit