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Exploring the Essential Features of “Andrew Harvey & Robert Thurman – The Buddha & Jesus”
A 7-week Course at the
Intersection of Two Spiritual Sciences
With Renowned Teacher-Scholars
Robert Thurman and
Andrew Harvey
Harness the essential spiritual teachings and practices of Jesus and the Buddha to access deeper wisdom, profound love and true bliss.
Discover the complementary insights and techniques from these great spiritual pioneers to accelerate your awakening.
Two of the most important spiritual figures in history emerged in different times with very different challenges.
Gautama the Buddha was born into great wealth and renounced it all for a life of austerity and ultimate peace.
Jesus was born into an occupied land that was stewing with revolutionary fire.
Both faced corruption in the old order and offered different pathways to transmute the suffering and delusion of the world into the gold of enlightened awareness.
Their discoveries and teachings have much in common AND much to offer your modern life…
While their journeys, and the traditions that emerged after their lives, may appear quite different, Jesus and the Buddha both brought the light of awareness and love into our world.
And although not often presented in tandem, together the profound teachings of the Buddha and Jesus can offer you greater access to the bliss and blessings of an embodied divinity.
Awakening Yourself AND Serving the World
Buddhism has grown into more of a transformational science than a religion in the conventional sense. It’s renowned for its enlightened teachers, subtle distinctions related to levels of consciousness, and profound practices to awaken.
Buddhist practices are making their way into corporations, schools and even the halls of Congress because they are experiential and effective and work within any belief system.
However, Buddhist practices tend to emphasize the inner experience and awakening and can neglect social justice and other “worldly” challenges.
Christianity, meanwhile, is a major faith that has inspired billions with its message of putting our love of God into action in service of healing and social change — though sometimes at the expense of individual awakening. This may have been a result of the brief duration of Jesus’ teaching career, which was cut short by the crucifixion, preventing the future establishment of schools of more advanced spiritual practices.
But the ultimate result is that the actual spiritual practices in Christianity can be less developed or well-known.
So how can these two great traditions benefit each other — and what do their insights about bliss and awakening have to contribute to YOUR spiritual journey?
And how can you merge their best practices to enlighten your life?
The answers lie in a deeper understanding, in fact, a rediscovery of the teachings of the Buddha and Jesus, and then drawing from the best practices in each tradition for growth and illumination.
A Unique Opportunity to Learn From
Two Master Teachers
For the first time publicly, two of today’s most respected spiritual teacher-scholars are coming together for a 7-week program, to expand your understanding of the timeless insights, practices and love that Jesus and the Buddha offer.
Robert Thurman, a close friend of the Dalai Lama, is one of the most beloved and respected teachers of Buddhism in the West. Time magazine named him one of the “25 Most Influential Americans,” and called him the “Billy Graham of American Buddhism… perhaps the St. Paul, a latter-day, larger-than-life scholar-activist destined to convey the dharma, the precious teachings of Siddhartha, from Asia to America.”
Andrew Harvey is similarly eminent, an Oxford-trained scholar and the author of more than 30 books on world mystical traditions, Andrew founded the Institute for Sacred Activism and has taught at Cornell University, Oxford University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, The California Institute of Integral Studies and the University of Creation Spirituality.
Andrew and Bob are great friends and share a positively electric chemistry. Students light up in the presence of the wisdom, laughter, and liberation they bring.
The Buddha and Jesus 7-week program will be a powerful exploration of the interface of two major traditions. Guided by two great souls, teachers and scholars, you’ll discover the real meaning of awakening and compassion in action.
Andrew and Bob will explore questions such as:
- Can Buddhism soften Christianity’s edges and lead to more truly transformative practices and enlightened followers?
- Can Christianity help Buddhists be more”in the world” and tap its passion for justice, a prerequisite of a an enlightened society?
- Which profound gifts can deepen, enrich and open the spiritual, lives of those who are not exclusive followers of either tradition?
The Buddha and Jesus course will sizzle with provocative wisdom, passion and joy as Robert and Andrew address these questions in exciting and surprising ways.
Profound Insights With Liberating Laughter
A unique, exponential power emerges when two world-class teachers combine their genius into one luminous stream of wisdom.
The Buddha and Jesus program is appropriate for all levels of practice and development. Whether you’re beginning your spiritual journey or an advanced practitioner, the insights will be revelatory and practical.
That’s because both Robert and Andrew have a kind of “beginner’s mind,” in which they share simple truths that lend themselves to deeper levels of spirituality and academic rigor.
Not unlike his friend the Dalai Lama, who is as well known for his playfulness and simplicity as he is for his advanced teachings, Robert Thurman is known as a wise and charmingly self-deprecating teacher. Andrew’s humble directness and deep knowledge of Christianity, Sufism and other traditions have made him one of the most beloved and sought-after of The Shift Network’s esteemed faculty.
Together, they bring to life the world-changing teachings of Buddhism and Christianity, leavened with a liberating dose of laughter.
Over the 7 weeks, you will discover:
- How to move beyond relating to religious traditions as competing to seeing them as complementary
- How human beings fit into the cosmic scheme of things in the two teachings
- How both teachers functioned within societies where males dominated, which tinged their traditions in specific ways
- The practice of tonglen meditation and how it connects to the prayer of St. Francis
- Why the Passionate Feminine is central to both traditions, and key to birthing the next level of humanity
- How Buddhist nonviolence and practice of Christ’s beatitudes are powerful and should not be seen as prescriptions for martyrdom
- How the clear light of the void can be discovered as the calm but infinite energy of life
- The actual science of Love & Bliss which you can apply on your spiritual path
- The practice of mindfulness and how you can develop heightened awareness of your own thought patterns
- How to cultivate the bodhisattva spirit of enlightenment or the Christ-consciousness of universal responsibility, according to your affinity
- How the two traditions could cooperate with each other and draw in other world and indigenous religions to help make peace and sustainability on Earth a reality instead of a fantasy
The Buddha and Jesus promises to be a mind- and heart-opening program that will enrich your own journey with grace and sacred wisdom.
You’ll also gain insight into the ways other great mystics and spiritual leaders — St. Francis, Vimalakirti, Thomas Merton, the Dalai Lama and others — have built upon the legacies of The Buddha and Jesus to forge a more complete path of transcendence, transfiguration and sacred service to the world.
You will emerge with a more complete, balanced, and liberating approach to your unique spiritual path.
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
In this 7-week, transformational intensive, Andrew and Bob will guide you through the core teachings of Buddha and Jesus to discover the deeper sciences that will open you to more love and wisdom.
Each weekly, LIVE contemplation and training session will build harmoniously upon the next. You’ll develop a complete, holistic understanding of the practices, tools and principles needed to integrate the teachings of the Buddha and Jesus for your continued awakening to Divine Love.
Module 1: The Cosmic Situation
Andrew and Bob will honor Jesus and Buddha as realistic visionaries who understood the reality of the world in space and time, physically as well as spiritually. You’ll be invited to question the modern idea that since the materialist science that dominates our sense of reality today did not exist in their respective times, their knowledge of reality was limited to spiritual and perhaps psychological facts.
From their own words recorded in the various scriptures that have come down to us, you’ll discover the similarities and differences in Jesus’s and the Buddha’s cosmic vision and their understanding of the human and Divine’s place in it.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- What it is like to think of God as the anchor of reality
- Teachings on emptiness and “the voice” from Vimalakirti Sutra, a Buddhist text
- The clear light of the void, the calm but infinite energy of life
- How human beings fit into the cosmic scheme of things
- The purpose and prospects of human life in both sets of teachings
- A practice empowering a realistic faith, moving beyond blind faith
- A practice for developing the “realistic worldview,” seeing through unrealistic views
Module 2: A Christian View of Buddha
Andrew will lead off this session with a Christian response to the presence and teachings of the Buddha, which illustrates how Buddha’s mission can prepare the world for the advent of the Christ, and challenges various views of the incompatibility of the two teachings.
Andrew will describe his own journey into Tibetan Buddhism and honor the 3 essential contributions of the Buddha; his vision of mind as the determinant of everything, his vision of universal compassion, and his description of co-dependent origination as the key to understanding the nature of reality. He will relate these contributions to Jesus’s teaching on Kingdom Consciousness while Bob will offer a Buddhist perspective.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- Divisive misunderstandings of the Buddha from a simplistic Christian viewpoint — and some better options, based on Andrew’s personal experience and insights
- The 3 essential contributions of the Buddha
- Insights into the ways a Buddhist can welcome a Christian view of Buddha
- A practice of mindfulness to heighten awareness of your own thought patterns
Module 3: A Buddhist View of Jesus
Bob will lead this module with a Buddhist view of Jesus, following the insights of the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh.
He’ll emphasize the role of Jesus as rebel against the patriarchal traditions of the Abrahamic legacy, just as Buddha rebelled against the Vedist legacy. Bob will also discuss his own journey in his relationship to Jesus, growing up in a Presbyterian church; and how the Dalai Lama and Thomas Merton helped him see Jesus as having the same focus in love, compassion and nonviolence and making the loving God real. Andrew will offer his vision of the Christ Consciousness as radical love in action.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- Divisive understandings of the Christ from a simplistic Buddhistic viewpoint — and some better options, based on the the views of the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh
- A view of the Christ, according to Vimalakirti’s dialogue with Manjushri
- Insights into the ways Christians respond to different views of Christ
- A practice that helps you find unexpected in the familiar, drilling beneath your preconceptions of reality
Module 4: The Passionate Feminine
In this session, you’ll explore the feminine in the two traditions. Andrew will present his vision of Mary as Divine Mother, with an urgent call to justice and transformation of the world as exemplified in the Magnificat; and his vision of Mary Magdalene as the co-equal tantric consort of Jesus with her own transmission of divine love.
From the Buddhist side, we begin with Buddha’s mother Mayadevi, his foster mother Prajapati, and his wife Yashodhara, and move through history to feminine goddesses, such as Tara, and focus on feminine buddhas such as the Vajrayogini.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- How the feminine is equal to the masculine in intellect and spirituality
- How the feminine is closer to enlightenment than the masculine
- The way the wisdom goddess in the Vimalakirti taught the Elder Shariputra
- How both teachers functioned within societies where males dominated, which influenced their respective traditions in specific ways
- A proper understanding and honoring of the feminine, which is integral to salvation and enlightenment
- A meditation practice on the compassionate Cosmic Mother, Mary or Tara
Module 5: Fierce Love & Compassion:
Terrific Archangels & Deities
In this session, you’ll explore the ferocity of goodness, how it cannot tolerate the suffering of beings and turns evil toward good. Andrew will shed light on the fierceness of the archangel Michael, and the feminine form of the Black Madonna. Bob will expand on the fierce bodhisattva, Vajrapani; the buddha-form, Yamantaka, the Killer of Death; and the fierce feminine deity, Shri Devi, the Buddhist form of the Hindu Kali.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- How Good is ultimately more powerful than evil, and fierce love stronger than hate
- Vimalakirti’s description of enlightenment as love
- The immense power of Buddhist nonviolence and practice of Christ’s beatitudes, which are not prescriptions for martyrdom
- How loss of this power in the world has led to worship of egocentric domination and destructive leaders
- How overcoming the denial of death is the elixir of a full, sacred life
- A meditation on the “3 Roots” of death and how this relates to your soul’s DNA
Module 6: Christ Consciousness &
the Bodhisattvas
In this session, Andrew will elaborate on the Christ as the embodiment of infinite love, and Bob will discuss Avalokiteshvara as the incarnation of the universal compassion of all buddhas. We will consider the fact that the advent of the Christ in the Middle East and the rise of the Mahayana Universal Vehicle in India are approximately simultaneous.
Bob and Andrew will touch on various theories of mutual influence — although the Abrahamic tradition before Jesus and the Vedist tradition before Buddha already had strands of the messianic energies, which the two teachers then fully manifested, birthing a consciousness of pure love designed to transform the world.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- The inconceivable liberation imparted by the teachings of the anointed Christos
- Vimalakirti’s teaching of inconceivable liberation
- Practices for cultivating liberation consciousnesses without converting away from or toward conventional forms of Christianity or Buddhism, and yet that fulfill the essential teachings of their teachers
- How the powers of love and wisdom have been with us throughout history, despite our stubborn inability to recognize them
- A practice for cultivating the bodhisattva spirit of enlightenment or the Christ-consciousness of universal responsibility, according to your personal affinity
Module 7: Love in Action to Save a World in Crisis
In the conclusion of the course, Bob and Andrew will address the potential future and how the two traditions could cooperate and draw in other world and indigenous religions to help realize peace and sustainability on Earth.
Alternative interpretations will be shared of the Apocalypse of Revelations and the Shambhala prophecy. Andrew will illuminate triumph through the the grace of God as integral to the evolutionary adventure.
Bob will harmonize with a new interpretation of the Kalachakra Buddha: “Buddha as a time machine.” From this perspective, The Buddha expresses his compassion in giving beings the evolutionary time and space to develop the wisdom that realizes that they have always been embraced in the infinite loving energy, “of the clear light of the void from which the Shambhala world is built.”
Andrew and Bob will envision how a closer Christian-Buddhist partnership and catalyzing a warm cooperation of mutual heartfelt respect with all the other world traditions — Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism, Bahai and even secular humanism. In this way, we can overcome the global catastrophe, as both Buddha and Jesus predicted so long ago.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- That everything is “alright already,” in the immortal words of the Rev. Michael Beckwith, as taught by the Buddha and Jesus
- The self-defeating prophecy of our conditioned view that the happy ending in life is impossible and that good in the world is weak and vulnerable
- The alchemical power of overcoming egocentric self-enclosure and identifying with the other
- That history is ours to create — and the real meaning of “apocalypse,” and the “unveiling” of reality, which has always been all-positive
- A practice for developing a positive outlook and clearing away the expectation of failure
The Buddha & Jesus Bonus Collection
In addition to Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman’s transformative 7-week course, you’ll receive these powerful training sessions. These bonus sessions complement the course, deepening your understanding and practices.
Mary & the Black Madonna Audio Package
3 Audio Sessions From Andrew’s The Christ Path Advanced Intensive Program
For this special package, Andrew hand-picked 3 sessions from his 9-month The Christ Path Advanced Intensive course to enhance your 7-week journey in The Buddha & Jesus course.
You’ll receive:
Session 1: Mary as the Black Madonna
In this rich, 90-minute recording, Andrew shares all that has drawn him to the Black Madonna. You will learn about her mysterious origins, attempts by patriarchal forces to suppress her original meaning, and how you can become even closer to Christ through your own embodiment of her essence.
Session 2: Two Revelations of the Black Madonna
In this deep dive into the mystical secrets of the Black Madonna, you’ll discover the gifts of a spiritual journey that includes surrendering to this revered icon and allowing her wild, fiery passion, what Andrew calls true divine love, to fill your heart.
Session 3: The Dark Gold Crown of the Black Madonna
In this session, Andrew explores the majesty and radiance of the last five black diamonds and the dark gold crown of the Black Madonna. With the knowledge that only the Black Madonna can give us, we can go through the collective and personal deaths necessary to birth a divine human.
The Spiritual Journeys
Audio Dialogue With Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman
Andrew and Bob will discuss their spiritual journeys in this interview-style dialogue. The journeys of both Andrew and Bob have led to a marriage of Eastern and Western understandings of enlightenment. Both men are passionately committed to bringing their collective vision of embracing a spiritual path in the current global conditions we’re facing and to improve the mutual understanding between the world’s religious traditions.
Deepening Your Practice Video Collection
2 Videos From the Christ Path Advanced Video Package
These videos will deepen your journey as you discover practices presented up close and personal from Andrew Harvey. Follow along as Andrew guides you into the heart of these practices and passionately unveils the practices with reverence and grace. Discover the mystery at work as you experience being in the presence of divine consciousness within the space and words of the practices as offered by Andrew.
You’ll receive the following video sessions:
- The Jesus Prayer (With Matthew Fox)
- The Practice of the Sacred Heart
Exclusive Audio Teachings
Podcast Collection From Robert Thurman
Join Bob Thurman in this previously unavailable collection of podcasts on a wide range of topics including practices on:
- Mindfulness
- Equal exchange of self and other to develop compassion
- Visualizing the passionate feminine
- Practice of fierce enlightenment
- Practice of imagining the Jerusalem and Shambala without violence
What People Are Saying About Robert Thurman and Andrew Harvey…
[Robert Thurman] is the Billy Graham of American Buddhism. Or perhaps the St. Paul, a latter-day, larger-than-life scholar-activist destined to convey the dharma, the precious teachings of Siddhartha, from Asia to America.— Time Magazine, Naming Robert One of the 25 Most Influential Americans
Every age has its teachers who keep the eternal truths alive for all of us. And when a generation is very, very lucky, it encounters a teacher so illumined that the words he delivers must be illumined as well. In the case of Andrew Harvey, the light he sheds is like a meteor burst across the inner sky.
— Marianne Williamson, Author of Everyday Grace
— Richard Gere, Actor
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman
Experience a rare opportunity to be mentored and learn with pioneering contemporary spiritual teachers Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session guides you to learn the specific skills and abilities to awaken your spiritual potential. Course sessions are on Tuesdays at 10:00am Pacific.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to download in high-quality MP3 format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere — on any connected device and at your convenience.
Seven PDF Transcripts of Class Sessions
In addition to the high-quality MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format after each session is completed. You can then review, print and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
After each lesson, you’ll have the option to do related exercises, practice new tools and answer questions in order to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
The Buddha & Jesus Bonus Collection
- Mary & the Black Madonna Audio Package
3 Audio Sessions From Andrew’s The Christ Path Advanced Intensive Program - The Spiritual Journeys
Audio Dialogue With Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman - Deepening Your Practice Video Collection
2 Videos From the Christ Path Advanced Video Package - Exclusive Audio Teachings
Podcast Collection From Robert Thurman
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join
The Buddha & Jesus Virtual Training
We feel honored that Andrew Harvey and Bob Thurman have chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive, LIVE online training. This is a rare opportunity to interact directly with two contemporary spiritual teachers whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
Through this powerful online format, you’ll not only save time and money on workshop costs (plus travel, accommodations and meals — which would cost thousands of dollars), you’ll be able to benefit from Andrew and Bob’s incredible teachings and exercises from the comfort of your home — at your own pace!
If you are serious about transforming your relationship to activism and refreshing your inner resources to gain the courage and power to contribute to changing the world, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
About Robert Thurman
Robert A.F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a nonprofit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important artistic and scientific treatises from the Tibetan Tengyur. At the request of HH the Dalai Lama, Robert co-founded Tibet House US, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization.
Thurman is known as a talented popularizer of the Buddha’s teachings. He is a riveting speaker and an author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture, includingThe Central Philosophy of Tibet, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Why The Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World and, most recently, with Sharon Salzberg, Love Your Enemies. Time chose Professor Thurman as one of its 25 most influential Americans in 1997 and The New York Times recently said Thurman “is considered the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.”
Inspired by his good friend the Dalai Lama, Thurman stands on Buddhism’s open reality, and thence takes us along with him into an expanded vision of the world, whether the sweep of history, the subtleties of the inner science of the psyche, or the wonders of the life of the heart. He always shares the sense of refuge in the Dharma, which unfailingly helps us clear away the shrouds of fear and confusion, sustains us with the cheerfulness of an enriched present, and opens a door to a path of realistic hope for a peaceful future.
About Andrew Harvey
Andrew Harvey is an author, speaker and founder/director of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective and practical agents of institutional and systemic change in order to create peace and sustainability.
Andrew Harvey has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, The California Institute of Integral Studies and the University of Creation Spirituality as well as at various spiritual centers throughout the U.S. He was the subject of the 1993 BBC film documentary, The Making of a Modern Mystic, and appears also in Rumi Turning Ecstatic and The Consciousness of the Christ: Reclaiming Jesus for A New Humanity. He is coauthor of the bestselling The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and has worked with the great Iranian Sufi dancer, Banafsheh Sayyad, in producing a film, In the Fire of Grace, which marries Sufi-inspired dances to the stages of Rumi’s understanding of the path of Divine love.
He has written and edited over 30 books and received many awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award and the Mind Body Spirit Award.
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