The Way of the Great Perfection
A program of the All-Encompassing Path to Enlightenment
The Heart of Compassion with senior teacher Ian Ives
We all have the seed of compassion, the wish to actively remove suffering in our world. Compassion grows from our natural ability to recognize and identify with the experience of others. By training in compassion, beginning with ourselves, step by step, we break down barriers and awaken from the illusion our separateness. When developed to its deepest extent and infused with wisdom, compassion gives rise to bodhichitta, ‘the heart of the enlightened mind’, the most courageous and noble of all human qualities, and the very essence of Buddha’s teachings.
In this Live Sangha Day senior teacher Ian Ives will present essential advice and practices to help us give birth to this precious jewel of compassion in our heart and mind.
About Ian Ives
Ian Ives grew up in the US and has been a student of Sogyal Rinpoche since he was a teenager. He studied at the Rigpa Shedra East in Pharping, Nepal under the guidance of Khenchen Namdrol from 2007 to 2012, and before that at Rigpa Shedra West, from 2003 to 2006.
He attended the seven-month teaching periods of Rigpa’s 2006–2009 Three Year Retreat, and served as a teaching assistant to Rinpoche from 2007 to 2017; travelling with him extensively from 2012 onward. Since this time, and with the encouragement of Rinpoche, he has been guiding study sessions and teaching on topics connected to the foundational and Mahayana levels.
Ian has been entrusted as one of Rigpa’s senior teachers in 2021 and helps design and guide Rigpa’s international study programme and the programme for Lerab Ling, Rigpa’s retreat centre in southern France. He has a family with two young children and lives near Lerab Ling.
