The Absolute Self with Mark Epstein, Sharon Salzberg & Robert A.F.Thurman May 9, 2008

This evening is an excuse for Bob, Sharon and Mark to do what they most love to do: sit in front of a room and talk dharma. Mark will shuffle out his yellowing sheaf of the collected sayings of John Cage. Sharon will remember how she forgot where she put her car and will lovingly describe how simple and easy meditation is even for people as deluded as she is. And Bob will hone his rhetorical skills railing against scientific materialism and American fascism while describing the self that cannot be found. Together, they will act out a variation on Bob’s son Ganden’s oft-quoted maxim about his dad’s carpentry skills: “Why do something right when you can do it yourselves?”

Mark Epstein, MD, is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books on the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts Without a Thinker, Open to Desire and his newest book, Psychotherapy Without the Self. He is clinical assistant professor in the postdoctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis at New York University.

Sharon Salzberg, a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and The Forest Refuge, is the author of several books, including Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.

Robert A.F. Thurman, Ph D, is professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University, president of Tibet House U.S., the translator of many philosophical treatises and sutras, and author of numerous books including the national bestseller Inner Revolution and, most recently, The Jewel Tree of Tibet: the Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism.

An Evening Workshop
Friday, May 9, 7–9pm
Registration # 08WSB09P
Members: $30 / Nonmembers: $35

Please register through the New York Open Center (NYOC) via 212 219 2527 x200

Official Website: http://www.tibethouse.org/option,com_extcalendar/Itemid,99999999/extmode,view/extid,155/