Buddhist Studies, Introductory, Online Program
Ethan Nichtern Book Discussion Group [Online]
Join the group to discuss Ethan Nichtern’s new book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat Through Life’s Eight Worldly Winds!
Each time we meet, we’ll gather to discuss one chapter, delving into Nichtern’s profound teachings on navigating life’s challenges with resilience and grace. Whether you’re new to mindfulness or an experienced practitioner, this book group offers a supportive space for deep reflection and meaningful conversation.
Meeting Details:
The group will meet every other Thursday, Online. Please register to receive the zoom link. Please read the introduction of the book in preparation for the first meeting.
This event will be group led. After the first meeting, we will be meeting every other Thursday from 4:00 – 5:00 PM, but the group will decide together if this is the best schedule.
You can join the group at any time. You do not need to start from the beginning to be part of the group. All are welcome!
Registration:
We are asking folks to register for their first meeting only so that you can receive the Zoom link to attend. You do not need to register for future meetings.
Schedule:
Week 1: INTRODUCTION. Hold Your Seat
Week 2: CHAPTER 1. Running the Gauntlet of Hope and Fear
Week 3: CHAPTER 2. Pleasure and Pain: Licking Honey from a Razor Blade
Week 4: CHAPTER 3. Praise and Blame: Everyone’s a Critic
Week 5: CHAPTER 4. Influence and Insignificance: Avoiding the Second Death
Week 6: CHAPTER 5. Success and Failure: The Misery of Comparative Mind
Week 7: CHAPTER 6. The Power of Compassion
Week 8: CHAPTER 7. The Power of Lineage
Week 9: CHAPTER 8. The Power of Awareness
Week 10: CHAPTER 9. The Power of Windhorse
Week 11: CONCLUSION. The Question of Confidence
About the Book:
In today’s culture of polarization and constant change, how do we find the confidence to navigate challenges? Is now really the time for meditation, for looking inward? What do we do with mindfulness? Meditation teacher Ethan Nichtern tackles these questions, taking contemporary considerations of power, identity, ethics, and confidence to new heights in this essential guide to self-discovery.
Ethan examines the Buddhist concept of the Eight Worldly Winds, the four paired opposites of praise and blame, pleasure and pain, fame and insignificance, and success and failure. Delving into these dichotomies reveals invaluable insights into our relationships with others (including teachers, friends, leaders, the disgraced, and the adored) and ourselves. With transformative meditation exercises, Confidence empowers us to cultivate and access our innate wisdom.
You can puchase a copy of the book online at: Powell’s Books or Amazon.
“In such wild times as these, this book offers us brave good medicine.”– Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart
“Confidence is a compelling call to claim our rightful place in this life. Ethan Nichtern’s clarity and compassion, paired with his humor and humility, open the heart to welcome the eight worldly winds of life in a manner that is possible for us all.”– Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Life
“During this time of vast uncertainty and divisiveness, where can we find genuine confidence in ourselves, each other, and the world? With his trademark sharpness and kindness, Ethan Nichtern’s new work teaches us that we can trust in the unchanging brilliance of our true nature and, in so doing, support others to do the same. Confidence, he tells us, is not about stabilizing in a superhuman place of certainty, but about holding uncertainty fearlessly.”– Susan Piver, author of The Four Noble Truths of Love and The Buddhist Enneagram
About Ethan Nichtern:
F
or the past 20+ years, Ethan has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology classes and workshops around New York City and North America and Europe, along with working with students privately. He has primarily studied in the Shambhala and other Tibetan traditions, but has also studied Theravadan and Soto Zen Buddhism. He is also an avid yoga practitioner. He served as Shastri, or Senior Teacher-In-Residence, for the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, from 2010-2018.