Fri March 27th: 12:30 PM - 6:00 PM Sat March 28th: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Sun March 29th: 8:30 AM - 5:00 Buddha’s Last Temptation: Facing our Demons with Ira Rechtshaffer Ph.D This Friday to Sunday afternoon program is designed to help us develop as spiritual warriors. Ira Rechtshaffer uses a combination of dharma, psychotherapy and meditation practice to guide us along this path. Buddha’s last temptation before enlightenment was his confrontation with the four maras. The maras represent aspects of our mind that sabotage our path by seducing us with pleasure and ego inflation, and by provoking emotional reactivity and fear. When we encounter situations that provoke intense emotions we might experience them as if they were “demons”. Buddhism helps us befriend these demons to communicate with the parts of ourselves that we may have denied and disowned. When we ask our demons what they want from us, we enlist them as helpers on our path, who remind us to use adverse circumstances and emotional hot spots to fuel our spiritual journey. This is how we practice spiritual warriorship. Facilitator: Ira Rechtshaffer Ph.D. [www.wayofthemandala.com] has practiced psychospiritual psychotherapy for the past 35 years and has taught Buddhist philosophy and meditation for the past 40 years. Ira is the author of several books including Mindfulness and Madness: Money, Food, Sex, and the Sacred; and What Was in Buddha's Left Hand?: Tantric Teachings to Transform Neurosis into Sanity; If the Chakras had a Voice; and The Wisdom and Grace of Aging which will be available in 2026