ONLINE — Joyful Consent to Our Littleness: Talk and Q&A

​Each day, we are bombarded with messages telling us that we need to be better, do better, and accomplish more. The whole system seems built around this demand: be available at all times, answer every message within minutes, remain perpetually “on.” Somewhere beneath it all is the fear that if we are not productive and visibly useful, then perhaps we are not valuable.

But what if life is not primarily about our strength or what we can accomplish? What if it begins instead with our powerlessness, our insufficiency, and even a joyful consent to our littleness and our lack?

It is not about becoming more impressive or maintaining a flawless image. It is about letting go of the pressure to become someone else—or to project a greatness we cannot sustain. It is about receiving our actual lives—the limits, disappointments, unfinished work, ordinary acts of care, and hidden struggles—as the place where love can meet us.

• ​8:00 PM - 9:30 PM: Interactive talk with discussion and Q&A

​​About the teacher

​Chang Ji Fashi is a nun in the Chan Buddhist lineage of Dharma Drum Mountain. She served as International Affairs Special Assistant to the late Most Venerable Master Sheng Yen and as Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association’s representative to the United Nations. Her international work has brought together young adults and multifaith leaders around global citizenship, social development, sustainability, and climate change. She leads meditation retreats and teaches contemplative action and Master Sheng Yen’s approach to Spiritual Environmentalism.