The Unshakeable Heart

Buddhist Recovery Academy with Vince Cullen

SUNDAY July 5, 2026 at 10AM PDT

Join us Online for Meditation, Dharma Talk and Q & A

Gotama, the Buddha, taught processes, not virtues. Equanimity is the clear‑eyed balance that stops us taking the world's friction personally. Resilience is the active staying power to endure that friction without striking out. And forgiveness is their most radical by‑product. In this unsentimental talk, Vince reframes equanimity as grounded awareness, resilience as a practical capacity of a regulated nervous system, and forgiveness as a radical act of intelligence. Drawing on secular dharma and evolutionary psychology, he explores how our basic survival instincts — to protect, promote, and satisfy — map directly onto Buddhism's three types of craving, trapping us in a state of existential friction that fuels resentment, shame, and defensive living. The talk offers a practical way out: not another set of rules to live up to, but a way to settle the nervous system so the heart no longer has to fight reality.

ABOUT VINCE CULLEN

Having drunk alcoholically from the age of 14 until 39, Vince Cullen sat in his kitchen and poured a glass of lager. He made a promise to himself that this would be his last drink… ever. That was 25-years ago. Since then, he has been associated with Wat Thamkrabok, the famous detox monastery in Thailand and Buddhist-oriented drug and alcohol recovery.

Vince founded and has facilitated Fifth Precept Sangha meditation-for-awakening Sit-and-Share meetings in England, Scotland, Ireland, India, Nepal, Thailand and the USA as part of his ongoing teaching of Hungry Ghost Retreats. He is a board member of the Buddhist Recovery Network and a keynote speaker at Buddhist Recovery Summits.

Vince has completed both the Committed Dharma Practitioner and Advanced Practitioner programmes offered by Gaia House in England. Vince has completed the Mindfulness Teachers Development Programme offered by Bodhi College in Switzerland and the UK. Vince has twice taken temporary ordination in the unique Buddhist tradition practised at Wat Thamkrabok monastery in Thailand. He has previously been a Buddhist Prison Chaplain in both male and female prisons in the UK. In 2022, Vince became a regular teacher for the Mindful Recovery Foundation.

What is the Academy?

The Academy has invited some of the leading teachers in the field of Buddhist recovery. On the first Sunday of every month for an hour each teacher will explore the sharp edges of suffering through the lens of the Buddhist Teachings.

The Academy brings together teachers from different Buddhist lineages and approaches. Themes like addiction, alcoholism, depression, stinking thinking and compulsive behaviors will be explored.

During this event we will meditate, listen to the teaching, then have time for a Q & A at the end.

Dana

This event is offered freely, but signing up with any donation helps support the Buddhist Recovery Network mission to promote the use of Buddhist teachings and practices to help people recover from the suffering caused by addictive behaviors . Your support will also allow us to connect with you and send you a reminder, 24 hours and 1 hour before the event.

ZOOM LINK (join us on the day or sign up to receive reminders)

Click to Join via this Zoom Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87579202512?pwd=b3PXF6s4kd3HHgoqSeZNzNDhzdcYnw.1

Meeting ID: 875 7920 2512 and passcode: 414176

The Unshakeable Heart

Buddhist Recovery Academy With Vince Cullen July 5, 2026