WEST BATH — The Dzogchen Meditation Center will offer a class, “How to make the most of your current existential crisis,” on Saturday, May 10 and 17 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. The class is part of the “Living Wisdom of the Buddha — Dharma Lecture Series.”

The class is free.

Crisis tend to come in two varieties: The “Sudden & Shocking” and the “Looming & Inevitable.” “On the one hand our relative happiness can be overturned by the instability of our immediate situation — we can lose our job, our spouse can leave us, illness can suddenly rob us of our vitality. The sudden shift of our circumstances often challenges our sense of our own permanence and solidity. We experience a groundless feeling which can lead us to question the conventional assumptions we have made about our lives,” states a news release from the center.

In the “Looming and Inevitable” corner people realize that the inevitable outcome of birth is old age, sickness and death.

According to the Buddhist teachings, this sense of groundlessness is a direct realization of the true nature of one’s mind as unconditional vast awareness beyond habitual reference point. To make the most of the current existential crisis people need to grow familiar with this open awareness through the meditation practice of “resting in undistracted awareness” or dzogchen meditation.

Dzogchen Meditation Center is located at 4 Armstrong Way.

For more information, call 607-3392, email tashi@dzogchenmeditation.com or visit www.dzogchenmeditation.com.