Sunday, July 19, 2026

10:00 am - 1:00 pm ET

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The Four Noble Truths—a clear-eyed diagnosis of suffering and a map toward its end—is the Buddha's first and most essential teaching. This session explores dukkha and its causes, the possibility of cessation, and the path that leads there.

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Meet Your Teaching Team

Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her) is a Black feminist lesbian survivor-healer, Buddhist practitioner, Insight meditation teacher, and filmmaker-writer. She has practiced vipassanā since 2002, beginning in the S. N. Goenka tradition, where she trained for 17 years before continuing in the Insight tradition, with over a year of silent retreat practice in the United States and India. Aishah serves as Resident Teacher at Delaware Valley Insight and is a trainee in the 2025–2028 Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training Program, with her primary teachers Tuere Sala, DaRa Williams, and Shelly Graf. Her award-winning cultural works, NO! The Rape Documentary and love WITH accountability, illuminate truth-telling, healing, and non-carceral responses to harm. She can be found at https://aishahshahidahsimmons.com.

Jean Leonard

Jean Leonard, Ph.D. (she/her) is a licensed psychologist, Buddhist eco-chaplain and certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. A meditator since 2003, primarily in the Theravada and Chan Buddhist lineages, she deeply loves the brahmavihāras and Kuan Yin dharmas. Jean’s teaching braids together the wisdom streams of Dharma, psychology, and the more than human world. She has a particular passion for nature practice, women’s sangha building, the embodiment of the precepts in daily life, and practice related to aging, illness and dying. She lives on the unceded lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute in Colorado and delights in pottery, poetry, her two cats, and soaking in the wisdom of elder trees. She can be found at www.jeanleonardphd.com.

More Information

  • Equity Pricing Model

    As one part of our ongoing effort to expand access to the teachings of the Buddha, all IMS Online programs feature equity-based registration fees, including the opportunity to self-select a low-cost scholarship rate. No-fee enrollment is available for those who request a fee-waiver at [email protected], no questions asked. Our system supports the cultivation of a dynamic and inclusive community and is made possible by our generous donors and those who choose to support other students by contributing at the “Benefactor” level.

  • Registration Deadline

    Registration for this program closes on July 19, 2026.

  • Program Recordings

    This program will be recorded and made available for on-demand viewing after the live sessions. On-demand videos will be available to registered participants only for 90 days.

  • Refunds

    IMS Online offers full refunds through the last day of a live program. Refunds for this program can be processed until July 19, 2026. Refunds can only be applied to the card that was used for the purchase. Please reach out to [email protected] with any refund requests. 

  • Additional Questions

    If you have additional questions please contact us at [email protected].