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Wednesday Reading Group
Weekly on Zoom from 8:00PM to 9:30PM
with Gareth Young
Click here to join. Alternatively go to https://zoom.us/, click the links to enter a meeting, and enter meeting ID 742-046-943 password 076141.
After 30 minutes of meditation to settle in, the reading group discussion begins at 8:30. The purpose of the discussion is making the dharma relevant to the ordinary lives of the participants, so the focus of conversation tends to be practical rather than intellectual. It is far more important to bring sincerity and openness to the discussion than to have read the book!
The discussions are open to all and will both benefit and benefit from seasoned practitioners, those new to Buddhisms, and those at all levels of experience in between. Feel free to join at any time during the meditation period or just for the discussion starting at 8:30PM.Currently Reading
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The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns
by Matty WeingastComposed around the Buddha’s lifetime, the original Therigatha (“Verses of the Elder Nuns”) contains the poems of the first Buddhist women: princesses and courtesans, tired wives of arranged marriages and the desperately in love, those born into limitless wealth and those born with nothing at all. The authors of the Therigatha were women from every kind of background, but they all shared a deep-seated desire for awakening and liberation. In The First Free Women, Matty Weingast has reimagined this ancient collection and created an original work that takes his experience of the essence of each poem and brings forth in his own words the struggles and doubts, as well as the strength, perseverance, and profound compassion, embodied by these courageous women. |
Reading Schedule for Current Book
| DATE | PAGES |
| 1/19 |
Starting the new Book "The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns" |
| 1/26 |
Anyatara ~ Anonymous to Abhirupananda ~ Delighting in Beauty |
| 2/2 |
Jenta ~ Conqueror to Another Anyatara ~ Anonymous |
| 2/9 |
Vimala ~ The Virgin to Khema ~ House of Peace |
| 2/16 |
Sujata ~ Born at the right time to Uppalavanna ~ Blue Lotus |
| 2/23 |
Punnika the Slave to Sumedha ~ Great Wisdom |
Schedule
8:00 to 8:30 Meditation
8:30 to 9:30 Book Discussion
Upcoming Books
The group regularly engages in a democratic peer selection process to determine upcoming books. Selections range throughout the Buddhist Book spectrum. Upcoming (in the order we anticipate reading) are:
- A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Ajahn Chah: Jack Kornfield/Peter Brieter
- Black and Buddhist: Yetunde and Giles
- Udana (Pali canon): Transl. Thanissaro
- The Eight-Fold Path: Various women Zen teachers, Ed: Jikyo Cheryl Wolfer (Ch 1: Shodo Spring)
- The Stories of the Lotus Sutra: Gene Reeves
- World as Lover, World as self: Joanna Macy
- Berry Kerzin: Nagarjuna's Wisdom: A Practitioners Guide to the Middle Way
- One Dharma: Joseph Goldstein
- Dhammapada: Transl. Gil Fronsdal
- Karma: What it is and Why it Matters: Traleg Kyabgon
- With Each and Every Breath: Thanissaro
- Receiving the Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests: Various women Zen teachers, Ed: Eido Frances Carney