Thursday Evening Practice

This is a hybrid event: in person at our Hospital Drive location, and also on Zoom at our regular Zoom link (click here). We begin at 7:30 and sit together for 40 minutes. After this Gareth will offer a talk about a segment of source material (e.g. a sutta/ sutra, or extract, or a practice text), then open up for questions, reflections and discussion.

New: Way of The Bodhisattva

Gareth is starting a new ongoing series on this seminal text, which is a wonderful practice aid for living a life of compassion and wisdom and navigating challenging times. 

As for other topics, we will cycle back to it monthly (see below for the schedule and for details about the book and the sessions), and participation in prior sessions is not necessary: all are welcome. Here's a link to the introductory talk.

Key references you might find helpful to work with this text are:

• The Way of the Bodhisattva - The Padmakara Translation Group translation
• For the Benefit of All Beings - The Dalai Lama's commentary
• No Time to Lose - Pema Chodron's commentary
• The Nectar of Manjusri's Speech - a commentary by Kunzang Pelden, reflecting the words of his teacher, Patrul Rinpoche, one of the great masters of this tradition
• Shantideva's Guide to Awakening - a commentary by Geshe Yeshe Tobden 

Topics

• Way of the Bodhisattva: A masterpiece that guides the practitioner in leading a compassionate life, leading all the way to full awakening. Primary source text: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1590303881The Way of the Bodhisattva, Padmakara Translation Group;
• Dhammapada: a foundational early Buddhist text, learned by heart by trainee monastics in many South Asian Buddhist traditions. Over the centuries it has been used by Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Dogen, and many others, and it continues to offer us profound wisdom and compassion. Primary source either Gil Fronsdal or Thanissaro Bikkhu's translation
• Mumonkan: one of the classic Chan/Zen koan collections - usually short, pithy exchanges between Chinese Chan masters, both a glimpse of the awakened mind, and a technology for self-realization. Primary texts are Shibayama's classic "Zen Comments on the Mumonkan" and GuoGu's "Passing Through the Gateless Barrier"
  
• Attakavagga ("Book of Eights"). Another early collection of Buddhist teachings in the form of poems. Drawn from the Sutta Nipata, it's name comes from the eight stanzas in many of the poems. A recurring theme of the poems is not holding to views. The primary source is Gil Fronsdal's "Buddha Before Buddhism".

Each talk will be self-contained and stand independently, so feel free to drop in occasionally and to not do so when you feel like it. Each of the series of talks will run for several months.

Schedule

YouTube Playlists of Current and Prior Study Series

• Mumonkan - Classic Koan collection (Winter 2023 and ongoing)
• Dhammapada (Fall 2024 and ongoing)
• Atthakavagga - Book of Eights (Summer 2024 and ongoing)
• Dharma Topics - Core Buddhist Teachings (2024 to 2025)
• Poems from Enlightened Women (2023 to 2024)
• The Diamond Sutra (2024)
• Talks on Gareth's Favorite Sutras, etc (Summer/Fall 2023)
• Pure Land Buddhism (Summer 2023)
• The Noble Eightfold Path (Spring 2023)
• The Buddha's First Sermon (Spring 2023)
• Practicing With Your Personal Koan (March 2023)
• The Heart Sutra (Spring 2023)