Teaching, Translating and Publishing Buddhism for the 21st Century
ENTERING THE INCONCEIVABLE
A 12-month epic study of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra
Meets the First Tuesday of the month
Nov 5, 2024 - Oct 7, 2025
9:00am – 11:00am (Pacific) via Zoom
Tuition: Sliding scale ($800 to $600)
Includes:
- Twelve 2-hour class sessions (live on-line, and available as recording afterwards)
- Over 80 hours of downloadable audio files of the sutra recitation, separated into chapters.
- Access to text versions of the sutra
- Extensive bibliographic notes, papers, and articles
DESCRIPTION
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra, also known as the ‘Flower Adornment’ Sutra, is a very large sutra known of since the first centuries of the Common Era, considered by many to be the pinnacle of all Buddhist literature. It is hard to summarize its contents and, if you are not familiar with Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, the presentation can be utterly baffling. Given the size (about 2000 pages in English), complexity, and utterly bizarre nature of this sutra, it requires a great deal of time, dedication, and focus to enter the inconceivable realms it describes.
This course is based on a recitation of the sutra recorded by M.C. Owens. The sutra is divided into 39 chapters, many of which are famous sutras unto themselves, and the chapters are then further grouped into nine ‘assemblies’. Assemblies range from 9 to 27 hours long, and the entire recitation of the sutra is over 80 hours.
Study sessions will be held on-line via Zoom the first Tuesday of the month starting at 9:00AM (Pacific). The majority of each session will be a discussion of the ideas and themes in the chapters from that month’s assembly, and will end with a preparatory overview of the next assembly. The ninth and final assembly, the famous Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra, will be covered in two sessions.
Video recordings of past LUSB courses are now available to take
In gratitude to the LUSB community, I have made the recordings of the below past courses available, available to order on a suggested pay-what-you-want-basis ($50 - $250). Further descriptions of classes available here.
Order pre-recorded classes here
Sutra Study Courses
Vajra Sutra
Mother of Buddhas (8,000 line Prajñā Sutra)
Saṃdhinirmocana Sutra
Universal Gateway to the Inconceivable Sutra
Dharma Study Courses
Emptiness
Suchness
Mind-Only
Ten Bodhisattva Stages
Acts of Remembrance: Intro to Mindfulness
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