All classes are held live on zoom with recordings of every class

made available for participants.

 

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TURNING THE DHARMA WHEEL: Introduction to Buddhism, 10-week course

Sunday mornings, 9:00 - 10:30am (Pacific)

October 1st – December 3rd, 2023 

Tuition: $300

 

A traditional way of learning Buddhism is called Anguttara, ‘adding one’ – wherein the teachings of the Buddha are presented numerically in increasing order, such as the Three Poisons, the Four Noble Truths, and the Five Aggregations. This 10-week course uses a similar method of interlocking systems to explore fundamental Buddhist concepts and their interrelations. The ideas presented in each week’s session increase in complexity and build on previous session topics, thus 'turning the Dharma wheel.’ This course also provides an introduction to Buddhist texts, modern interpretations, and the transcendent applicability of Buddhism.

 

This is the first course in a three-part series that make up the LUSB Introduction to Buddhism.    

 

Register for TURNING THE DHARMA WHEEL

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Advanced Sutra Study:  The Universal Gateway to the Inconceivable, 6- week course

Thursday evenings, 6:00pm - 7:30pm (Pacific)

October 5th – November 9, 2023
Tuition: $200

 

The Universal Gateway is a deceptively brief sutra that is as complex as the better known Heart Sutra. This sutra is a series of short poems recited by the Buddha that describe entry into different samādhis (‘meditative absorptions’) by observing various characteristics of reality, such as sights, sounds, scents, flavors, etc., to the very characteristics of being and non-being. The poems weave together multiple elements of Mahāyana Buddhism: cosmology, samādhi, as well as the teaching of Emptiness, which is the underlying theme of the poems. The course is a deep dive into this contemplative and beautiful sutra full of big ideas, presented as a thousand-petalled lotus flower made of the seven treasures.   

 

Register for THE UNIVERSAL GATEWAY

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Meditation Workshop: Acts of remembering, 4-week course 

Tuesday evenings, November 7 - 28
6:00pm - 7:30pm (Pacific)

Tuition: $125

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Smṛti is one of the earliest terms used in Buddhism for meditation. In the modern world it is commonly translated as ‘mindfulness’, however it is helpful to know that the word smṛti indicates something like ‘remembering’ or ‘recalling’, and is traditionally contrasted with the more receptive act of śruti, ‘hearing’. There are many ways to understand how the act of remembrance relates to Buddhist meditation and other aspects of psycho-physical practice. 

 

This meditation workshop presents the traditional satipaṭṭhāna system of Buddhism, a four-step practice that gets progressively deeper as the object of focus, or mindful awareness, shifts from mindfulness of the body to bodily sensations, followed by mindfulness of mind-states themselves, and finally mindfulness of the very principles (dharmas) governing the construction of mind-states. Broken into four evenings, each session will include a guided meditation, periods of silent sitting, in addition to analytical discussion of these foundational ideas, and their numerous sub-categories.

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Register for MEDITATION WORKSHOP