The Buddhist Studies Program is designed for people who have attended three or more mindfulness meditation retreats and have a commitment to daily meditation practice. The course includes dharma talks, small and large group discussions, and guided sitting time. Participants will be expected to use the teachings as a focus of their meditation and daily life practice. Led by Mark Nunberg.
Welcome to folks participating from out of town! All Common Ground programs are offered freely in the spirit of generosity. To learn more about supporting the center and our teachers, click here.
Current Class – Cultivating Wholesome Relationships
LIVE STREAM AVAILABLE – led by Mark Nunberg
Seven Mondays: March 9th – April 20th, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.; optional sit 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. Register here
Whether we are relating to a partner, a friend, work colleagues, or relatives; our minds are often confused and pushed around by the joys and sorrows of relationships. In this course, we will study the Buddha’s teachings on relating to others, especially how to discern the skillfulness and unskillfulness of our underlying intentions behind our thoughts, words and actions. We will reflect on the possibility of relating to others with lovingkindness, free of fear and attachment, and how it is possible to see more clearly without resorting to judgment and fixed views regarding others.
Resources
Course Meditations and Talks:
Principles for Wholesome Relationships:
Resources for Wholesome Relationships:
- Handout: Cultivating Wholesome Relationships Worksheet (page 1) (page 2)
- Sigalovada Sutta: The Buddha’s Advice to Sigalaka, translated from the Pali by John Kelly, Sue Sawyer, and Victoria Yareham
- “Intimate Relationship as a Spiritual Crucible” By John Welwood
- I Do? A Buddhist struggles with impermanence vs. marriage BY: Susan Piver
- We’re so Close, it’s lonely By Susan Piver
- “Buddhism and Relationships” by Susan Piver
- Romantic Vision vs. Everyday Disappointment, JUDITH SIMMER-BROWN
- After the Honeymoon By Thich Nhat Hanh
- Sedaka Sutta: The Bamboo Acrobat, translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki
- Radical Acceptance of Desire by Tara Brach
- Nothing is Left Out by Ajahn Sumedho, Taken from Voice of Insight edited by Sharon Salzberg
- No Gain: Relationships won’t solve our problems, but they can help us grow, By Barry MagidTricycle, Summer, 2008
- How to Get Beyond Our Tribal Politics By JONATHAN HAIDT and RAVI IYER
Buddhist Personality Types:
- Which buddhist personality type are you? Greedy, Aversive, or Deluded? Find out with this guide—and quiz!— from Amita Schmidt in Tricycle, Spring, 2009
- Personality Types by Sharon Salzberg in Heart as Wide as the World
Additional Study Materials:
- Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person By ALAIN de BOTTON New York Times, MAY 28, 2016
- Alain de Botton interviewed by Krista Tippett on her radio program, On Being, titled:The True Hard Work of Love and Relationships.
- Love Relationships Tricycle EBook
- A Mindful Marriage, Kittisaro and Thanissara on Celibacy, Sex, and Lasting Love by Leslee Goodman in The Sun, January, 2009
- Perfect Love Imperfect Relationships by John Welwood, Exercises for Chapters 1&2
- Intimate Relationship as a Spiritual Crucible, by John Welwood
