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.
Next Class
Karma
This class will begin with the study of the Buddha’s teachings on Karma – that intention matters. With a grounding in understanding the conditional nature of experience we will examine the Buddha’s insights into the causes of suffering and its release. 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.
Eight Mondays, September 17 – November 5, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Register here.
Optional Sitting Period, 7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
It might be helpful during this course to keep in mind the last part of the Buddha’s five remembrances. It reads, “I am the owner of my karma (intentional actions), heir to my karma, related to my karma, supported by my karma. Whatever karma I shall do, for good or for ill, of that will I be the heir.”
Resources
Additional Audio/Video:
- Dharma Talk: Two Guardians of the World, Hiri Ottappa, by Kamala Masters
- Dharma Talk: Bright Guardians of the World, by Anushka Fernandopulle
- Dharma Talk: Equanimity and Karma, by Sally Clough Armstrong
- Dharma Talk: Karma, by Marcia Rose
- Dharma Talk: The Law of Karma, by Annie Nugent
Study Materials:
- Cause and Effect: Reflecting on the Law of Karma, by Joseph Goldstein
- The Issue at Hand – Chapter 7: Karma, by Gil Fronsdal
- The Buddha’s Baggage: Everything you wanted to know about karma but were afraid to ask, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Tricycle, Winter 2016
- Kamma and the End of Kamma, by Ajahn Sucitto
- Understanding Karma: Cause and Effect, from Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, Chapter 10, by Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield
- Mastering Causality, From Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Meditations 1: Forty Dhamma Talks
- Guardians of the World, by Bhikkhu Bodhi
- What is Karma and Why Should it Matter to You, by Toni Bernhard
- Buddha Dharma Forum: Is Karma Fate or Freedom? Rita Gross, Andrew Olendzki, and Larry Ward explain what karma is, how it works, and why it’s not all bad news. Introduction by David Loy.
- Kamma is Intention, Ayya Khema
- Karma and Rebirth by Ajahn Sumedho, Karma: The Co-Arising of Doer and Deed by Joanna Macy
- Primordial Soup: Wrestling with wholesome and unwholesome impulses, by Andrew Olendzki, Tricycle Winter 2011
- The Sutta located here page 1 page 2 can be used to do a moral inventory once every day if possible. Pay attention to thoughts, images, and memories that arise as you review what is wholesome and unwholesome. What causes your moral conscience to arise?
