temp! Mahayana 301: The Heart of Daring

Join us on Zoom for Mahayana: Compassion Without Limit.

This is a series of six Mahayana courses, on Mondays from 7-8:30 p.m. Pacific, beginning this fall and continuing into 2021.

All Nalandabodhi students who previously have studied the Mahayana series are greatly encouraged to join this new, updated series of courses.

The first course, The Heart of Daring, begins Aug. 31 and continues tHrough Sept. 21.

In the Mahayana teachings, we look at the possibility of limitless compassion and bodhichitta, the boundless intention to help all sentient beings. This motivation and its application are based on the crucial Mahayana notion that all sentient beings possess buddha nature, the potential to become a perfect buddha.

The studies of personal selflessness in the Hinayana are the jumping-off point for widening our vision to embrace the profound Mahayana selflessness of the “great emptiness” of all phenomena as well as the vast training and fruition of the path of a buddha-to-be.

This course is an updated and greatly-revised version of the Nalandabodhi Mahayana Series with many new materials based on talks by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, especially in the areas of mind training, Madhyamaka, Mind-Only, Yogachara, Shentong and Buddha Nature.

Pre-requisite: Introduction to Buddhism

Register in advance to receive the Zoom link

The texts for each course are available through the Nalanda bookstore.

Please order texts at least 2 weeks in advance of each course.

Contact: Susan Kirchoff susan_joy@outlook.com

Fees for each course:

• General:  $65
• Nalandabodhi members:  $40
• Students repeating the course:  $20
• Scholarships: available upon request
• Donations for the scholarship fund: may be made in  $10 increments, $10 – $100

Mahayana 301: The Heart of Daring

Aug. 31 – Sept. 21

1. Aug. 31:  Foundations of the Mahayana
2. Sept. 7:   Practicum: The Four Immeasurables
3. Sept. 14:  Bodhichitta, the Heart of Awakening
4. Sept 21:  How to Become a Child of the Buddhas

Mahayana 302: Kindling the Spark of Awakening

Sept. 28 – Nov. 23

1. Sept. 28:  The Two Main Avenues to Bodhicitta
2. Oct. 5:   Practicum: The Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Instruction on Generating Bodhicitta
3. Oct. 12: Traveling from Planet Ego to the Universe of Altruism: The Eight Verses on Mind Training
4. Oct. 19:  The Seven Points of Mind Training (1): Preliminaries and Training in Ultimate Bodhicitta
5. Oct 2:  Practicum: Connecting with Ultimate Bodhicitta
6. Nov. 2:  The Seven Points of Mind Training (2): The Main Practice, which is Training in Bodhicitta
7. Nov. 9:  Practicum: The Meditation of Sending and Taking (Tonglen)
8. Nov. 16:  The Seven Points of Mind Training (3): Taking Adverse Conditions onto the Path and Completing the Training in Life and Death
9. Nov. 23: The Seven Points of Mind Training (4): Evaluating, Disciplines and Guidelines

Mahayana 303: Not Even a Middle

Nov. 30 – Feb. 2

1. Nov. 30:  Wisdom and the Middle Way
2. Dec. 7:  The Ground of Madhyamaka
3. Dec. 14:  Prajna and the Two Realities
4. Dec. 21:  Distinguishing Svatantrika and Prasangika
5. Dec. 28:  The Progressive Stages of Letting Go
6. Jan. 4:  No Self, No Self, No Radio
7. Jan 11:  The Great Madhyamaka Reasonings
8. Jan. 18:  Practicum: The Vajra Slivers Reasoning
9. Jan. 23:  The Fourfold Mindfulness About What is Unreal
10. Feb. 2:  The Benefits and Results of Realizing Emptiness
    

    Mahayana 304: Yogacara, Mind Only and Shentong

Feb. 8 – March 22

1. Feb. 8:  The Three Natures and the Yogacara Middle Way
2. Feb. 15:  Mind’s Endless Projections and How they End
3. Feb. 22:  Practicum: The Four Yogic Practices
4. March 1:  Yogachara Wisdom and the “Mind-Only” School
5. March 8:  Yogacara and Madhyamaka Debates and the Shentong Middle Way
6. March 15:  From “Mind-Only” to Shentong and Beyond
7. March 22:  Practicum: Resting in Mind’s Natural Luminosity

Mahayana 305: Discovering Our Buddha Heart

March 29 – May 3

1. March 29:  Buddha Nature and the Three Vajra Jewels
2. April 4: The Many Facets of the Single Buddha Heart
3. April 12:  The Fourth Vajra Point: All You Need to Know About Tathagatagarbha
4. April 19:  Buddha Heart, Mahamudra Mind
5. April 26:  All Pervasive Changeless Luminosity
6. May 3: The Buddha Emerging from the Lotus

Mahayana 306: Paramitas, Paths, and Bhumis

May 10 – June 21

1. May 10:  The Ten Paramitas
2. May 17:  The Five Paths
3. May 24:  The Ten Grounds of Awakening
   No class May 31, Memorial Day
4. June 7:  4. Mind’s Dimensions of Awakening
5. June 14:  5. Transcending Delusion, Unfolding Wisdom
6. June 21:  Review