This Week in the Dharma Centre
New supplementary module plus live-streamed zazen for this week
This week i've uploaded a new module 3.1 - Starting a daily life practice and introduction to Zen training.
As this last module for Living with Uncertainty introduced the Noble Eightfold Path, the training formula for the arhat path, it seemed timely to show that the Mahayana uses the Six Paramitas as the basis for its training formula as do the Zen schools.
There is a necessity for study and practice to keep in some kind of lockstep or the danger is that we all end up armchair Buddhists. A few years back I used to organise the Buddhist Society Summer School. One year we had a distinguished academic who gave a fantastic talk on The Wheel of Life. Afterwards, 'yours truly' took him to the coffee point for some refreshment before he drove home. A woman came up, thanked him for the 'fascinating talk' and asked how long he had been practicing Buddhism? He replied: "Madam! I have never practiced Buddhism!" I don't know who looked more shocked she or me? I'd had it drilled into me that Buddhism was a path to be walked and not a path to be endlessly talked over.
Anyway, hopefully, for those who are brand new and itching to start Zen training this module 3.1 will give you what you need. For those who are already on 'the way', it may be a bit of useful revision. Either way enjoy!
Access to this module is through the usual portal: 'Courses' on the Community Dharma Site.
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Live-streamed Zazen is, as usual, this Thursday 31st March at 1900hrs BST (GMT +1).