DHARMA CLASSES

Fundamental Buddhist Teachings

This class is a teacher to student lecture offers knowledge of Buddhist teachings and practice paths. Our objective is to retain the depth and liberating potential of traditional Buddhist trainings, but focusing on the practical core teachings of Theravada and Mahayana main schools of Buddhism and presenting these teachings in ways that are relevant to the lives of lay people in today’s world.

Course topics include:

• The Three Universal Truths
• The Law of Cause and Effect
• The Middle Way and Mind Only Philosophies.
• The Ultimate Truth of Emptiness
• The Relative Truth of Dependent Existence
• The Four Noble Truths
• The Eight Fold-Path
• The Paramitas
• Vipassana and The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• The Five Powers or Spiritual Faculties
• The Triple Gem and Three Refuges
• The Five Precepts

Introduction to Insight Meditation

This class is an introduction to Vipassana (insight meditation) for beginners, and to support and enrich the practice of intermediate meditators. This class provides information needed to participate on the weekly Meditation Group.

Insight meditation, or Vipassana, is one of the central teachings of the Buddha. It has continued as a living practice for 2500 years. At the heart of insight meditation is the practice of mindfulness, the cultivation of clear, stable and nonjudgmental awareness. With proper guidance, the student can experience the universal truths of “impermanence,” “suffering” and the “absence of ego”.  Through observing the body and mind as constantly changing things, the student develops clear comprehension (sampajanna) and mindfulness (sati), which lead to the gradual eradication of mental defilements and the attainment of liberation from suffering.  Practice of Vipassana cleanses mental impurities and leads to the formation of a balanced mind that is full of love and compassion.

While the context of our programs is the Buddha’s teachings, the practices we teach are universal.  Everyone can practice Vipassana freely at any time and place without conflicts arising from race, culture or the religion to which they belong.