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Upcoming Online Class: The Dhammapada
Upcoming Class Announcement.
The Dhammapada: Buddhism Unplugged.
I’m teaching this class in November.
Live on Zoom with the Rime Center Buddhist Community. It’s all online and it’s pay-what-you-can-afford, so if you’re interested, you should sign up.
This is a classic text from the very beginning of the Buddhist tradition and it outlines what we can do to help ourselves live good, mindful, virtuous lives. It means essentially, “the way of truth”. It’s short and easy to understand, so it may be a good jumping on point for someone who has never studied Buddhism before.
We’re going to do explore the passages in this foundational Buddhist text together.
Facilitator: Daniel Scharpenburg
Date: 4 sessions beginning on November 2, 2022
Time: 7:45–9:00 pm
Class Fee: $30
Text: The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations — Get it on Amazon or at the Rime Center gift shop.
These classes are available to EVERYONE. We have “Suggested Fees,” however pay whatever you can afford for the class. Everyone is welcome! It is our hope that some will pay more to cover those who can’t afford the usual fee. We simply want everyone to have access to these wonderful classes.
Use coupon R1M3CL@55 if you are unable to afford to class fee.
What is the Dhammapada?
Why is a class on it interesting?
Sometimes people ask,questions along the lines of “Is there an equivalent to the Bible in Buddhism?”
And the answer to that is….not really. The various Buddhist teachings and schools are too vast to collect into a single book. “Which text is most sacred to Buddhists?” would be a very difficult question to answer. The Dhammapada comes the closest.
It’s not the equivalent to the Bible, but I want to suggest it’s like the Sermon on the Mount. Whereas in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ was telling his followers how to be disciplines, the Dhammapada is the text where the Buddha is telling us how to live as his students. It’s not about what we should believe. It’s about what we should do. In this tiny book the Buddha is telling us how to awaken and how to live a better life, in the briefest way possible. This is an early Buddhist text, one of the earliest. I think of it as Buddhism Unplugged, before many years of tradition, growth, and change influenced Buddhism.
How can we live our lives in a more mindful way?
