Lesson 4- the Intermediate Stage or Path of Renunciation continued with a discussion of why Buddhists were not interested in going to “heaven.” Buddhists consider the heavens as a reward for living a good life, but still to be part of samsara and a place where you must leave to repay karmic debts after your good karma is used up. We, instead, seek to leave samsara entirely and go to the Buddha-lands, beyond samsara and removed from the cycle of rebirth.l
The main discussion in this class focused on the the verse from the Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra “…no suffering, no accumulation, no cessation, and no path” and the Mahayana perspective on the Four Noble Truths, the Mahayana state of prajna. We discussed the various levels within prajna as held by the Mahayana, Hinayana, Madhyamayana, and Tantrayana traditions. The class ended with a discussion on what it means to “become a Buddha in this lifetime.” This concept will be continued at our next class along with the source of “mind” to complete our study of the Path of Renunciation.
CLICK for revised article on Lesson 4 which will be discussed at 9:00 am on July 15.
C41-Three Principal Stages & Paths of Buddhist Practice
You must be enrolled in C41 in one of the membership programs at the LFBCS to access the course materials, questions covered (in parenthesis), and/or the class recordings.
June 24, 2023: Lesson 4D-Intermediate Stage–The Path of Renunciation (110-141) and HERE for recording of class.
June 17, 2023: Lesson 4C-Intermediate Stage–The Path of Renunciation (90-109) and HERE for recording of class.
June 10, 2023: Lesson 4B-Intermediate Stage–The Path of Renunciation (84-89) and HERE for recording of class.
May 27, 2023: Lesson 4A-Intermediate Stage–The Path of Renunciation (63-83) and HERE for recording of class.
May 20, 2023: Lesson 3B -Initial Stage (60-62) and HERE for recording of class.
May 13, 2023: Lesson 3A -Initial Stage (39-59) and HERE for recording of class.
May 6, 2023: Lesson 2-Preliminaries (14-38) and HERE for recording of that class.
April 29, 2023: Lesson 1-Introduction to Three Principal Stages & Paths of Buddhist Practice (1-13) and HERE for recording of that class.
Description of C41-Three Principal Stages & Paths of Buddhist Practice.
CLICK for video “How Buddhism Came to the West.”
ARTICLE with more information and links including updated chart of course content. Lessons 5-7 are still under construction.
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