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Syllabus and Readings 2008 Seminary Transcripts Class 2008 Seminary Transcripts Class, Berkeley Shambhala Center Teachers: Jesse Miller, Sarah Woodard, Jeremy Anderson Coordinator/Registrar: Kathryn Rile [email protected] Tuition: $100 for members of any Shambhala Center Since there are readings to complete before the first class meeting, you must register in advance. Readings will be available to registered students. Syllabus and Readings Class One: Ground of Hinayana - April 22 Truth of Suffering, Origin of Suffering, 3 Marks, 4 Noble Truths 1980:2 Basic Anxiety (8) 1975:4 Transcending the Lower Realms (12) 1975:6 Origins of Suffering (8) Also a handout on 3-fold logic Class Two: Ground of Hinayana - April 29 Karma, Realms and Nidanas, Skandas 1981:4 Mindfulness Discipline (9) 1978:6 Origins of Suffering (8) Karma Seminar, Talk One (11) Also a handout on the four reminders Class Three: Path of Hinayana - May 6 Four Foundations, refuge as practice, Shamatha and Vipashyana 1975:8 The Path (13) 1979:7 Taking Refuge (7) 1979:2 Becoming a Dharmic Person (10) Optional: Four talks on Mindfulness from 1973 (54 pages total) Class Four: Fruition of Hinayana - May 13 Two-fold Egolessness, so-so tharpa 1979:9 Twofold Egolessness (7) 1978:10 Enlightened Genes (10) 1974:8 Open Space (6) Class Five: Key Principles of Mahayana - May 20 Buddhanature, absolute and relative bodhicitta 1973:15 Discovery of Tathagatagarbha (10) 1980:8 Message of the Elders (7) 1980:11 Absolute Bodhicitta (7) 1980:12 Relative Bodhicitta (7) Class Six: Practices of Mahayana - May 27 Lojong, Tonglen, paramitas 1973:16 Nonaggression and the Bodhisattva Path (17) 1975:22 Paramita Practice (14) Optional: 1979 talks covering Lojong I-VII (57 pages) Class Seven: Heart of Warriorship - June 3 Chapters 1 to 5, and 7, in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Class Eight: Sacred World, Sacred Path - June 10 Chapters 6, 8-10, 16 and 17 in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior Other Handouts: The Sutrayana Seminary Gateway exam The Morning Liturgy for Mahayana Students (includes the Bodhisattva Vow) GATEWAY EXAM STUDY QUESTIONS Sutrayana Seminary (Updated March 2005) The Gateway Examination is given to all Sutrayana Seminary participants at the beginning of the program. It is not so much an “exam” as a “warrior exchange,” intended to help you to prepare for seminary, and to help the seminary faculty assess the understanding of the students. Please prepare as thoroughly as you can before seminary—you will only have one study day at seminary prior to taking the exam. _____________________________________________________________ HINAYANA Shila, Samadhi and Prajna · 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 1-5, pp. 10-19 · 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 25-28 · 1978 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 9-14 1. How does learning complement sitting practice? How has the lineage of practitioners experienced study and practice? 2. Define shila, samadhi, and prajna. Why is each important in the practitioner’s journey? 3. How is “dharma”connected with sitting practice? What is a “dharmic person?” 4. What is discipline (tsultrim; shila) of body, speech and mind? Why does discipline come first in the hinayana? View and Motivation · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 1, pp. 19-34 5. What is the relationship between view and motivation? What is the difference between Hinayana and Mahayana motivation? The Three Marks of Existence and the Four Noble Truths · 1973 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 136-43 · 1975 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 48-55, 56-59, 64-68, 74-80 · 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 2-4, 17-20 · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 1, pp. 50-67 6. Describe the Three Marks of Existence. 7. What is the origin of suffering? What are the three types of suffering? 8. What are the Four Noble Ttruths? Why do we look into pain and suffering? 9. What is samsara? Discuss the relation of samsara and mind. Refuge Vow · 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 53-57 · 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 52-56, 74-77 · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, pp. 121-127 10. What is your understanding of taking the refuge vow? Discuss the significance of each of the three jewels. 11. How does taking refuge relate to nontheism? 12. Why do we need a teacher on the hinayana path? Discuss the qualities of the teacher. Not Causing Harm to Others · 1981 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 16-18 · 1975 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 44-48, 87-90 · 1978 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 75-76 13. What is individual salvation, and how does it relate to renunciation and discipline? 14. What is renunciation and how does it work? 15. How is renunciation connected with the path of accumulation? What does this have to do with developing friendliness toward yourself and your practice? 16. Describe the two yanas of the Hinayana (the Shravakayana and the Pratyekabuddhayana), in terms of the path and the goal of each. Shamatha · 1973 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 37-45, 49-52, 63-67, 72-77 · 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 20-25, 28-31, 37-42 · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 1, pp. 9-18 · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, pp. 13-66 17. What are the Four Foundations of Mindfulness? How do they aid our meditation practice? 18. List the obstacles and antidotes. How are they applied to meditation practice? 19. Discuss mindfulness (trenpa) as a basic aspect of mind. 20. Discuss sheshin. What is the relationship between mindfulness and awareness? 21. What is the difference between sheshin and lhakthong (vipashyana)? 22. What are the six requirements for shamatha? Do we need all six in order to have successful shamatha practice? 23. Discuss the different types of outer and inner objects of shamatha meditation. 24. Discuss the three qualities of mindfulness. 25. What are the three qualities of the mind that are developing through the nine stages of shamatha? 26. Briefly describe each of the nine stages of shamatha. Vipashyana § 1973 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 91-95 § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 46-50 27. How is vipashyana awareness described here? How does it differ from shamatha mindfulness? The Five Paths · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, pp. 169-173 28. Explain the five paths. What is your understanding of how they relate to meaning generality (tönchi)? The Nidanas and Dependently Related Arising · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 1, pp. 82-95, 102-116 There is a famous quotation from the ‘Rice Seedling Sutra’ in which the Buddha explains the key teachings of ‘dependent relatedness’ or tendrel: “Dependent and related arising is like this. Because this is present, that will arise, and because that was born, this is being born.” (see p. 85) 29. Using the first three nidanas (ignorance, formative action, and consciousness), explain the meaning of “because this is present, this will arise.” 30. What is the difference between craving and appropriation? How do craving and appropriation make karmic seeds into a lifetime? Contemplative Meditation: The Four Reminders · 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 1, pp. 67-74, 137-153 31. What is contemplative meditation? 32. What do the four reminders turn our minds from and to? How do the four reminders shape our motivation for practice? What is their relationship to renunciation? MAHAYANA Entering the Mahayana § 1976 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 79-82 § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 72-75 § 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 142-143 § 1984 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 39-42 33. How does Hinayana training provide the basic ground for entering the Mahayana path? How does it lead into Mahayana? 34. Explain two-fold egolessness. How does the experience of egolessness unfold from the Hinayana into the Mahayana? 35. What is the Mahayana view of compassion (karuna)? How does it differ from ordinary notions of helping others? The Spiritual Friend and the Bodhisattva Vow § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 79-84 § 1981 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 72-74 § 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, pp. 128-133 36. What is your understanding of taking the bodhisattva vow? Briefly explain the stages in taking it. 37. How does the spiritual friend help the Mahayana practitioner? What do the three obstacles to listening to the dharma have to do with our relationship to the spiritual friend? Aspiring and Entering Bodhicitta § 1978 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 104-108 § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 79-86 § 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 98-99 § 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, pp. 123-128 38. What is bodhicitta? How is it discovered? 39. What is aspiring and entering bodhicitta? Absolute Bodhicitta and Shunyata § 1974 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 114-117 § 1975 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 163-165 § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 87-91 § 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, p 128 40. What is absolute bodhicitta and relative bodhicitta? 41. List and explain the five slogans connected with absolute bodhicitta. 42. What is shunyata? What is emptiness empty of? Explain threefold purity. Relative Bodhicitta Practices § 1979 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 87-139 (omit Q & A), Appendix pp. 143-144 § 1980 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 100-136 (omit Q & A) § 1984 Hinayana/Mahayana Transcripts, pp. 63-65, 73-74 43. What are the six paramitas? Briefly explain the main points in each paramita. 44. What is the practice of tonglen? What are the steps in doing tonglen practice and why is each important? 45. What is the practice of lojong? Describe the seven main points of the slogans. Skandhas § 1999 Sutrayana Transcripts, Book 2, pp. 75-120, 137-153 46. Briefly describe the five skandhas. 47. What are the six root kleshas (afflictions)? 48. Discuss the eight consciousnesses. How does the seventh perpetuate a sense of “I”? 49. How does the alaya become perfumed with gewa or mi-gewa? SHAMBHALA · Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior (SSPW) (Chapters 1, 2 and 3) 1.
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