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 - May 20 Buddhanature, absolute and relative

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 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 “”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 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 . 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. What is meant by the term warrior in the Shambhala tradition? 2. Why is meditation practice the basis for the Shambhala vision of creating an enlightened society for others? 3. What is basic goodness, and how does it relate to the idea of bodhicitta in the Buddhist tradition? 4. How do we experience basic goodness? 5. How does the “genuine heart of sadness” give birth to fearlessness?

· SSPW, Chapters 4 and 5 6. Explain: “In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear.” Give an example from your own experience. 7. How is synchronizing mind and body connected with learning how to use our sense perceptions? What does this have to do with fearlessness?

· SSPW, Chapters 6 and 7, and pp. 70-72 (beginning of Chapter 9) 8. What is “Great Eastern Sun vision”? 9. What is Great Eastern Sun hierarchy (“natural hierarchy”)? 10. What is the cocoon, and how does it prevent us from experiencing Great Eastern Sun vision? How is this connected with egolessness in the Buddhist tradition? 11. What prevents us from making a new cocoon out of our experience of Great Eastern Sun?

· SSPW, Chapters 8 and 9 12. What is renunciation in the Shambhala tradition, and how does this differ from the hinayana Buddhist understanding of renunciation? 13. How is this renunciation developed in meditation practice? 14. How is renunciation connected with caring for others? How does this relate with the idea of “knowing what to accept and what to reject”?

· SSPW, Chapter 10 15. What is “letting go,” and how is it connected with the discipline of renunciation? Give an example of this from your own experience. What is the setting-sun version of “letting go”? 16. What is ziji? The Morning Liturgy for Mahayana Students

1. Recite the Lineage Supplication. ? Chant the Heart Sutra. 3. Take the threefold refuge, by doing three half-prostrations, reciting before each hall prostration:

"1 take refuge in the Buddha." (palms together at the forehead) "1 take refuge in the dharma." (palms together at the throat) "1 take refuge in the sangha." (palms together at the heart)

When we take rejilge ,ve reflect on the Buddha as an example of a human being who attained complete enlightenment, on the dharma as the path. and on the sangha as companionship on the path. Join your palms together and do three half-prostrations as an expression of commitment of body, speech. and mind.

4. In kneeling position. joining your palms together at your heart. recite the Bodhisattva VOW ji'O!J1 the Bodhicharyavatara.

As earth and the other elements, together with space, eternally provide sustenance in many ways for the countless sentient beings,

So may 1become sustenance in every way for sentient beings to the limits of space until all have attained nirvana.

As the sugatas of old gave birth to the bodhichitta and progressively established themselves in the discipline of a bodhisattva,

So I too, for the benefit of beings, shall give birth to the bodhichitta and progressively train myself in that discipline.

At this moment my birth has become fruitful, I have realized my human life. Today I am born into the family of buddhas. Now I am a child of the buddhas.

From now on 1will forthrightly perform the actions befitting to my family. 1will act so as not to degrade the fault]essness and discipline of my family.

Just as with a blind man finding a jewel in a heap of dust, thus, somehow, bodhichitta has been born in me.

This is the supreme amrita which destroys death, the inexhaustible treasure which removes the world's poverty.

It is the supreme medicine which cures the world's sickness, the tree which provides rest for being weary of wandering on the paths of existence. It is the universal bridge on which all travelers may pass over the lower realms, the rising moon of mind which dispels the torment of the kleshas.

It is the great sun which puts an end to the obscurity of ignorance, the pure butter which comes of churning the milk of the holy dharma.

For travelers wandering the paths of existence seeking happiness from objects of enjoyment, it is supreme bliss near at hand, the great feast which satisfies sentient beings.

Today witnessed by all the protectors, I have welcomed the sentient beings and sugaras. Devas and asuras rejoice!

In reciting the bodhisattva vow, we arouse bodhichitta by reflecting on the presence and inspiration ofthe kalyanamitra and the buddhas, and practitioners ofthe past, present, andfuture.

5. Chant the Four Limitless Ones:

Mayall sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness. May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering. May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering. May they dwell in the great equanimity free from passion, aggression, and prejudice.

6. Tonglen (/0 minutes) 7. Shatnatha