Suggestions, Comments and Feedback for the Study Group

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Please post:

* Ideas on how to better operate the study group here
* Your interest in volunteering to lead an upcoming session
* Sutta or texts to study
* Any other comments and ideas

Metta,
Retro.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

We've also had a request for a Basic Course to run parallel to the Majjhima Nikaya Sutta Course, for newcomers to Theravada Buddhism.

If anyone has any ideas for content or syllabus, please let us know here.

Metta,
Retro.

[Ben]

Hi Retro

For a basic intro to Theravada, there are a couple of texts that I always recommend:

-- The Noble Eightfold Path The Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... toend.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-- Buddhism in a Nutsell by Narada Mahathera:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... shell.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kind regards

Ben

[Nicholas Weeks]

Another good intro is the classic, shorter text The Word of the Buddha which is online is several places.

http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/wo ... wobtoc.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tex]

I found the study guides at accesstoinsight.org very helpful in the beginning, could we use some of those?

The 4 Noble Truths: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/truths.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eightfold Path: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... toend.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kamma: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/kamma.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stream Entry: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/stream.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brahma-vihara: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... el006.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10 perfections: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/stud ... tions.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lazy_eye]

Perhaps the session leader each week could start off the discussion with some questions for us to consider, a peg or two to hang the discussion on.

[mikenz66]

Perhaps the session leader each week could start off the discussion with some questions for us to consider, a peg or two to hang the discussion on.

Good idea. There are questions in this book if we can't come up with original ones:
Pressing out Pure Honey, by Sharda Rogell
PDF here: http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/publications.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mike

[bodom]

Perhaps the session leader each week could start off the discussion with some questions for us to consider, a peg or two to hang the discussion on.

Good idea. There are questions in this book if we can't come up with original ones:
Pressing out Pure Honey, by Sharda Rogell
PDF here: http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/publications.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mike

Great book! Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote the foreward to it so you know its legit.

[phil]

Hi all

I would propose not locking the threads after a week - they would become inactive naturally enough without locking them, and these suttas are so deep and important that it is a bit of a shame in my opinion if one can't return with new questions/insights about them. Sure, a new thread is always possible, but since the sutta is posted in full, these threads would be great ongoing resources for discussion. Just my opinion and I'm very happy to work with the way you have it set up currently.

Metta,

Phil

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Phil,

Thanks for your suggestion.

This seems like a good as any time to mention that jcsuperstar is now looking after the Study Group and as such he has a degree of ownership to make changes to the schedule and the way the Study Group is managed.

That said, I'll explain the reasons why discussion topics are currently closed at the end of seven days...

The main reason they're closed is so that the Study Group remains focused on a single discussion item at a time, just like a real Study Group or Book Club. If all topics were left open, it would be little different to any other sub-forum, and the older topics would get replies and bump themselves up over the top of the current ones... meaning the sequence of threads could get out of whack and the 'current' topic could get lost amongst the others.

I made sure in the closure post for the first few weeks that it was clear people could continue discussing certain aspects of interest elsewhere, so they could see the closure wasn't in any way an attempt to stifle discussion. This still remains the case now, even if there is no formal closure post.



Metta,
Retro.

[phil]

Hi Retro

That's fine with me.

metta,

phil

[jcsuperstar]

one thing i think i would be up for is if you guys/gals have a sutta youre really interested in us going through, then make a sugestion. i know some suttas are more popular than others and people might like to take a look at them as a group, and also maybe you have a sutta you think is often overlooked and would like to see it worked through?

the only caveat here is make sure either its avaiable online or you want to type it up


also unrelated to this study group maybe it would be neat to take a look at the heart and diamond sutras from a purely theravada POV relating them back to the pali canon? this would have to be done a bit more delicately as some will feel toes may get stepped on and i dont want to start some us vs them thing. but i think if the dalai lama can write a book on the gospels surely we can talk about a couple short sutras....

[mikenz66]

Hi JC,

Could we continue for a while with the selection from Bhikkhu Bodhi's sequence that we started with? We are slowly heading towards the liberation teachings...

Metta
Mike

[jcsuperstar]

Hi JC,

Could we continue for a while with the selection from Bhikkhu Bodhi's sequence that we started with? We are slowly heading towards the liberation teachings...

Metta
Mike

thats the plan to just stick to the guide. i just offered the other just in case....

[retrofuturist]

Greetings JC, Mike, all,

It could be possible to run the two in parallel... there's nothing saying we can't have a weekly MN session run concurrently alongside a few "Mahayana Sutras from a Theravadin perspective" sessions or suttas by request etc.. There was talk early on about doing a parallel Beginners Class but this never got off the ground due to lack of demand and the lack of a ready-made syllabus.

I'll leave it for JC to decide.

Metta,
Retro.