Eight Week Sutra Study (Dharma Punx)

Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Dhammananda (Dharma Punx/AgainstTheStream.org)

Alabaster Buddha statues as far as the eye can see (LarryE251/flickr.com)

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Buddha woodcut (Daklub/flickr.com)

Eight Week Sutra Study: An Extended Investigation of the Sutras with Ven. Dhammananda is a class that begins Friday, July 11, 2014 at 7:30 pm at Against the Stream in Hollywood.

It will examine the root teachings of Buddhism on the nature of consciousness, perception, reality, the arising of suffering, and the practice that leads to liberation.

This examination will be facilitated by the reading of three significant Buddhist discourses or sutras: (1) Greater Dialogue on the Removal of Craving, (2) Dialogue on Right View, and the (3) Greater Dialogue on Dependent Origination. Complete copies of the sutras will be provided for everyone.
 
The first sutra begins with a disciple of the Buddha expressing his belief that day-to-day human consciousness is reborn upon death in a new body. This is followed by the Buddha’s response and a discussion about the co-dependent arising of phenomena.
 
Right view is the first step of the Noble Eightfold Path. It is the right understanding of life in line with the Four Noble (Ennobling) Truths. This dialogue was delivered by Sariputra, the Buddha's chief male disciple "foremost in wisdom," who begins with a discussion of wholesome nutrition for the body and mind. He then gives a remarkable analysis of right view and self view using the style of the Four Noble Truths and 12 factors of Dependent Origination, one of the central teachings of Buddhism.
 
The Greater Dialogue on Dependent Origination is the Buddha’s explanation of this central teaching. The two preceding sutras (on craving and right view) provide a solid foundation for this detailed presentation about how things come into existence or originate.
 

The iconic Dharma punk rock meditators of Against the Stream with and without mohawks

 
All three sutras are examples of the Buddha’s astonishingly profound understanding of reality and the human condition. The teacher, an American monk ordained in the Sri Lankan Theravada tradition will give a commentary on each discourse as it is read, welcoming and encouraging questions and group discussion. More

• Sutra Study Eight-Week Series
• Fridays 7:30-9:00 pm, July 11-August 29
• Against the Stream, 4300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood 90029
• By donation, dana, divided evenly between teacher and ATS

Ven. Dhammananda Bhikkhu was born in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, and became a Buddhist at 14, attended college in Boston, Massachusetts. He had a secular career as an analyst underwriting commercial transactions for financial institutions throughout California. After graduating he moved to South India where he taught for several years studying yoga and meditation with TKV Desikachar.. He is a resident monastic at Maithri Vihara, a Buddhist temple and meditation center in nearby Sun Valley, which teaches "pristine Theravada Buddhism," mindfulness of breath meditation, and insight (vipassana). As an Engaged Buddhist serving the community, he is an active participant in devotional services, and his principal teacher is Ven. Aparekke Punyasiri Thero, abbot of Maithri Vihara.