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Please sign up here. Payment should be given to the instructor on the first day of class. Members of AZC can take one class per year for free
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Spring Classes, Starting May 5, 2008.
Zen: Non-dual Inquiry in Soto Zen Practice , Barbara Seirin Kohn, 6:30 - 8:00, Monday Evenings
Empty, impermanent, illusory, interdependent.
Together let us explore, experience, digress and progress together as we wholeheartedly watch opposites go up in smoke and many faceted living flow between us.
Barbara Seirin Kohn's training at San Francisco Zen Center included ordaination by Reb Anderson and Dharma Transmission from Blanche Hartman. She has been the head teacher at Austin Zen Center since 2000.
Six Weeks. Cost: $25.00 members - $30.00 others.
Madhyamaka, an Introductory Workshop , George Hasty, 6:30 - 8:00, Tuesday Evenings
I am not. I never will be.
I have not. I never will have.
This frightens all children
And kills fear in the wise.
- Nagarjuna
Madhyamaka reasoning may seem on first acquaintance to be an arcane, overly complicated, abstract, outdated, boring, difficult way to approach an understanding of the Mahayana Buddhist teachings of shunyata, propounded in the Prajnaparamita sutras. However, when Madhyamaka logic is used to reveal how conceptuality leads us astray at every turn of the path, it can become a powerful antidote to the ignorance that underlies our clinging to existence and non-existence.
This introductory workshop uses The Sun of Wisdom, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso's accessible commentary on Nagarjuna's famous exposition of the middle way teachings, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, as the vehicle for an experiential introduction to these powerful, disturbing, and illuminating teachings. The goal is not to do philosophy in any academic sense, but to sharpen our insight into our own minds and hearts, bringing this ancient method up-to-date in a personal way.
Required text: The Sun of Wisdom, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamptso (Shambhala, 2003). Recommended: Verses from the Center, Stephen Batchelor, (Riverhead, 2000)
George Hasty has been a student of Shambhala Buddhism since 1987. He serves as a meditation instructor, teacher of classes in Buddhism, and director of Shambhala Training at the Austin Shambhala Meditation Center. He served as director of the center from fall 2004 to fall 2007.
Eight Weeks. Cost: $35.00 members - $45.00 others.
Afflictive Emotions, Kojin Dinsmore, 6:30 - 8:00, Thursday Evenings
The Buddha once said,
“Whatever one says or does with a defective mind brings suffering in its wake just as the cartwheel follows the ox’s hoof… Whatever one says or does with a clear mind brings happiness in its wake, just as the shadow follows its owner."
Many of us lead intensely emotional lives that we feel spin out of our control, such that we regret our self-gratifying impulses or outburst of anger. At the same time we think of our passions as what makes life worth living and what motivates us to be actively engage the world. We undergo psychotherapy in order to find the proper adjustment that allows us to function normally in the world, then turn to Buddhism, where we are, first, told that there was nothing to fix in the first place but, second, are presented with the image of awakening that seems far beyond normal human functioning.
A Buddhist gatha begins,
"In the karmic life of past, present and future, emotional attachment cannot be eliminated, yet leaving it behind I enter the truth."
What are the Buddhist teachings on how to conduct or relate to our emotional lives? This class in a rather hands-on way, covers the following topics:
- Karmic conditioning and the ending of karma.
- The intimate study of samsara.
- Appropriate attention as emotions arise.
- The relationship of emotions to fixed viewpoints and to our sense of self .
- Attachment and the arising of suffering.
- Sensuality, distraction and restraint.
- Living deliberatively and living impulsively.
- Buddhism and psychotherapy.
The format for this class will combine short lectures on Buddhist psychological and ethical teachings with interactive hands-on discussion.
Kojin Dinsmore is a monk and resident priest at Austin Zen Center. He is a former academic.
Eight Weeks. Cost: $35.00 members - $45.00 others.
The Diamond Sutra, John Zenpo Grimes, time to be announced.
Four Weeks. $20 members, $25 others.
Continuous (not only during the 8-week class period)
Saturday Morning Dharma Discussion , John Zenpo Grimes, Saturdays, 8:30AM to 9:20AM.
A lively discussion of various Zen topics, including Precepts, designed for newer or intermediate practioners. This class will allow students an opportunity to discuss their practice while gaining an understanding of traditional practices and modern approaches. This class is generally cancelled on those occasions in which the Saturday Morning Program does not meet.
Cost: No charge
Wednesday Evening Book Group, Barbara Seirin Kohn, Wednesdays, 7:00 - 8:00 PM.
An informal discussion group that reads and discusses its way through a current Buddhist text, such as Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's Not Always So.
Cost: No charge. No need to register.
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