2023
- Starting January 2023 we will read Master Sheng Yen’s book “Chan Enlightenment”. Physical copies are available at the Chicago DDM center. The kindle version can be purchased here.
- Link to the slides of Iris’ lectures on Pureland and Chan Buddhism.
2022
The first Class of this new series will take place on Sun, April 10th! We would encourage participants to take a look at the following outline (from dharmanet) as well as this text by Master Sheng Yen which is based on a series of talks given by Shifu in 1998. This material will provide a scaffold for the first couple of classes where we will cover topics such as the 4 Noble Truths, the 8 Fold Path, the 12 links of dependent origination, the 3 marks of existence, Right View and Pratityasamutpada.
- In the April 10, 2022 class we covered the 4 Noble Truths.
- In the April 24th & May 8th class we will talk about the 12 links of dependent origination and about karma. Some of that material is addressed in Shifu’s text mentioned in the introduction above. Another excellent source about the 12 links is the following book by Tibetan Master Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche.
- On May 8th we will continue with the 12 links and read the corresponding chapter in Master Sheng Yen’s commentary on the heart sutra, “There is no suffering” available online here. Participants are encouraged to read this material before class! If time permits we may also embark on karma and establish the connection to the Yogacara school, in particular to the 8th (“store-house”) consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna).
- On May 22nd Alan will go through the Chapter on the 12 links in Shifu’s commentary on the heart sutra. For the electronic version please check out the link in the previous paragraph!
- Here’s a link to the .pdf of the Book “Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness” by Khempo Tsultrim Gymatso Rinpoche that we are currently studying in our reading group. Please note that a newer, improved version (2016) is available, so if you decide to purchase a copy it’s recommended to get that edition instead.
Recordings of previous sessions will be uploaded on the Chicago Dharma Drum Chapter’s youtube channel.