Tuesday evenings, 7:00-8:30 pm
September 12 - October 31 (8 sessions)
via Zoom
Suggested donation: $100 (scholarships available)
The word "integrity" points to how we might conduct ourselves in harmony with who we are and those with whom we share this world. Integrity is the foundation of spiritual development and the awakening and liberation from suffering it promises. This 8-week course will explore not only traditional Buddhist ideas of sila, precepts that train us in not harming, but also ways to find the inner compass of our being that can discern a concrete path in life right for us individually, where we are honest with ourselves and others, where duty and enjoyment are in balance, and where we are taking responsibility for the history and conditioning within which we find ourselves embedded. Each class will include 30 minutes of guided meditation, a talk, and a period of discussion. Students will benefit most from the course who commit themselves to daily meditation.
Register here. (Be sure to press the button to submit the form after you have filled it out.)
September 12, 2023
Dharma Talk - Integrity (sila) can be described as growing in attunement with one's inner and outer self (attuned speech, attuned action, attuned livelihood) and living in harmony with that.
Discussion - Participants discuss how integrity relates to truth and the experience of feeling wholesomeness or unwholesomeness and how we can adjust our behaviors to shift those experiences.
September 19, 2023
Dharma Talk - Where does the feeling of integrity show up in our bodies?
Discussion - Experiencing wholesomeness and unwholesomeness
September 26, 2023
Dharma Talk - The four aspects of attuned speech
Discussion - Critical thoughts, cursing, and watching sports can generate feelings of unwholesomeness. How can we re-balance once we have behaved unwholesomely?
October 3, 2023
Dharma Talk - Mark discusses attuned action, the second precept of not taking what is not given, its role in integrity, and how that second precept means much more than just not stealing.
Discussion - Participants discuss practicing attuned speech in the context of relationships.
October 10, 2023
Dharma Talk - Mark discusses integrity and attuned livelihood. How do we spend out time? Our work life? What are we drawn to do if we stay in tune with our heart?
Discussion - Participants discuss integrity as it relates to the energy behind speech, how integrity applies to one's livelihood, and the concept of "moral injury".
October 17, 2023
Dharma Talk - Mark discusses attuned speech in the context of giving and receiving feedback in relationships.
Discussion - Participants discuss attuned speech and action in the context of relationships.
October 24, 2023
Dharma Talk - Mark explains how The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz relate to the Five Precepts.
Discussion - Participants discuss "doing one's best" and the idea that shame underlies perfectionism.
October 31, 2023
Dharma Talk - Mark discusses the pleasure of integrity.
Discussion - Participants discuss doing your best v being your best, the feeling of unwholesomeness, and how negative words impact others.