The Sati Center for Buddhist Studies supports the study of Buddhist teachings. Our perspective balances scholarly inquiry with serious meditation practice. We believe that study and practice work together to deepen one's practice and aid in awakening. Our goal is to help participants explore original Buddhist texts and appreciate the richness of the tradition and lineage. We want to facilitate ongoing dialog and exchange among meditators, teachers, students and scholars.

Pre-registration not necessary for daylong classes. Bring your own lunch.

• Saturday, October 30th, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM - Compassionate Vision, Conscientious Action - Taught by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  

  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi will lead a daylong program exploring traditional and contemporary approaches to Socially Applied Buddhism. Caring for oneself while caring for others is at the heart of the Buddha's teachings. How we can best do this in our present-day world is a deeply challenging question with profound ramifications. Bhante will explore the canonical roots of Socially Applied Buddhism, with texts and discussion. He will develop a model aimed at articulating a postmodern integral understanding of Buddhism and explore corresponding approaches to Buddhist practice and sacred activism. He will also highlight the work of Buddhist Global Relief, a non-profit organization he founded in 2008, which has launched over fifteen projects in South, Southeast, and Central Asia; in Africa; and here in the U.S.

  Born and raised in New York City, Bhikkhu Bodhi lived as a monk in Sri Lanka for almost twenty-four years, eighteen of them as the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy. He now lives at Chuang Yen Monastery near Carmel, New York. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor, including The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya, 1995) and The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya, 2000). A full translation of the Anguttara Nikaya is nearing completion. In 2008 he founded Buddhist Global Relief, which provides relief from poverty and hunger among impoverished communities worldwide. He was recently appointed to serve on a global task force charged with preparing a framework on interfaith collaboration on poverty alleviation, health, and development.

• Saturday, December 4th, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM - The Dhammapada: Investigating the best known collection of the Buddha's teachings - Taught by Tony Bernhard
  

  The Dhammapada may well be the most widely read and most beloved collection of Buddhist scriptures presenting wisdom through vivid, poetic imagery and often blunt contrast. Its lesson goes to the heart of the Buddha's teachings. During this daylong contemplation and investigation of the Dhammapada verses, we will examine both their scope and structure and explore some of the most challenging of the Buddha's instructions.

  The primary translation used will be Gil Fronsdal's.

  As one of Spirit Rock's community dharma leaders, Tony hosts sitting groups in Davis and periodically teaches around the bay area and central valley. Tony's practice is guided by study of the Pali scriptures (in translation!) and by contemporary scholarship of these texts.

  
  

• Saturday, January 15, Learning from the Ancient Buddhist Nuns: Buddhist Teachings in the Therigatha - Taught By Nona Olivia
  

  The Therigatha, or the Verses of the Nuns, is the oldest collection of teachings from Buddhist women teachers. The verses give important insight into the lives of the nuns who lived at the time of the Buddha. In this daylong class we will examine how the verses reveal the close relationships among these early nuns. We will focus closely on the verses which reveal how the nuns taught the Buddha's teachings to each other. As part of the day we will examine the relevance of these teachings today.

  Nona Olivia has been practicing meditation for some 40 years, during which time she raised her children and became a grandmother. Deeply involved in the Insight Meditation tradition of Theravada Buddhism, Nona graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center's first Dedicated Practitioner Program and is a Lay Buddhist Minister, ordained by Gil Fronsdal. Nona practices with and is very inspired by the monastics in the tradition of Ajahn Chah. She holds a PhD from Brown University and teaches at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

• Friday, January 21st, 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM - The Parinibbana Sutta: The Discourse on the Buddha's Last Days -
  Taught by Gil Fronsdal
  

  One of the most important of the early Buddhist discourses is the one that narrates the last days of the Buddha's life. Knowing his death is approaching the Buddha gives some of his most signficant and direct teachings. These teachings are made all the more poignant by how the discurse places them in the turbulent period of Indian history that coincided with his death. During this day we will study the story of the Buddha at the end of his life, what he teaches in this text, and the political and social conditions he lived and died in.

  Translations of the Sutta can be found in Maurice Walshe's book the Long Discourses of the Buddha. Excepts can be found in the Handful of Leaves vol. 1 by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (also found at accesstoinsight.org).



• April 1-3, 2011, Classes with John Peacock