The Dhammapada: Gems of Wisdom with Kim Allen

Three Saturdays: Nov 5, 12, 19, 2022
10:30am-Noon Pacific time (online via Zoom)

Please register to receive Zoom link and other information about this course.

The Dhammapada is a slim text containing volumes of Dharma wisdom. The apparently simple verses center on deep issues of ethics, life choices, meditation, and freedom. This popular text has inspired Buddhist practitioners over millennia and remains startlingly relevant in the contemporary world.

Over three sessions, we will read the entire Dhammapada through the lens of its main themes. It teaches us to discern, with ever clearer wisdom, the path to freedom amidst many choices that lead into suffering. We learn what kind of effort will bring the deepest peace.

There are numerous translations of the Dhammapada. In this class, we will use Gil Fronsdal’s translation – please be sure to have a copy of it. Please register soon; there are readings to do before the first session on Nov 5^th. Sessions will include teachings, small and large-group discussion, meditation, and Q&A.

The Dhammapada, translated by Gil Fronsdal, is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Keplers Books, and other booksellers in paperback and electronic formats.

Audio of Gil Fronsdal reading from his translation of the Dhammapada are also available for free on the Insight Meditation Center website.

Kim Allen has been practicing Insight meditation since 2003 in the US and Asia. Trained by Gil Fronsdal, she teaches at Insight Meditation Center, Sati Center, and farther afield offering Dharma programs, sutta study, and retreats in-person and online. She lives as a lay contemplative and draws from a background in long retreat practice, devotion, and scientific training to bring classical Dharma to a modern context. Her website is www.uncontrived.org