The Precepts Study Group

The Precepts Study Group
Saturday, December 14 | 9-10:15 AM MST (US & Canada)
Semi-monthly on Saturdays ~ Meets Online
For the first session, read the book’s Introduction!
This group is for members and friends of members who want to explore how the Ten Precepts might inform, empower, and enliven our practice, both on the cushion and off. We will be reading Opening to Oneness by Nancy Mujo Baker. Our Curriculum Coordinator & Campus Coordinator, Kieran Mead-Ward, will convene the meetings, and we anticipate guest appearances by the author herself! Please consider giving dana to our teachers It’s a Buddhist tradition to offer a financial gratitude gift to the teacher. You can use these payment methods: paypal: nancyebaker@earthlink.net
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In Opening to Oneness, Zen teacher Nancy Baker offers a detailed path of practice for Zen students planning to take the precepts and for anyone, Buddhist or non-Buddhist, interested in deepening their personal study of ethical living. She reveals that there are three levels of each precept: a literal level (don’t kill, not even a bug), a relative level that takes moral ambiguity into account (what if it’s a malaria-spreading mosquito?), and an ultimate level—the paradoxical level of no
nduality, in which the precepts are naturally expressed from a state of oneness.
Full of nuance, intelligence, and compassion, the first half of the book addresses the ten grave precepts mostly from the relative level, including instructions for how to practice these precepts individually and in pairs or groups. The second half of the book takes a deep dive into looking at the precepts from the ultimate perspective, largely through an exploration of the writings of Dogen, the thirteenth-century religious genius who founded the Soto Zen school.
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∞ Nancy Mujo Baker Roshi is a distinguished Zen teacher and writer, renowned as the founding teacher of the No Traces Sangha within the lineage of Maezumi Roshi’s White Plum Sangha. Recognized as a Dharma successor to Bernie Glassman, she holds the esteemed position of being among the first fully empowered lay Soto Zen teachers. With over forty years of teaching experience, she served as a Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College. Currently residing in New York City, she brings a wealth of wisdom and insight to her teachings. We had the privilege of featuring one of her essays, “Sitting No-where, Leaving no Traces,” on our website previously. You can read it by clicking here. |
- Date
- December 14, 2024
- Time
-
9:00 am - 10:15 am
- Event Category
- Member Events