Summer Book Club:
A Path of Discovery
Spend eight weeks exploring ways to discern your personal path of practice, seen through the lens of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Our text is “The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering” written by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
The optional supplemental text is "Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path" written by Bhante Gunaratana.
We will gather for in-person and online dialogue on
eight Fridays from 6:30 pm to 7:45 pm Eastern US time, Aug 12 through Sept 30.
The Zoom link is here.
See weekly reading assignments and class dialogue recordings below.
Week 1. August 12th
Correct View
Reading assignment: pages 3 through 22
Reflection questions: Do you see karma working in your life? What would it take to have a penetrative understanding of suffering? How do you practice with craving?
Week 2: August 19th
Correct Intention
Reading assignment: Pages 23 through 31
Reflection questions: How do you cultivate wise attention? What nourishes kindness and compassion? Is there a role for desire?
Week 3. August 26th
Correct Speech
Reading assignment: Pages 43 through 53
Supplemental reading: Discourse with Prince Abhaya
Supplemental talk in English: Finding the Time for Right Speech
Reflection questions: How do you know what’s truthful? What do you do when the response to your speech is different than you expected? Is speech that represents many people different than speech that represents your personal view?
Week 4: September 2nd
Correct Action
Reading assignment: Pages 38 through 41
Ayya Dhammadipa’s book “Gifts Greater Than the Oceans”
Supplemental talk in English: Enacting the Way of Non-harming
Reflection questions: Are there times when it’s challenging to keep one of the first three precepts? How can the precepts become supports rather than a rules?
Week 5. September 9th
Correct Livelihood
Reading assignment: Page 42
Reflection questions: Can you practice at work? How can ethics become part of the conversation at work?
Week 6: September 16th
Correct Effort
Reading assignment: Pages 43 through 50 in Bhikkhu Bodhi text
A Lump of Salt: Numbered Discourse 3.100
Resolution of Kamma: Numbered Discourse 4.195
Butcher and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Middle Length Discourse 10
Removing Distracting Thoughts: Middle Length Discourse 20
Reflection questions: Do you tend to strive too hard or not try hard enough? Do you ever see the hindrances working when you’re off the cushion? Is there a time when the factors of enlightenment can be present for you?
Week 7. September 23rd
Correct Mindfulness
Reading assignment: Pages 51 through 60
Reflection questions: What helps you find the present moment? Do you find it easier to be mindful of the body or the mind? Is there a dhamma framework that you find particularly descriptive of your experience?
Week 8: September 30th
Correct Concentration
Reading assignment: Pages 61 through 76
Reflection questions: Have you found an object that is more easily maintained in awareness? How do you relax your mind?
Optional: Tell us about the Noble Eightfold Path without telling us about the Noble Eightfold Path. Write a poem, share a photo, or paint a picture of your Path, and share it at the group discussion meeting.
The Buddha, and the women and men who were Arahants in his time, taught the Noble Eightfold Path in hundreds of discourses. There is an entire chapter in the Linked Discourses on the Noble Eightfold Path, for example. One discourse from that chapter lists the eight aspects of the Path and defines each one: