The Heart Sutra mantra in devanagari (the script used for writing Sanskrit)
Howdydoo, Friends!
I'm thinking about trying an experiment, but before I do, I'd like to get a "feel" for how many of you might be interested.
I want to start a short weekly online Buddhist discussion.
Here are the details:
Each lesson would be 30-40 minutes long.
Lesson time would be Friday night at 7:00 / 8:00 / 9:00 / 10:00 pm (west to east) in the U.S.; and 10:00 am Saturday in the Philippines. (Philippine time will change when the clocks change in America.)
Each lesson would be based on a very short (1-2 page) reading.
Each lesson would be self-contained; if you miss a week, you won't get lost
Lessons would be conducted via Zoom; you would need to download the app in order to participate (it's free). I can offer you some help in doing that.
Readings and the Zoom invite for each week would be sent out via another Newsletter signup, separate from this one.
We would probably start in a few weeks, like mid-August 2020.
To start out, we would use The Heart Sutra as a framework for examining a wide range of Buddhist ideas. Itself only 275 words in English (I chant it in under two minutes), it also refers to most of the basic concepts of Buddhism; I would add some supplemental readings to each passage we discuss in order to help clarify those ideas.
There would be plenty of time allotted for question-and-answer each week, so lessons would be suitable for people at all stages of understanding. We would take breaks from the schedule for holidays and at other times as the regular participants suggest.
When we finish the Heart (15-20 lessons, depending on how quickly we move), I would ask for input from the regular participants for what we might do next.
So how about it? Are you interested? Saying "yes" at this point is not a commitment, but rather an indication to me of whether to go ahead with the planning.
Thanks! Looking forward to hearing from you.
peace,
James
Here's The Heart Sutra as I chant it (on one of my many defunct blogs; the internet is littered with them!). There's a link to an audio file as well. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED! We'll take it slowly.