[Downtown Dharma Listserve] Downtown Dharma Reading Group - Next Meeting - July 24, 6- 7:30pm

Hello!

On Saturday, July 24 we will meet for the Downtown Dharma reading group to continue our discussion of the book Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators by Guy Armstrong.

Meeting Information:
We will be doing a combined in-person/Zoom meeting this time. We ask that participants only come in person if they have been fully vaccinated.

July 24, 6:00-7:30 pm 

Address: Harris Rosensweig's place 1372 Randolph St. NW, #103
Washington, DC 20011

Optional group dinner afterwards—we went to dinner after our first in person meeting and thought we could do a repeat with a casual dinner somewhere afterwards.

Zoom Information will be sent in a future email.

Reading: 

We'll be reading Chapters 7 through 13 this time (pages 83-171).  If you don't get to read all of it, that's ok!

Below are some of the major topics we discussed during our first discussion.

• Emptiness- what is it? 
• Self- What does "no self" (or not self) mean? What are common beliefs about the self that we hold? What does Armstrong claim is wrong about those beliefs?
• Sense bases and the five aggregates
• What is "self" really? How do we create a view of the self through thinking and attachment? 
• What is the "conventional" versus "fundamental" view of the self? 

Chapters 7 through 13 cover:

• Beyond Self
• Bearing Emptiness
• Karma: Patterns of Becoming
• Who is Reborn?
• The End of Karma
• Abiding in Emptiness
• Cessation and Nibbana

We plan on having an opening question to be sent out in a future email to get the discussion going and then have free form conversation after the opening responses.

If you can make it, kindly email me at hrosensweig@hotmail.com to RSVP.

Be well,

Harris

 

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