The First Turning of the Dharma Wheel: What the Buddha Taught
“Everything the Buddha taught has the power to go straight to your heart.” — Geshe Tashi Tsering
Mahayana Buddhsim, coming as it did about 500 years after the Buddhha passed, tended to wrap the Buddha’s basic teachings into its marvelous view of the Bodhisattva Path. Knowledge of the Middle Way and Four Noble Truths, for example, rather than being spelled out, were assumed and a bit taken for granted. Therefore, before jumping into the Third Turning of the Wheel and a deeper study of Dogen, the truths that Buddha taught in his lifetime must be clarified. “The First Turning of the Dharma Wheel: What the Buddha Taught” will do that.
First Talk: Queen Maya’s Dream
“Your majesty, your son will not be a politician. He will be a great Master of the Way. Heaven and Earth will be his home and all beings his relations.”
—Master Asita
Date/Time: January 9, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Second Talk: A Bowl of Milk
“Child, please pour me a little more milk.”
–Siddhartha
Date/Time: January 16, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Third Talk: The Four Noble Truths
“I teach one thing and one thing only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering.”
—Shakyamuni Buddha
Date/Time: January 23, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Fourth Talk: The Noble Eightfold Path
“Everything you encounter is your life.”
—Uchiyama Roshi
Date/Time: January 30, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Fifth Talk: Right Intention
“As you get to know your suffering, compassion for yourself naturally arises.”
—Zenki Mary Mocine
Date/Time: February 6, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Sixth Talk: Right Speech
“Compassion for beings—such a simple way of pointing to the impulse that lies behind Right Speech.”
—Tonen O’Connor
Date/Time: February 13, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Seventh Talk: Right Action
“Right Action is something that arises naturally from living in the context of the compassionate functioning of the whole.”
—Shodo Spring
Date/Time: February 20, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Eighth Talk: Right Livelihood
“Right Livelihood is about valuing all work that is done in a meaningful and useful way.”
—Misha Shungen Merrill
Date/Time: February 27, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Ninth Talk: Right Effort
“The Buddha doesn’t say what we should do, he simply points to the value of putting one foot in front of the other.”
—Teijo Munnich
Date/Time: March 6, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Tenth Talk: Right Mindfulness
“When we act selflessly with no gap—with no subject and object—that is exactly the complete manifestation of Buddha.”
—Hoko Karnegis
Date/Time: March 13, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes
Eleventh Talk: Right Samadhi/Concentration
“Enjoyment and ease are qualities impossible to experience when we are grasping for something that we think is outside our reach.”
—Pat Enkyo O’Hara
Date/Time: March 20, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Duration: 60 minutes