Written over 2,000 years ago the Vimalakirti Sutra is rare in how it joins human suffering and awakening in non-duality. This is a profound understanding of what emptiness means in the Mahayana tradition.  With a warm sense of humor and a delight in the fantastic, this sutra raises a delicate question for us today - what does it mean to live in a world where samsara and nirvana are one?  

Like a great physician, Vimalakirti expounds from the sickbed. In these discussions we see ourselves in others, and are bodhisattvas training in compassion and skillfulness for the liberation for all beings as we do so.

Schedule and Further Details:

• Sunday October 18th, 7:00-9:00pm ILLIO, in-person and on zoom

• Sunday, October 25th, 7:00-9:00pm ILLIO, in-person and on zoom

• November 1st, One-Day-Sit at Sharon Woods Metro Park, followed by 7:00-9:00pm ILLIO, in-person and on zoom

• November 8th, 7:00-9:00pm ILLIO, in-person and on zoom

• No meeting on the 15th

• November 22nd, 7:00-9:00pm ILLIO, in-person and on zoom

During these two hour sessions we will begin with a period of zazen, a preamble offered by the teacher, followed by a discussion that grows from your own questions and understandings of the text.  There is an expectation that you have read the teachings, and that when you engage in the discussion you are able to refer to them quite directly as a text.

Offered by Rev. Catherine Spaeth