Dharma Study

Elephant Study Group

A Lay Buddhist Organization

Http://esg.suburbandestiny.com

 

What is the Dharma Study Group?

The group's goal is to study a variety of approaches to Buddhism.  The group is led by, me, Matthew Martin, who makes no claim to official or certified expertise.  I will be following Lim Kooi Fong's Dharma Study Group guide, plus what ever else looks useful.  I want to cover a variety of topics & keep the minimum reading burden on members somewhat modest (one to two hours a week), so I'll be relying primarily on public domain texts and publicly available websites or inexpensive thin books.

 

What Kind of Buddhism is this?

There are a lot of kinds of Buddhism.  The group will strive to be both eclectic (willing to study all varieties of the Buddhist experience) and non-denominational (putting special emphasis on studying themes common to many varieties of Buddhism).  That said, the group members will understand that people will have diverse preferences and opinions and will not interpret these as value judgments.

 

Goals

The group's goal is to find the possible interpretations of a text, not to try to get everyone to accept a particular interpretation.

 

Agenda

A. Introductions, announcement of next  meeting's reading selection

B. Excerpt reading

C. Discussion

                What does it mean?

                How can we use this?

D. Testimony & Homework

                Does anyone have any stories about putting the Dharma into practice?

                Does anyone have any plans about how to put the Dharma into practice?

 

References

How to Conduct a Dharma Study Groups  http://www.webcastmy.com.my/bodhivision/DSGBook/TOC.html