Continues Through December 2025
Presented by Ashley M.
This course presents important Buddhist principles and shows how they are described or discussed in the Early Buddhist Texts (the Pali Nikayas and the Chinese Agamas). It covers a wide range of topics, including generosity, ethics, aggregates, karma, dealing with anger, mindfulness and meditation practices, emptiness, the evils of comparison, how to deal with thoughts, bias against others, and much more. Although these texts may also serve as the basis for other Buddhist traditions, the focus will be on how they relate to Chan practice and concepts presented by Guo Gu.
Course Information
Participants should read the assigned texts (links are provided below) prior to each class. The class will begin with a brief meditation period to calm the mind, then there will be a short presentation, followed by discussion about the topic. Participants are encouraged to share their reflections or questions raised by the suttas of the week.
Anyone may attend any class; it is not required that a person attend all of them. The class is offered freely and does not require any commitment. However, because the class is designed to develop a strong foundation for practice, practitioners are encouraged to attend as often as possible. This class will be taught online only.
Course Dates
Every Thursday (unless otherwise noted), 6:30-8pm, via Zoom
Cost
We kindly request a one-time donation of $20.00 to receive the Zoom link, which grants access to the course from start to finish. All donations received will be directed to the Tallahassee Chan Center. If making a donation is not feasible for you at this time, please send an email to tallahassee.chan@gmail.com to request the Zoom link.
Instructor
Ashley was first introduced to Buddhism in 1986 during a trip to Japan. The peace and kindness she experienced there led her to explore various practices once she returned to the United States. She has studied the Pali Canon with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington’s Sutta Study group since 2002, and she took Pali classes with John Kelly (a well-known translator and one of the founders of Sutta Central) for three years. GuoGu has been her teacher since 2021, and she has assisted him with editing many of his magazine articles about Chan.
Download the syllabus and each week's offering below.
For live courses, you will be given unlimited access to the teachings via a live Zoom link and a platform to access course files.
Yes, the talks will be recorded, but are not required to watch. You can join any week and be able to pick up from the last session you were at. Yes, you are welcome to join from any time zone as long as you can join from 6:30 - 8pm ET.