Our Lotus Sutra Class will meet on zoom every Thursday at 7-8:30pm, beginning on Thursday, January 8 and an estimated conclusion of February 26, 2027. We will spend two weeks on each chapter. The first week will focus on the specific content of the chapter and its meanings, including how it fits into the broader Buddhist teachings. The second week of each chapter will focus on how this information can be used in our practice, and what new insights it opens for our understanding of Chan Buddhism. There is some weekly homework; participants will be given 4-5 discussion questions to reflect on as they read the material, and the discussion small groups can focus on this material at least as a starting point. You will not be asked to submit your homework to anyone but use it for your own reflection and learning.

Each class we will begin with a 10 minute meditation, and then I’ll spend 10-15 minutes going over key points of the chapter that we will cover that evening.  Then we’ll break into discussion rooms; and depending on how many people enroll, we may change rooms twice. We’ll spend the last 20 minutes or so  as a group relaying what we and our group thought were the most important comments and issues. This is the planned format, but we may adapt and change as we get into the class and figure out what works best.

Guo Gu, chose the Burton Watson translation of the Lotus Sutra for our study so that we can collectively refer to the same text, but if you wish to investigate other translations, he suggested that of Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama, sponsored by the Numata Center [on the web as “The Lotus Sutra_2007 BDK version”] or Leon Hurvitz’s, Lotus blossom of the Fine Dharma—both of these are excellent.  The PDF for Burton Watson’s translation is also on the web, but the chapter titles differ and the text contains many typos.

A recent book--Readings of the Lotus: Sutra, co-edited by Stephen Teiser and Jacqualine Stone—contains eight chapters written by eight scholars who tackle the Lotus Sutra from different perspectives and on specific topics, such as Art in the Lotus Sutra, and Gender and Hierarchy in the Lotus Sutra. The PDF is also available on our class website.