New Winter Sessions for 2024

Buddhism: Origins, Teachings & Practices, Ten Tantric Ganeshas, & the Mahabharata

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Aho’Rajanaka,

I hope this finds you well.

We’re going to need each other this year, maybe more than ever.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse or weirder, it will and you’ll feel a lot better in good company.  It will be good to be in the conversation with you.

India Pilgrimage this year was pretty darn wonderful this year, gotta’ say.  Re-entry has been interesting.  (N.B., not every use of the word “interesting” is a good thing, much like the word “fragrant.”  Except when it isn’t.  You take my point?)  There are good stories yet to be told.  And there are a few more Pilgrimage Diaries yet to come.  I hope you’ve enjoyed these---all on the Rajanaka Substack and all free.

I thought it prudent to take another week before we begin Winter Semester.   It may some are actually looking forward to these Sessions, I sure am.   But I think we need to get the word out and refreshed.

When was the last time (maybe ever?) that you had a solid, serious, careful look at the origins, teachings, and practices of Buddhism from its inception in India?  I think we would learn a great deal not only about these amazing traditions but about ourselves, here and now.  Our strategy is as ever: first, we will take up the subject with a keen eye on historical accuracy and solid scholarship.  We get our facts straight.  Then we give the Buddhists a warm and charitable embrace and then we take them apart, limb by limb with seriousness and honesty and unyielding critical understanding.   Our aim is to become more adept humans, more soulful and empathetic persons because we embrace the facts, offer warm generosity to ideas and claims, and are fearless to eviscerate with candor and exacting, scrupulous examination all that’s being said and done.  You’ll take home a lot of solid information but also you’ll have ways to think about what you’re learning.  This is a wonderful chance to reflect and feel and think.

The Tantric Practicum will be Thursdays.  Ten Ganeshas.  You will have the images, mantras, practices, meditation methods.  You’ll learn how to use these teachings to see into yourself, break a few things, put stuff together.  Details below. 

Mahabharata on Sundays.  Please please please come.  Nothing is better, not eva’.  Archive etc all available.

SPECIAL SATURDAY SESSION THIS WEEKEND, JANUARY 27^TH AT 5PM. 

Our topic is pilgrimage, it’s purpose and meaning, why it is a practice and how it “works.”  Plus, you can ask me anything about anything, so we will have plenty of time for open questions and conversation.  All is fair game.  There is no registration, just show up. There will be a recording. Use the Saturday Zoom link, same as ever, same as here: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268

We will have SUMMER CAMP in Bristol, NY.  Dates are July 11^th-July 15^th.  That’s the weekend after the 4^th.  More about this soon.  Put is on your calendar.  We’re going to have a topic and a plan to make this fly.  Worth your effort.  There’s nothing like it.

DETAILS FOR WINTER SEMESTER

1.         The Saturday Conversation for Winter Semester:  January-April 2024.

Buddhism: Origins & Evolution, Philosophies and Practices

For 12 Weeks we will study the origins and development of Buddhism in south Asia.  This course will give you a solid foundation in how the Buddhist tradition began its journey into a world religion.  We’ll focus on Indian Buddhism and cover the development of early traditions, the sources of the Pali Canon that form the core of “early” mythology, theory, and practice, and the evolution that brought about the Mahayana or Greater Vehicle, and at last Tantric Buddhism.  (After this course, we’ll look further into Buddhism’s development in southeast Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan.  But first we need a solid groundwork.)  If you took a class like this in college, then it’s probably been a long time since.  If you never had that opportunity, I think you’ll find this kind of study deeply satisfying both intellectually and personally.  We’ll do the facts, naturally, we’ll take history and the resources of learning seriously---what is the deep background, how do the stories and texts, the earliest artifacts, and the philosophies of practice evolve?  And we’ll take to heart what Buddhism in its core traditions have to say to us. There will be a syllabus and readings, or you can just listen along and take it in as you please. 

Buddhism will begin on Saturday, February 3rd.   There will be 12 Sessions, each about 90 minutes. There is no registration, just offer the tuition and come to the Session. Our Zoom links are never restricted.

All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Saturdays past). 

A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.7

Tuition for all Sessions in advance is $120. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials.  Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12.  Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com).  If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.

Scheduled Dates:, Feb. 3, Feb. 10, Feb. 17, Feb. 24, March 2, March 9, March 23, March 30, April 6, April 13, April 20.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come! https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268

2.         Thursday Evenings at 7pm Eastern for Winter Semester: February-April 2024

Practicum: Ten Tantric Ganeshas with Visualization, Mantra, & Meditation Practice

Each week we will study a particular form of the elephant-headed Ganapati with particular reference to his nuanced expression and spiritual purpose.  Who is this Ganesha?  How do we visualize him?  What is his mantra and what does it mean?  What is his purpose within a spiritual practice?  In Tantric practice, there are dozens of forms of Ganesha, each associated with different kinds of insight and empowerment.  We’ll take up ten and see them as a kula, a collective, such that the practice can focus on any one of these forms or as a group.  We have studied Tantric Ganapati before but have not considered the work as a practicum: this means we’ll be looking through the lens of practice in ritual and meditation with a particular focus on the subtle mantra body.  No prerequisites, just bring your open heart!

The Practicum will begin on Thursday, February 1st.  There will be 10 Sessions, each about 90 minutes. There is no registration, just offer the tuition and come to the Session. Our Zoom links are never restricted.

All Sessions are at 7pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Thursdays past). 

A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.

Tuition for all Sessions in advance is $100. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials.  Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12.  Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com).  If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.

Scheduled Dates: Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Feb. 22, Feb. 29, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 6, April 13.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328

3.         Sunday Mahabharata, 5pm Eastern for Winter Semester: February-May 2024

For those of you who have been with us (or at least some of the time during these last two years), we carry on!  Every week there is a complete story, a Session that stands on its own.  You’ll have context and a way in each week even if this is your first time or you just like to drop in now and then.  There is nothing better than Mahabharata.  And I rarely speak in absolutes.

We begin on Sunday, February 4th.  For this Semester we’ll have 15 Sessions, each about 90 minutes. 

All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Sundays past). 

A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.

Tuition for all 12 Sessions in advance is $120. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials.  Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12.  Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com).  If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.

Scheduled Dates: Feb. 4, Feb. 11, Feb. 18, Feb. 25, March 3, March 10, March 24, April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, May 5.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!

https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250

And…Sadie.