Avatamsaka Sutra Summer Program

Upon coming out of the woods,
I enter the woods again…

Take good care, my Teacher,
while I travel south

Through a hundred cities of mist and water,
endlessly long and far.

"Entering the Dharma Realm",
Book 39 of the Avatamsaka Sutra

Dates
Session I: July 1st ~ July 23rd, 2006
Session II: July 24th ~ August 18th, 2006

Locations
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Mendocino County, California
with one special week in the Oregon Coast Range
(link for description).

Cost
Entire Program: $940
Session I: $420; Session II: $550
No one will be turned away because of a lack of funds, please fill out the scholarship application (DOC, PDF) and register.

This summer in a tranquil monastic setting, Dharma Realm Buddhist University will host a seven-week intensive immersion experience in the Buddhist tradition. Students will read, reflect upon, and discuss the Avatamsaka Sutra’s epic thirty-ninth book, which narrates the spiritual quest for awakening undertaken by the youth Sudhana. The program will follow a traditional monastic lifestyle of work, study, and meditation designed to calm the mind, strengthen the body, and prepare the spirit for insight and understanding.

Classes will be led by faculty of Dharma Realm Buddhist University, both lay and monastic, with informal roundtable discussions in the evening balancing the more formal classes of the day. Time will be set aside for quiet reading, writing, and personal reflection. Workshops on yoga, chan/zen meditation, chanting, and ethical discipline will be available throughout.

The first session (July 1-July 23) will consist of a week of introductory classes followed by two weeks of more intensive practice. The week of July 8-15 will be devoted to chanting and mindful contemplation of Guan Yin (Avalokitesvara), the revered Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. From July 16-23, the program will relocate to the Oregon Coast Range for a seven-day chan/zen meditation intensive. (Please note that the Oregon week will involve camping outside, go to the Oregon FAQ for more details.)

The second session (July 24-August 18) brings students back to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas for four weeks devoted to study of Sudhana’s pilgrimage.

If you have questions, please email the program coordinator, David Yin, david@drby.net.