Advanced Studies
Curriculum Year 10–11

Middle Way Studies (Nagarjuna Series)
This course is a sequence of five six-week classes (30 meetings) and runs from September to May. It is highly recommended for people taking (or planning to take) the weekly study group.
Please note: When purchasing this course on CD, please note some differences in course materials. For information click here.
Nagarjuna
"Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 C.E.) has held continuous attention of Buddhists ... since his own day. ... His ideas, though subtle and profound, carried such deep understanding and implications of fundamental Buddhist truths that they came to influence, one way or another, all or most of the subsequent Mahayana developments in India, China, Tibet, Korea, and Japan.

"Nagarjuna stands out as the giant among giants who laid the foundation of religious and philosophical quests. ... He was, in short, considered to be the second Buddha. ..." —Kenneth K. Inada, from the introduction to his book Nagarjuna.

Causation and Change
The Non-substantiality of Phenomena
The Nature of Subjective Experience
The Nature of Objective Experience
The Nature of Ultimate Reality

Based on Nagarjuna's Verses on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika), this series carefully examines the emptiness of all phenomena and demolishes all of our common concepts of time, space, motion, identity, location, cause and effect, conditionality, sense, and self. This radical and profound, yet accessible work points directly to the truth evident in what we see and experience. His teachings form the foundation not only for Zen, but for all the Mahayana schools. All of Mahayana literature is most completely elucidated by his works.

Students are led through a verse-by-verse examination of this foundational Buddhist writing. The following books contain the translations to which are contained in the compilation. You may find that you want copies of your own and may benefit from the translators' commentaries. These books have been available for purchase through online bookstores or you may order them through your local bookstore. We do not sell these books.

  Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way, translation and commentary by David Kalupahana, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, January 1999.
  Nagarjuna: A Translation of His Mulamadhyamaka Karika, Kenneth Inada, Helan International Publishing Company, 1970. Out of print, limited availability.
  The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Mulamadhyamakakarika, translation and commentary by Jay L. Garfield, Oxford University Press, 1995

Prerequisite:  Completion of Dependent Arising and the Unlocatable Self
Recommended:  Completion of Foundation Studies
Instructor:  Steve Hagen
Class dates:  begins September 13, 2010
Compilation text will be provided at cost: $25*
Registration: Registrations which are submitted after September 7, will incur a $25 surcharge for special order printing. In order to provide enough texts, the Dharma Field office must know how many students will be taking the class. Except for students who are repeating the class, registration for the first class will includes the purchase of the compilation text. It is assumed that those who are repeating the course already have the compilation. Please contact the Dharma Field office if you are repeating the course and wish to purchase a compilation text.

*Those registering for the entire series at once, (all 30 classes) before September 7, will receive the compilation text at no charge (see the registration option at right). This offer does not apply to those purchasing the previously recorded Complete Nagarjuna CD set.

 

 

Compilation text included
(no charge) if registration
for complete series
is submitted by
September 7

To purchase entire Course series on CD,
click Here

 

September 13–October 18

**Text included in course pricing

November 1–December 6

January 10–February 14

February 28–April 4

 

April 18–May 23