It is clear from the texts in the Pāli canon that people who encountered the Buddha as a teacher arrived at a completely newfound situation in their lives. In the “Mahāparinibbāna sutta,” the Buddha tells Ānanda that “the teaching and training that I have taught and pointed out for you shall be your Teacher after my passing” (DN 16). This suggests that we ourselves can encounter the Buddha as a teacher to us today because he continues to teach through the suttas. Theravādin commentators on canonical texts introduce ways of reading suttas that are actually ways of encountering the Buddha as still teaching. These ways of reading make the texts come alive, deepening what we see in them and presenting us with new possibilities of understanding. These ways of reading also invite us to our own newfound situation, one where the world around us is disclosed as a place of unfolding beauties, one where the world and the Buddha who continues to teach mutually disclose each other. This study retreat will introduce these commentarial ways of reading and provide a context for practicing them together as a way of encountering the Buddha continuing to teach us today.
Program Format: This program will include lecture and discussions in the classroom as well as sitting and sharing in the Dharma Hall.
