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Writing the Buddhist Essay

Online Program
Dates: Jan 22, 2021 - Feb 23, 2021

Instructor(s): Jess Row

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Program Description:
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What is a Buddhist essay? It's an exploration, in prose, of a theme or concept in Buddhist life from a distinct personal perspective. While not necessarily autobiographical, a Buddhist essay is a piece of writing that speaks from the heart, manifesting curiosity, meditative insight, hard-earned wisdom from a lifetime of practice, righteous anger—the whole kaleidoscope of human emotions, grounded in an understanding of the Buddhadharma. For the purposes of our program, we'll think of the Buddhist essay as relatively short—a text that can be read in one sitting. 

We'll begin by reading a selection of classic and contemporary essays, including selections from Dogen's Shobogenzo and Sosan Taesa's Mirror of Zen, Myoe's "Letter to an Island," Robert Aitken's "Eating the Blame," Jane Hirshfield's "Poetry and the Threshold Life," Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's "Pedagogy of Buddhism," and angel Kyodo william's "Your Liberation is on the Line." While we read, we will work on short and playful exercises to generate ideas for our own essays, and then by the third week we will begin sharing short drafts with one another in small groups. By the end of our six-weeks together, you should have a complete first draft of at least one essay.