Foundational Fridays

A Tour of My Ideas

Instead of writing an essay, I will usually use Fridays to introduce you to some of the Foundational Essays on the site. So today, I want to encourage you to read About Our Logo.

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Also on Fridays, I will be publishing the Free Online Sutra Study. Today we offer our very first lesson:

The Middle Way and the Eightfold Path

being the first portion of

The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

This is the Buddha's first sermon, called in English "The Turning of the Wheel of the Law." That is, here is where the Buddha "cranks up the teaching machine" which ran for another 45 years, from his enlightenment at age 35 until his death at 80. Here he laid out the basic insights acquired in his moment of enlightenment. This, too, is "foundational"--to everything else he taught. Please read it and, if you feel so moved, join the study by responding to the questions.

[Update 2023: Of course, this was all then. I posted six of the seven intended studies--they're still there--but literally no one ever participated. I'll try to finish the seventh some day and promote them. And let's see how long I carried on with "Foundational Fridays"...]

Bon weekend!