[week 9] The purpose of the autonomous Advayavada Study Plan is that we study (and debate in a local group, the family circle or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the weekly subject, not as a formal and impersonal intellectual exercise, but in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, our place in society, etc. To continue with this quarter’s 13-week action plan, in week 9 we shall further develop our very best attitude to carry out our improved personal objective. This task is based on the fourth step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-kammanta (in Pali) or samyak-karmanta (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s personalized usage: our very best disposition or attitude; in Dutch: onze beste instelling (de vierde stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). To follow this ASP conscientiously is of course already proof of a serious and positive attitude. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Category Archives: Study Plan (English)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 8
[week 8] In weeks 1 to 5 we treated the preliminary subjects, in week 6 we again honestly reviewed and took stock of our personal situation (first step on the Noble Eightfold Path), in week 7 we took an appropriate and timely decision to adjust our course (second step), and to continue with this quarter’s 13-week Advayavada Study Plan (ASP), this week we shall again put our decision and improved objective in writing as precisely as possible; Advayavada Buddhism does not tell you what to do or believe, but invites us all to make the very best of our own lives by attuning as best as possible with wondrous overall existence advancing over time now in its manifest direction. This task is based on the third step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-vacha (in Pali) or samyag-vac (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s fully personalized usage: our very best enunciation or definition of our intention (as Karl Popper says, putting our ideas into words, or better, writing them down, makes an important difference, for in this way they become objective and criticizable); in Dutch: onze beste uitleg (de derde stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 7
[week 7] To continue with this quarter’s 13-week Advayavada Study Plan (ASP), this week we shall again take an appropriate and timely decision to adjust our course. This task is based on the 2nd step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-sankappa (Pali) or samyak-samkalpa (Sanskrit), in Advayavada Buddhism: our very best resolution or determination; in Dutch: onze beste beslissing (de tweede stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own intentions, feelings and conscience. Adherence to the familiar five precepts (not to kill, not to steal, sexual restraint, not to lie, and refraining from alcohol and drugs) and a well-considered understanding of the three (in Advayavada Buddhism, four) signs of being and the Buddha’s four noble truths suffice to start off and proceed on the Path at any time. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 6
[week 6] When the Noble Eightfold Path is followed conscientiously, it becomes nothing less than the main karmic factor in one’s life, i.e. in one’s passing share in the universal interdependent origination process (madhyamaka-pratityasamutpada). The 13-week Advayavada Study Plan (ASP) is repeated four times a year for this lofty purpose. In weeks 1 to 5 we again treated the preliminary subjects and, to continue with the current first quarter of 2016, in week 6 we shall again honestly review and take stock of our personal situation. This task is based on the 1st step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-ditthi (Pali) or samyag-dristi (Sanskrit), in Advayavada Buddhism: our very best comprehension or insight; in Dutch: ons beste inzicht (de eerste stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 5
[week 5] In Secular Buddhism generally, firmly bearing in mind the impermanence and the selflessness and, therefore, transitoriness, of all things without exception, the focus is on the correct interpretation and realization of the historical Buddha’s so-called ‘four noble truths’: 1) that of the ubiquity of existential suffering in the world, 2) that ignorant craving and attachment are the actual and immediate causes of such suffering, 3) that this suffering shall cease altogether when we deal with and overcome its causes, and 4) that the sure way to achieve this is by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which, in Advayavada Buddhism, is understood as an ongoing and fully autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight, reflecting in human terms wondrous overall existence becoming over time in its manifest direction. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 4
[week 4] Man is prone to existential suffering (dukkha or duhkha) because he wrongly strives after and tries to hold on to things, concepts and situations which he believes to be permanent, but are not. His mistaken view of things is produced by a thirst, craving or clinging (tanha in Pali, trishna in Sanskrit) which is caused in turn by his fundamental ignorance (avijja in Pali, avidya in Sanskrit) or disbelief of the true nature of existence, i.e. its changeability and selflessness or emptiness. This is the second noble truth of Buddhism, and this thirst, craving or clinging can moreover easily take on a more unwholesome form: already as sensuous desire, ill-will, laziness, impatience or distrust will it seriously hinder the individual’s efforts to better his or her circumstances, as well as contaminate the efforts of others to improve theirs. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 3
[week 3] Dukkha (Pali) or duhkha (Sanskrit) means suffering, sorrow; dissatisfaction; frustration; stress; gnawing unease; and is the first of the four noble truths of Buddhism. In Advayavada Buddhism, dukkha or duhkha is more essentially the existential distress and distrust of life non-liberated human beings are prone to, does not include emotional grief nor physical pain and is, above all, not seen as a permanent feature of reality; it is rather understood as an existential suffering in the sense of a basic frustration, even suffocation, caused by the unhealthy and socially infectious feeling that reality does not conform to the person’s desires and expectations. The unremitting persistency of human distress, alienation and conflict is undeniably due to the very many everywhere not knowing or not understanding or simply disbelieving the true nature of existence; this makes it the third of the so-called three, in Advayavada Buddhism, four signs or marks or basic facts of being, the other three being the impermanence or changeability of everything, the selflessness of all existents, and evolution or, in human terms, progress. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 2
[week 2] Anatta (Pali) or anatman (Sanskrit) means no-self. The Buddhist anatta or anatmata doctrine teaches that no imperishable self exists in the person in the sense of a permanent, eternal, integral, and independent substance. In Mahayana Buddhism, the nissvabhava doctrine teaches further that in fact all things without exception are empty (shunya) of self-nature (svabhava); svabhava-shunyata (lit. self-nature emptiness) is a central notion in Madhyamaka philosophy. In Advayavada Buddhism, the selflessness of all existents is the second of the four signs or marks or basic facts of being, the other three being the impermanence or changeability of everything, the ubiquity of existential suffering, and evolution or, in human terms, progress. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 1
[week 1] Anicca (Pali) or anitya (Sanskrit) means impermanent, changeable, unstable, transitory. The Buddhist aniccata or anityata doctrine teaches that impermanence or changeability is the most fundamental property of everything existing. Impermanence or changeability lies at the very heart of the interdependent origination (and emptiness) of all things, and progress and liberation would not be possible without it. In Advayavada Buddhism, karma is the incessant universal process of interdependent origination as it is experienced at the sentient level and our own share of it is the everchanging knotlet of biopsychosocial (bps) events in which we are personally embedded. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Survey of the Advayavada Study Plan – ASP
The purpose of the autonomous Advayavada Study Plan – ASP is that we study (and debate in a local group, the family circle or with good friends) the meaning and implications of the weekly subject, not as a formal and impersonal intellectual exercise, but in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, our place in society, etc. Advayavada Buddhism does not tell you what to do or believe, but how to make the very best of our own lives by becoming as wondrous overall existence advancing over time now in its manifest direction.
Week of the current year and subject:
Preliminary subjects:
01, 14, 27 and 40 : The impermanence of all existents (First Sign of Being).
02, 15, 28 and 41 : The selflessness of all existents (Second Sign of Being).
03, 16, 29 and 42 : Existential suffering (Third Sign of Being and First Noble Truth).
04, 17, 30 and 43 : Craving and its elimination (Second and Third Noble Truths).
05, 18, 31 and 44 : Path and Progress (Fourth Noble Truth and Fourth Sign of Being).
The Noble Eightfold Path:
06, 19, 32 and 45 : Our very best comprehension (First Step).
07, 20, 33 and 46 : Our very best resolution (Second Step).
08, 21, 34 and 47 : Our very best enunciation (Third Step).
09, 22, 35 and 48 : Our very best disposition (Fourth Step).
10, 23, 36 and 49 : Our very best implementation (Fifth Step).
11, 24, 37 and 50 : Our very best effort (Sixth Step).
12, 25, 38 and 51 : Our very best observation (Seventh Step).
13, 26, 39 and 52 : Our very best meditation (Eighth Step).
…and so forth!
Tip: Write down the weekly subject in your pocket diary!