Group Dharma study at the Sangha House, Tel Aviv
Address: 21 Bartenura St. (app 15), Tel-Aviv
We wish to invite you to the free Dharma text study group ("Beit Midrash").
The study group meets every 2 weeks in the morning at Tovana's Sangha House for learning together. The focus is on classical Buddhist texts from the Pali Canon, usually the Hebrew version.
The group is for practitioners with some silent retreat experience who wish to deepen the knowledge of the Buddhist literature. It is not suitable for people who are relatively new to Dharma practice.
The style of learning is group study. We read the chosen text in two rounds: The first round is devoted to understanding the meaning. The second round is more directed towards reflecting on the ways our meeting with the text influences us. We come the text as "barefoot" readers. We try to realize the meaning together. The reflective reading is all about how we meet those ideas within our formal/informal practice.
The study here is practice-oriented. Our study begins with practice and end with practice. So we open the session with meditation and end with meditation, where we can reflect of apply the ideas we discussed.
The nature of study is to address the more intellectual side of our being. Our practice while discussing the text will be to try and maintain a personal discussion that is connected to our own experience and practice. It is an investigation with the purpose of understanding and discovery and not for the sake of winning a debate. Therefore, we will start the session (after meditation) with getting to know the visitors of today and how they feel. This will help us to maintain an atmosphere of intimacy, respect and listening. Silent sittings will support us in that direction.
We will try to develop a combination of peer learning but with some kind of guidance. It is an open form of studying, where the moderator's role is to take care of the form, to prepare him/herself to the session, to facilitate the learning so the discussion will richer.
Timetable for the sessions:
10:15 Gathering/Tea
10:30 Sitting meditation
11:00 Hello everybody/How am I today?
11:20 Group study – first round ("Barefoot reading"). Reading the text, trying to understand and clarify together unclear issues.
12:30 Break
12:50 Sitting for a few moments for grounding and then doing the more personal discussion. Where does all this touch me? What is most meaningful? How is it relevant to my practice? (usually will be done in small groups).
13:35 Reporting to the whole group about the happenings in the small groups.
13:50 Closing sitting meditation and Metta.
14:25 Closing, Dana, arranging the house.
14:30 Goodbye
Gladly join us –
before you arrive for the first time please contact Sati via email at: