Clear Thinking

• 336ERight View

  Analyze the importance of right view within the noble eightfold path, evaluating how this foundation shapes all other elements of the path.
• 335EBuddhist Debate

  Analyze diverse perspectives through structured debate, and demonstrate the application of gestures and concepts from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of debate.
• 318EMethods of Retaining the Dharma

  Demonstrate fluency with primary Buddhist lists through accurate recall; analyze their significance in group settings; and apply specific teachings from memorized lists to real-life ethical dilemmas or personal challenges.
• 317EThe Two Truths

  Analyze the distinction between relative truth (conventional reality) and ultimate truth (emptiness) in Mahayana Buddhism, evaluate how these two approaches towards understanding our experience apply to specific life situations, and synthesize examples demonstrating how both truths can be simultaneously valid without contradiction.
• 319EDukkha

  Differentiate between the three types of dukkha by analyzing specific examples from personal experience; evaluate how recognizing unsatisfactoriness in all experience cultivates compassion for oneself and others; and demonstrate understanding of how awareness of suffering motivates the pursuit of liberation through dharma practice.
• 320ETwelve Nidanas

  Identify and sequence the twelve links of dependent origination; analyze how specific links (particularly craving and clinging) perpetuate suffering in personal experience; and design practical strategies for interrupting the cycle at key intervention points.
• 321EDependent Origination of Objects

  Analyze the origins and destinations of everyday objects, and differentiate the complex physical, ecological, social, and economic factors that create our interconnected world.
• 322EDharma

  Differentiate between dharma as teaching methodology and dharma as ultimate truth; evaluate how core Buddhist principles function as practical tools for understanding suffering and its cessation; and implement systematic application of dharma teachings while documenting their effectiveness in developing wisdom and reducing harmful mental habits.
• 323EPramana

  Evaluate how we know what’s real by analyzing the two key ways of knowing: direct experience and inference (logical reasoning); assess how differentiating between clear and confused thinking supports better decision-making and helps avoid the ignorance that keeps us stuck in suffering; integrate this understanding by applying these principles to real-life situations, demonstrating how valid ways of knowing (cognition) helps us distinguish between how things seem (appearance) and how they really are (reality), both in everyday life and in meditation.
• 324EFive Skandhas

  Analyze the five aggregates (skandhas) as the components that create the illusion of a permanent self; evaluate how understanding the constantly changing nature of form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness supports the teaching of anatta (no-self); and synthesize this understanding by implementing daily practices that demonstrate selfless action based on logical analysis of the impermanent nature of identity.