Clear Thinking

• 325EAbhidharma

  Define abhidharma precisely; analyze how its practice reduces aversion, craving, and suffering; and evaluate examples from personal experience.
• 326EThe Three Trainings

  Analyze the interconnected relationship between ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom within the three trainings’ framework; then evaluate how each training supports the others in personal transformation. Evaluate how your personal practice of the three trainings fits into daily life in a balanced way that will reduce harm and increase clarity, compassion, and discernment.
• 327ESukha or Contentment

  Analyze different definitions of happiness; evaluate how equanimity transforms our relationship to pleasant and unpleasant experiences; and experiment with showing “no preference” toward perceived beauty and ugliness.
• 328EAnicca

  Analyze the principle of impermanence, evaluate how perception of it transforms experience, and implement this insight to address fixation and suffering.
• 330EAnatta Overview

  Explain the truth of selflessness and how clinging to a sense of self affects our experience. Apply insight of the impermanent, changing quality of the self to be more at ease with different experiences.
• 331EThe Brain is not the Mind

  Identify key brain structures on diagrams. Analyze their functions, and compare how neuroscience and Buddhist psychology explain mental phenomena. Apply this knowledge to implement both brain-based regulation techniques and awareness-based practices that address challenges effectively.
• 332EDependent Origination Overview

  Investigate the interconnected nature of phenomena through direct observation; cultivate appreciation for the web of conditions supporting daily life; and apply the principle of dependent origination to understand how positive change is possible by addressing root causes.
• 333EFavorable Conditions of Human Existence

  Analyze the Buddhist teaching on the rarity and preciousness of human birth using the traditional analogy of the blind turtle; evaluate how understanding life’s rarity influences ethical decision-making and spiritual priorities; and implement daily practices that demonstrate appreciation for human existence while actively working to preserve and benefit the lives of others.
• 334EDeath

  Analyze the three contemplations regarding death; compare Buddhist and non-Buddhist concepts of rebirth; and consider how to develop a more curious and less fearful relationship with mortality.
• 316EThree Marks: Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta

  Analyze the three marks of existence by investigating specific examples of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness in personal experience, then evaluate how recognizing these characteristics transforms understanding of attachment and craving.