Core Buddhist Pathways

• 430Four Noble Truths Overview

  Analyze each of the four noble truths by connecting traditional teachings with personal contemplative insights; evaluate how understanding dukkha—its causes, cessation, and the path—is relevant to working with contemporary psychological and social challenges; and evaluate how contemplating these truths can help develop renunciation, compassion, confidence, and commitment to the eightfold path.
• 429Mudras

  Demonstrate basic symbolic gestures (mudras) common across Buddhist traditions, and analyze the meaning and purpose of each.
• 414Visualization Practices

  Compare and contrast the use of visualization in different Buddhist meditations with its use in modern contexts, and design a visualization to support a personal goal that brings benefit to self and others.
• 427Mantra of Compassion

  Analyze the symbolic meaning of each syllable in OM MANI PADME HUM; evaluate how mantra recitation functions as both meditation practice and a method for cultivating compassion; and implement regular practice while documenting personal observations about the relationship between mantra repetition and emotional patterns or responses to challenging situations.
• 420The Paramita of Virya/Diligence

  Analyze the distinction between ordinary effort and joyful diligence (virya) in Buddhist practice; evaluate personal experiences of learning dharma through the three-step process of listening, contemplation, and meditation; and synthesize understanding by implementing consistent practice that demonstrates “cheerful commitment” to inner development.
• 424Bodhicitta

  Define relative and absolute bodhicitta., Evaluate personal motivations underlying daily decisions, and implement practices that can transform ordinary activities into expressions of altruistic intent for the benefit of all sentient beings.
• 412Right Effort

  Analyze the four aspects of right effort by identifying examples of helpful and harmful mental states in daily life; evaluate how joyful effort differs from forced effort in personal practice; and implement the principles of right effort in daily life, analyzing opportunities to cultivate wholesome thoughts and actions while evaluating how this practice transforms well-being and relationships.
• 426Eight Worldly Dharmas: Overview

  Analyze the eight worldly concerns by categorizing specific life experiences into the four opposing pairs, evaluate how attachment to these conditions creates cycles of hope and fear that perpetuate samsara, and synthesize understanding by developing equanimity practices that demonstrate freedom from dependence on external circumstances for well-being.
• 410Mindful Listening Practices

  Implement deep listening practices, and analyze the “listening pot” metaphor to identify essential conditions for effective communication.
• 407Sympathetic Joy

  Analyze the nature of sympathetic joy; guide unscripted meditation practices for cultivating this quality; and develop the practice of responding by rejoicing when witnessing others’ happiness.