Pleasure and Pain

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  • 445EPleasure and Pain
    Investigate the experience of practicing equanimity with naturally-arising pleasurable and unpleasurable experiences; and develop some patience and resilience with discomfort and non-attachment toward pleasure.
  • 441EBuddhist and Ordinary Refuge
    Analyze the fundamental differences between Buddhist refuge (three jewels) and ordinary refuge practices by evaluating their effectiveness in providing protection from fear and suffering. Create criteria for assessing the wholesomeness of various refuge sources using the eightfold path as a framework, then apply these criteria to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of refuge in contemporary life experiences.
  • 415EKarma and Habit
    Analyze the relationship between Buddhist teachings on karma and neuroscientific understanding of habit formation; evaluate how conscious repetition of wholesome thoughts, words, and actions creates positive neural pathways; and synthesize understanding by implementing deliberate habit-change practices that demonstrate the intersection of contemplative training and brain plasticity.
  • 421EGain and Loss
    Implement a positive, playful approach to competition without attachment to outcomes; practice observing and releasing arising emotions without dwelling on them; and create expressions of goodwill toward opponents.
  • 426EEight 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.
  • 434EYou Are Your Own Master
    Analyze how the Buddha’s teaching on self-mastery challenges common assumptions about external salvation or rescue, and synthesize understanding by designing accountability practices that demonstrate personal responsibility for ethical choices and inner development.
  • 435EThe Middle Way between Extremes
    Implement techniques for physical, mental, and emotional balancing, and analyze how equilibrium in each area supports the 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.
  • 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.

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