College Of Zen Buddhist Studies The Third Quarter for the College of Zen Buddhist Studies begins on July 2, 2012. We are currently accepting applications for new students here. Returning students can sign up for their new classes now.  Find a distance community that bridges the boundries of location and distance.  Students who enroll in the College of Zen Buddhist Studies are eligible to take five precepts once they enroll. Once a student has finished their first nine classes they are eligible to take ten precepts and become a Novice Priest in the Five Mountain Zen Order. Another benefit that students in the program can take advantage of is to be authorized to enter into kōan study with a qualified Zen Teacher. These interviews are offered over video conference, usually Skype. Under the direction of the Five Mountain Order (founded in 2008 as the Monastery Without Walls), the College of Zen Buddhist Studies is one of the few Buddhist institutions in the world to make full use of online distance-education opportunities, providing our students with a convenient, affordable, and unique Zen training experience. The next quarter begins at the College of Zen Buddhist Studies on April 9, 2012 and will be offering a variety of courses on line. Our application fee is $25 and each course is offered for the nominal fee of $50 tuition/class. These classes are multimedia, and feature interaction with the instructors online, as well as private counseling and or course meeting using on line video technology. Once you have submitted your application you will be given a signon so that you can sign up for the classes of your choice. Frequently Asked Questions. Q: How many classes should I take? A: Full time students take 3 classes each quarter and can graduate in two years. Of course you can take as many classes as your schedule will allow you to engage. Q: I have looked into other distance learning programs, but I am hesitant that I won't be involved with the community. A: All students have access to their professors via email, phone and on line video. Also, each student is assigned to a Zen Teacher who will engage you in personal practice counseling as well as koan study if you wish it. These meetings take place regularly once a week and will enhance your Zen experience.

LIT101 - Chanting Practicum One This is an entry level class for new students engaging in their first quarter at the College. There are some resource requirements to order so sign up as soon as possible so that you can recieve your textbooks, etc in time for the start of the quarter. more information LIT102 - Chanting Practicum Two This is a second quarter class for returning students engaging who wish to engage their chanting practice at a more advanced level. There are some resource requirements to order so sign up as soon as possible so that you can recieve your textbooks, etc in time for the start of the quarter. more Information LIT111 - Meditation Practicum One This is an entry level class for new students engaging in their first quarter at the College. This class will help you to engage in a daily practice and get to know our community. more information LIT112 - Meditation Practicum Two This is a second quarter class for returning students. Engaging meditation practice is a lifelong commitment and this class will help to establish that commitment within the students who enroll.  more Information BHP121 – The Life of the Buddha This is an entry level class for new students engaging in their first quarter at the College. This class will help you to engage in a daily practice and get to know our community. more information BPH122 - Foundational Buddhism This is an entry level class for new students engaging in their first quarter at the College. This class will help you to engage in a daily practice and get to know our community. more information BHP123 – Buddhism Beyond Religion This is a second quarter class for returning students. Agnostic Buddhism explores the interesting topic of finding the heart of Buddhism outside of the religiosity that seems to permeate many sects of Buddhist study.  more Information BPH311 - Mirror of Zen This is an advanced class for returning students. In this course we will study this great book. The class will consist of reading assignments, video lectures, forum activities, quizzes and of course, a professor will be available. The ultimate goals of this class are first introducing us to this great book and ultimately together we will learn from a great Zen Master of the past. more information SUT321 - Platform Sūtra The Sutra of Hui-neng, also known as the Platform Sutra, contains the autobiography of a pivotal figure in Zen history and some of the most profound passages of Zen literature. Hui-neng (638–713) was the sixth patriarch of Zen in China, but is often regarded as the true father of the Zen tradition. He was a poor, illiterate woodcutter who is said to have attained enlightenment upon hearing a recitation of the Diamond Sutra. Together, these two scriptures present the central teaching of the Zen Buddhist tradition and are essential reading for all students of Buddhism.  more information BPH401 - Introduction to Zen Buddhism This course explores the way of Zen and its inner truth. Each week includes a meditation practice. The text is a little known gem in a sea of literature referring to Zen Buddhism. A book i find myself referring back to more often than any other i own. The first time i read it i gained more insight into the history of zen, where it was coming from, and the people it arrived through. Most importantly at the end of every chapter is a method of practicing zen. This, along with the stress on practicing zen principles in daily life is why i would highly recommend this book to the beginning zen practitioner. more information HZM416 - Chán Master Mǎzŭ A translation of the primary materials on the life and teachings of Ma-Tsu (709-788), the successor to the great sixth patriarch and the greatest Ch'an master in history, Hui-Neng (638-713). The book should be invaluable to all who wish to study the development of the Zen thought and philosophy over the course of history. more information SUT421 - Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, used in monastic education for more than a millennium (probably composed in the eighth century), is a concise guide to the key paradigms of the practice systems of the East Asian meditation schools (Ch'an, Son, and Zen). It has been most popular in the Chinese and Korean schools. As Zen students, there is value to studying this Mahayana teaching as it employs many different ways to try to get people of different aptitudes to wake up. We will also see how it also helps the reader to understand the process of Sutra development. Read More

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected'

Tonight Rev. Doshim Halaw shared this video with me and as I have followed all of these scientists it occurred to me that what they were all saying was that there is an interdependence of all nature in the cosmos. The Huáyán Sect of Buddhism has followed this for more than one thousand years. I hope you enjoy.

"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

The Avataṃsaka Sutra is a compilation of sutras of various length. The earliest of these texts, the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, maybe dates from the first century CE. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra describes the ten stages on the Bodhisattva-path. The various sutras were probably joined together shortly before its translation into Chinese, at the beginning of the 5th century CE.

The Avataṃsaka ("garland", string of flowers) sutra integrates the teachings on Śūnyatā and vijnaptimatra (mind-only).

The basic idea of the Avataṃsaka Sutra is the unity of the absolute and the relative:

All in One, One in All. The All melts into a single whole. There are no divisions in the totality of reality [...] [I]t views the cosmos as holy, as "one bright pearl," the universal reality of the Buddha. The universal Buddhahood of all reality is the religious message of the Avataṃsaka-sutra.

Each part of the world reflects the totality of the cosmos:

In each dust-mote of these worlds

Are countless worlds and Buddhas...

From the tip of each hair of Buddha's body

Are revealed the indescribable Pure Lands...

The indescribable infinite Lands

All ensemble in a hair's tip [of Buddha].

All levels of reality are related and interpenetrated. This is depicted in the image of Indra's net. This "unity in totality allows every individual entity of the phenomenal world its uniqueness without attributing an inherent nature to anything".