Book Study

3. The end of Suffering

Meeting Resources

  • Use this section if you are looking for a meditation, reading, or discussion topic for a meeting.

  • Read the Book Study page for more ideas on how to work with this page.

Format Options

RD Meditation
Mindfulness

Mindfulness Meditation

RD Meditation

Concentration

Other Sources

Mindfulness & Concentration

RD Reading

The End of Suffering


Read

  • Third Noble Truth

  • Start: Page 17, 1st paragraph: "Third Noble Truth"

  • End: Page 17, 2nd paragraph: "...respond to our experiences."

  • Length: 3 paragraphs, 277 words, ~2 minutes

Discuss

  • Each of us has the capacity for recovery

  • Our response to experience

  • if our thoughts, words, and actions are driven by greed, hatred, or confusion, we are creating suffering

  • This is the true empowerment and freedom

Practice Resources

  • Use this section of the page to support practice between meetings

  • Read the Book Study Title Page for more guidance on how to work with this section.

  • The Inquiry section of this site offers more resources to support an ongoing daily practice.

Refuge in the Dharma


Learning the Concepts

  • Choose just one of the readings or the whole chapter to read, underline and study.

  • Think about or write about the title of the reading or the discussion topics listed above


Refuge in the Buddha


Brief Personal Meditation

Pause - at least once a day, for a minute or two - to practice any of the following meditations.

  • Mindfulness of Feeling Tone: Notice the sensations in your body.

  • Concentration on Appreciative Joy: Repeat to yourself: "I appreciate the joy that I experience."

Renunciation Inquiry

  • List five of your most important values in a friend. Write briefly about each one.


Refuge in the Sangha


Sangha

  • Meetings: Notice how your insights from this practice relate to the meetings you attend this week.

Wise Friends and Mentors

  • Survey: Every day, practice reaching out to 1-3 Wise Friends you have met at the meeting.

  • Ask each one about their experience with this week's meditation practice or topic.

  • If you don't reach someone, leave a message with your question, and try with 1-3 other Wise Friends tomorrow.

Sangha Support

  • Use this section to integrate Personal Practice with Sangha Practice

  • Read the Book Study Title Page for more guidance on how to work with this section.

Core Intentions


The Practice


Sangha Wise Friends Mentors