Ethics for The New Millennium
by HHS The Dalai Lama
Tuesday
Night
Reading-Discussion
Group
8:30 – 9:30 pm • Atlanta Soto Zen Center
Moderated by Shiho Gareth Young
Beginning
Tuesday
November 9,
2010
In a modern society characterized by insensitivity to violence,
ambivalence to the suffering of others, and a high-octane profit
motive, is talk of ethics anything more than a temporary salve for our
collective conscience? The Dalai Lama thinks so. In his Ethics for the
New Millennium, the exiled leader of the Tibetan people shows how the
basic concerns of all people--happiness based in contentment,
appeasement of suffering, forging meaningful relationships--can act as
the foundation for a universal ethics.
His medicine isn't always easy to swallow, however, for it demands of
the reader more than memorizing precepts or positing hypothetical
dilemmas. The Nobel Peace laureate invites us to recognize certain
basic facts of existence, such as the interdependence of all things,
and from these to recalibrate our hearts and minds, to approach all of
our actions in their light. Nothing short of an inner revolution will
do. Basic work is required in nurturing our innate tendencies to
compassion, tolerance, and generosity. And at the same time, "we need
to think, think, think ... like a scientist," reasoning out the best
ways to act from a principle of universal responsibility. Like a
merging of the care and compassion of Jesus, the cool rationality of
the Stoics, the moral program of Ben Franklin, and the psychology of
William James, Ethics for
the New Millennium is a plea for basic goodness, a blueprint
for world peace. --Brian Bruya.
Reading Group Format
The reading group is informal and readings serve as a point of departure for discussions. Sometimes we follow the text closely, other times discussion is wide-ranging. It is best to read the assigned chapter before attending but not required, but please feel free to drop in for the discussion even if you haven't read the text. Each participant is given the opportunity to raise phrases or topics from the assigned portion of the text which they wish to discuss. Tea and snacks are served. Since this is such a widely owned book we are not following our general practice of having copies of the text will be available by the door to the zendo, but if you do not own the book, you can share with others who have copies.
Schedule
| Date |
Chapters |
|
November 9 |
1 and 2 |
|
November 16 |
3 and 4 |
|
November 23 |
5 and 6 |
|
November 30 |
7 and 8 |
|
December 7 |
9 and 10 |
|
December 14 |
11 and 12 |
|
December 21 |
13 and 14 |
|
December 28 |
15 and 16 |