• An Online NYZC Course Offering

Integrating Personal & Collective Healing: A Study of Yogacara Buddhism

with BEN CONNELLY

Wednesdays, Sept. 4th – Dec. 18th, 2024
4:15pm – 7:15pm ET

Wednesdays, Sept. 4 – Dec. 18, 2024,
4:15pm – 7:15pm ET

Learn more & register
How can we heal and liberate ourselves and our communities?

 

How does our personal conduct, wellness, suffering, and trauma relate to interpersonal and transpersonal systems? How can we give our lives to universal liberation without sacrificing our own well-being? 

 

These are the questions at the heart of Yogacara Buddhism, which deeply informs the Zen tradition and combines early Buddhist and Mahayana thought and practice into an integrated approach to joyful, compassionate, altruistic living.

 

This course will focus on studying a variety of Yogacara texts and investigating their implications for our daily lives. We will explore how these teachings correlate with contemporary liberative approaches such as trauma-informed practice and non-violent social movements, and how they integrate with Zen practice.

 

Key Takeaways of the Course:

  • Understanding the relationship between the collective and the personal, and between emptiness and appearance.
  • Discovering how Yogacara theory relates to common Zen teachings.
  • Gaining a deeper sense of empowerment.
  • Learning or refining transformative meditation practices.
  • Engaging more effectively in social healing.

Realizing the “Inescapable Network of Mutuality”

In this 3-minute video, Ben Connelly shares the “two veils” which keep us trapped in suffering and explains how the teachings of Yogacara offer guidance on maintaining awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings.

This class is open to all!

It is especially ideal for experienced Buddhist practitioners engaged in or interested in Buddhist practice as it relates to social change and personal healing.

 

Join Zen priest and author Ben Connelly for this enriching journey into Yogacara Buddhism. Ben has published two books on Yogacara and taught at over sixty Buddhist and academic institutions on the subject across the US. You can find his bio below!

 

Together, we will discover how, despite the power of our conditioning, each of us has the opportunity to make a beneficial difference.

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Class Registration

  • Master's or Certificate Credit $1,400
  • Audit - Supporter Level $1,080
  • Audit - Standard (Actual Cost) $760
  • Audit - Scholarship Level $470
Register here

Financial Support: NYZC endeavors to make our programs accessible. If the cost of this program is prohibitive, please choose the scholarship level. There are a limited number of scholarship seats available. If the scholarship level is not listed on the registration form, that means it is no longer available.

Course Details | Yogacara Buddhism

  • Class dates: Sep 4th | Sep 11th | Oct 2nd | Oct 9th | Oct 16th | Oct 23rd | Oct 30th | Nov 6th | Nov 13th | Nov 20th | Nov 27th | Dec 11th | Dec 18th
  • Class components include: Weekly live classes consisting of teaching, discussion, and breakout groups; an online learning platform and discussion forum with fellow students; participation in NYZC's weekly evening meditation on Wednesdays.
  • Offered online only: Classes will be offered via Zoom and you may choose to attend the class at home or with others at our Zendo. Recordings of the live classes will be available for review.
  • Master’s Level Credit: Register at this level if you need Masters Credit. You will also be required to write a 10-page paper. If you register at any of the audit levels, you can still participate fully in the class and will not be required to submit a 10-page paper.
  • Certificate in Soto Zen Buddhist Studies: this course is part of our certificate program which you can learn more about here.

Praise for Ben's Classes

“(Ben’s) presentation of the material, his guided meditations, his encouragement, the way he included all responses, his openness to how we received the materials, his making it accessible to us in our lives today, made the class enjoyable.”

“Amazing teacher — loved his lectures.”

“Ben is a needed new voice in American Buddhism. In the past, teachers who talk about addiction and trauma have been excluded from the conversation. He is a superb teacher–wise, humble, and vulnerable. The class was creative and inspiring. Ben is committed to saving all beings in the midst of daily life. This class was a true gift. Deep bows of gratitude.”
“(Ben is) so so knowledgable and good at making a complex text understandable.”
“Ben’s lively teaching… opened many ways of entering and engaging the (study) text.”

ABOUT THE Teacher

About the TEACHER

Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen priest. He also teaches mindfulness in secular contexts including police training and addiction recovery groups, and works with multifaith groups focused on intersectional liberation and climate justice. Ben serves the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and travels to teach across the United States. He is also the author for Wisdom Publications of Inside the Grass Hut, Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara, and the Vasubandhu’s “Three Natures.” He is currently working on a book on the Huayan tradition, derived from the Flower Garland Sutra, which is due for publication in 2025. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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