Sitting and Dharma Talk – “The Power of Negative Thinking”: Five Ethical Precepts – With Longtime SIM Participant Laura Rosenthal – Thursday, August 18, 2016, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm

In Buddhist teaching, ethical conduct constitutes an essential training: sila, one of the three trainings that form the ennobling eightfold path. While contemporary teachers frequently discuss the ethical precepts in positive terms, emphasizing the wholesome qualities we are cultivating, traditional Buddhist teaching frames them in the negative, as core unwholesome behaviors with respect to which we practice renunciation. In this dharma talk and group discussion, we will explore why the precepts may have been framed in this way as well as the freedom and richness found in exploring this path of “not doing.”

Laura Rosenthal, a long-time participant in the SIM community, is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP 4) and is currently participating in Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioners Program (APP).