I’ve posted the final sutta that we’ll be discussing, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. This sutta, by far the longest in the Pali Canon, details the final days of the Buddha, covering the three-month journey that the Buddha and Ananda undertook, north from Rajagaha to the remote village of Kusinara, where the Buddha took his parinibbana, his final release of the last experience that bound him to this world of samsara, the experience of his physical body. The sutta, unlike any other in the Canon, has an historical structure; it is very moving, presenting a vivid picture of two old men, having accomplished much and having left much unaccomplished, making a long, painful, and difficult journey, working very hard as they went to make certain that the Dhamma was well-propounded and would endure after the Buddha’s death.

I’d like you, if you can find the time, to read the whole sutta, but I’ve marked the passages that I’d like to discuss in class, and added my gloss to those passages. The translation of the sutta that I’ve used is by Sister Vajira, a German nun, translated from the German and edited by Mr. Francis Story.

We’ll spend the first 10 minutes or so looking at the concept of “emptiness” (Pali shunyata). What I’ll try to do is use that discussion as a bridge between all that we’ve discussed up to this class and the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.

Despite the sutta’s length, I hope we can finish our discussion of it in time to devote the last half hour or so of the class to a general discussion of the experience we’ve shared over the past two months: the questions you came with, the questions you’re leaving with, the ways in which the class has changed the way you view Buddhism, the Buddha’s Dhamma, and your own experience of the world.

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.