Now Available as The Three Turnings of the Wheel
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The Buddha taught the third turning to his followers, which gives an even deeper revelation of the nature of the ultimate truth using a more conceptual and logical approach than in the Second Turning teachings. Vasubandhu’s 30 Verses summarize the primary teachings of the Third Turning sutras, which became the basis for what is known as the Mind-Only, or Yogacara, School of Buddhism.
This pre-recorded class was offered in August 2021 by Senior Dharma teacher Furyu Nancy Schroeder and can now be viewed at any time. The recommended text for this class is Inside Vasubandhu's Yogacara by Ben Connelly, available through the Zen Center Bookstore.
Course Curriculum
- Essential Questions and Direct Answers for Realizing Enlightenment (5:13)
- A Brief Summary of the Three Turnings (9:46)
- Self and Other: An Exercise (4:07)
- The Magic of Logic: Vasubandhu's 30 Verses (5:06)
- Yogacara: Fooled By Our Own Minds (2:52)
- 30 Verses on Consciousness Only (9:15)
- What Is it About? The Eight Consciousnesses Model (15:12)
- Week 1 Recap (1:01)
- The Two Fold Model of Practice and Understanding (5:07)
- The Cognitive Revolution (7:29)
- The Transformation of Consciousness (7:32)
- Verses 1 - 16 (5:42)
- Consciousness and Sensory Experience (11:36)
- Thoughts and Mental Experience (3:38)
- The Manas and The Alayas (9:57)
- Conscious and Unconscious Aspects of the Mind (1:21)
- The Five Skandhas (8:52)
- Planting Seeds (5:33)
- Gazing Into the Well Of Our Existence (7:01)
Furyu Nancy Schroeder
Furyu Nancy Schroeder, a resident of Zen Center since the 1970s, became Abiding Abbess at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in March 2014 and stepped down from that role in March 2023. Fu has held most of the monastic positions at Zen Center and has been an active supporter of programs for children, people of color, the gay and lesbian community, and the interfaith community. In 2008 she was elected to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2010 she was appointed to the Board of the Marin Community Foundation. In addition, she has previously co-led Zen Center's Contemplative Caregiver Course. She received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1999.
Photo Credit: Anita Bowen Photography
Featured Courses
Lectures on the Three Turnings of the Wheel.
The Satipatthana Sutta, which describes the four foundational practices of mindfulness, is one of the primary teachings of early Buddhism, known as the First Turning of the Dharma Wheel. It outlines a progressive methodology for the cultivation of awareness.
This four-week series is taught by Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller, who examines each of the categories of practice in the Satipatthana and compares them to the perspectives and practices within the Zen tradition.
The Second Turning of the Wheel took place on Vulture Peak when the Buddha revealed to his senior monks the teaching of prajna paramita, wisdom beyond wisdom. The primary philosophical school of the Second Turning is the Middle Way School, founded by Nagarjuna, also known as the Second Buddha.
Eijun Linda Cutts offers a four-week series on the Vimalakirti Sutra, a Second Turning Teaching that features the wise and clever layman, Vimalakirti, who bests the Buddha’s senior students as to their understanding of non-duality and emptiness. This sutra features the famous “shout” the layman gives in response to a question—a shout that came to be known as the Thunderous Silence in which he said nothing at all.