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Meeting ID: 849 5773 9986
Passcode: 771103
This is a peer-group discussion on a discourse from the Pāli Canon. The group will read the sutta together, rotating with each person present reading a small section, followed by reflection and discussion. It is recommended that participants try to read one or more translations of the sutta beforehand.
This week our sutta is MN 98 Vāseṭṭha Sutta:
“Two brahmin students ask the Buddha about what makes a brahmin: birth or deeds? the Buddha points out that, while the species of animals are determined by birth, for humans what matters is how you chose to live. This discourse anticipates the modern view that there are no such things as clearly defined racial differences among humans.”
You can find several versions of the sutta at SuttaCentral.
John Kelly has been a practicing Buddhist since the early 1990s and has studied the Pāli language since the early 2000s. He has been principal assistant to Bhikkhu Bodhi in four of his most recent sutta translation publications. In 2005 John was a founding member and designer on the team that created SuttaCentral.net, a continuously growing trove of information on early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels. John has an MA in Buddhist Studies, and his dissertation for this MA, “The Buddha’s Teachings to Lay People”, was published in Buddhist Studies Review.