8-week course on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

Thursday mornings, 8:30am - 10:00pm (Pacific)​

June 4th - July 30th, 2026*

Tuition: Sliding scale ($400 to $300)

All Classes are held live on Zoom with recordings available for participants afterwards

​This course is an overview of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (“Root Verses on the Middle Way”), a famously difficult poem by Nāgārjuna written around the 2nd Century CE that articulates the Mādhyamika understanding of emptiness based on the Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination. At first the verses can feel like a series of locked doors, mainly because they are a rebuttal to the metaphysical assumptions of early Abhidharma schools, including the Sarvāstivādans and Sautrāntikas, and without that background Nāgārjuna’s sharp refutations seem to strike at nothing. The purpose of this course is to cut through the obscuring rhetoric and reveal the text's essential concepts with down-to-earth “real world” examples, turning locks into keys. We will read several chapters closely, comparing multiple English translations from Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, and you will be encouraged to reimagine the verses using your own terms and examples.

Go to: www.LotusUnderground.com

Avatamsaka Sutra - SEVENTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 27 by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - SIXTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 26 "Ten Stages" by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FIFTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 25 "Ten Transferences of Merit" by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FIFTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 24 by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FIFTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 23 by Michael Charles Owens

LUSB Summer 2026 Announcement by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FOURTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 22 by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FOURTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 21 "Ten Practices" by Michael Charles Owens

Avatamsaka Sutra - FOURTH ASSEMBLY - Ch 20 by Michael Charles Owens