Note: This is a continuation of the classes that started as a pilot program in 2021.

Our debate club makes its triumphant return, in a brand-new format, welcoming both newcomers and veteran debaters who are interested in gaining what Tibetans have called “the magical key that opens the door to all understanding”!

What Westerners often find most appealing about Buddhism is its insistence that nothing be taken on faith. And yet, few of us in the West are familiar with the sophisticated evidence presented in the Buddhist tradition for such claims as the existence of past and future lives, omniscience, emptiness, and the Four Noble Truths.

Likewise, few Westerners are conversant in the rigorous system of applied logic which in English has become commonly known as “Tibetan debate”—a system for methodically cultivating razor-sharp thinking, clarifying concepts with precision, internalizing logical connections, and uncompromisingly questioning our beliefs, to allow us to arrive at incontrovertible knowledge.

This system, while rigorous and nuanced, is also very practical and highly learnable, just like a new language. In this program, we will be setting off together as we familiarize ourselves with this basics of this method, in keeping with the Buddha’s advice to “come and see” for ourselves.

In the first three sessions, we will once again cover the fundamentals of the Tibetan debate system. Then, starting on the fourth week and for the remainder of the program, we will hit the virtual debate courtyard, and will from then on alternate between sessions facilitated by Gus and full sessions devoted to hands-on practice.

All newcomers, as well as anyone who would like a refresher on the mechanisms of debate, are invited to join the first three sessions, and all are invited to join starting with the fourth session.

In preparation for the first meeting, participants are encouraged to explore the resources freely offered on the website of the Nalanda Debate School of Sera Jey Monastery, including the excellent free online textbooks generously offered here.