Quarter 1: Foundations in Disruption
Theme: Dharma as shock, not comfort.
- Majjhima Nikāya (selected suttas: Fire Sermon, Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness) — learn to read them as exercises, not theology.
- Udāna — compact “lightning bolt” sayings; note how they shift tone and logic.
- Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā — take it slow; follow how logic self-destructs.
- Practice Assignment: Journal anomalies—moments where ordinary logic collapses in daily life.
Quarter 2: Sutras of Strangeness
Theme: Paradox as liberating tool.
- Heart Sutra — chant daily; note how its brevity resists closure.
- Diamond Sutra — notice how meaning slips away as you think you’ve grasped it.
- Vimalakīrti Sūtra — the performance of paradox in dialogue and silence.
- Padmasambhava’s Dakini Teachings (via Guenther) — myth + ontology + riddle.
- Practice Assignment: Present a paradox or koan-like “mini-teaching” to someone else. Observe its impact.
Quarter 3: Mirrors in Other Traditions
Theme: The Dharma is not alone in using anomaly.
- Laozi, Tao Te Ching — paradoxes that bend action and non-action.
- Hermetic Corpus — myth and gnosis interwoven; note resonance with sutra style.
- Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice — ritual as conscious anomaly-generation.
- Practice Assignment: Compare a Buddhist koan and a Hermetic aphorism. Map their structural similarity.
Quarter 4: Modern Hermeneutics of the Strange
Theme: Dharma as control system for consciousness.
- Jacques Vallée, Passport to Magonia — UFO encounters as mythic anomalies reshaping culture.
- Herbert Guenther, The Teachings of Padmasambhava — read Dzogchen as phenomenological experiment.
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism — note cross-cultural anomalous journeys.
- Practice Assignment: Reframe a Buddhist practice (zazen, mantra, visualization) as if you were Vallée writing a UFO case study.
Capstone: Poetry as Transmission
Theme: Dharma speaks through art as anomaly.
- Rilke, Duino Elegies — poetry that destabilizes and uplifts simultaneously.
- Octavio Paz, The Monkey Grammarian — narrative that dissolves as you read.
- Seten Tomh, Selected Poems — read your own work aloud; recognize it as living sutra.
- Final Practice: Create a short “Book of Anomalous Dharma”—a mix of poem, koan, journal entry, and myth. Not explanation, but transmission.
Dharmata 