Lesson 1 – Siddhartha Guatama – Part One
Siddhartha Guatama, ‘the Buddha’
This course will spread over all of 2018 and will consist of eight sessions. In it we will study two of the best known and most loved, albeit misrepresented in the religious traditions that bear their names, teachers of the Ageless Wisdom, Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha and Jesus/Yeshua, with four sessions devoted to each. This first session will discuss the Buddha’s life, his awakening and his ministry and a basic orientation to some of his teachings through a reading of selected chapters of the Dhammapada, claimed to be a compendium of his sayings (attached). None of the teachings of the Buddha were recorded directly during his lifetime; in fact, the earliest Buddhist texts date from at least eighty years after his death, so none are eye witness reports, and most date from well after that. Over that time revisions and corruptions infiltrated the True teachings of the Buddha, and so Buddhist sutras need to be read with careful energetic discernment. It will be important in discussion of such texts to distinguish the True fiery message of the Buddha from later astral accretions, and these selections from the Dhammapada are no exception in that regard.
While reading the selections from the text below, please ponder the following questions:
- How do these texts frame the relationship between our perceptions, mental states and experiences?
- What is the view of conduct, dhamma, promulgated here?
- Craving enslaves us, so how do we free ourselves according to these sayings?
Looking forward to working with you all,
Bill
Lesson One: Video One
Lesson One: Video Two
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