Syllabus: The Teachings of the Buddha

Each week, we will read and discuss one discourse from the Pali Canon, the oldest and most probably authentic collection of the Buddha’s teachings.

The Discourses recorded in the Pali Canon are known as suttas, from a Pali/Sanscrit word meaning “thread”. We will examine the place of each thread in the majestic tapestry of Buddhist doctrine, and we will see what we can learn from the suttas about the nature of the Buddha’s times and the culture in which he taught and about the Buddha himself, the man Siddhatta Gotama—his style, his personality, his position in the society of his times. We will see how skillfully and compassionately the Buddha understands the expectations and viewpoints of his different audiences and how he uses that understanding to present his distinctive path in a form that’s most easily understood and accepted by each audience. The suttas we read will also offer us an opportunity, through the eight weeks of the course, to follow the Buddha’s life, from birth to death.

The purpose of the course is not to teach an “overview” of Buddhism but rather to provide, for those who find the Buddha’s message interesting and the Buddha’s Path in some way relevant to the problems of their lives and of our times, a foundation from which they can continue their investigation independently.

We will make heavy use of the Internet in finding readings relevant to each class’s content; sometime early in the week prior to each class, I’ll try to publish on the this site a set of annotated links to translations of the suttas we will be discussing in that class, along with links to other resources that might help our understanding. If you don’t have an Internet connection, or if you’re not comfortable using the Internet in this way, it might be a good idea to make arrangements with a friend to print the relevant texts for you to read offline. Note that it is not necessary to do the Internet readings to get some significant benefit from the class; we will read highlights from the recommended texts in each class; I’ll do my best to explain the meaning and context of those readings, and our discussion will focus on what’s been presented rather than what’s in the online resource list.

We’ll begin each class with a short (five minute) period of silent meditation.

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