Each session will be organized as follows:
• Guided meditation (20 minutes)
• Dhamma talk (60 minutes)
•Questions & answers (30 minutes).
This course is intended primarily for speakers of Russian who would like to learn the basics of the Buddha’s teaching. The talks will also be useful for senior students of Buddhism who wish to explore the basic teachings in greater precision and depth. The talks will be based primarily on the suttas of the Pali Canon, the collection of texts authoritative for the Theravada tradition.
The program will take place on one Saturday a month, 9:30 to 11:20 am (US Eastern time) = 4:30 to 6:20 pm (Moscow time). The talks will be given in English, with consecutive Russian translation.
Bhante’s students from his regular Saturday class are welcome to join, but in the question & answer period priority will be given to the participants from the Russian-speaking community.
The topics and dates are as follows:
Lecture 1: The Four Noble Truths—May 28th
The four noble truths are the basic formula the Buddha used to expound his teaching. The four truths revolve around the reality of dukkha (suffering) as the fundamental problem of human existence. The four truths expose the range of suffering, reveal the underlying causes of suffering, proclaim the possibility of liberation, and show the path that leads to liberation.
Lecture 2: The Three Characteristics—June 11th
The Buddha taught that the key to liberation lies in understanding the “three characteristics” that pervade all aspects of experience. These are the impermanence of all conditioned things; the unsatisfactory nature of all experience; and the fact that all the factors of our being are “non-self,” that is, they do not constitute an autonomous, truly existent “self.”
Lecture 3: Dependent Origination—July 16th
The teaching called “dependent origination” provides a more detailed insight into the causal origination of suffering. The teaching shows how all suffering, including our bondage to the cycle of repeated birth and death, arises through the interplay of twelve conditions linked together in various conditional relationships.
Lecture 4: Karma and Rebirth—August 13th
The Buddha provides a clear view on the place of human existence in the larger scheme of sentient life. He teaches that all sentient beings—including human beings–are caught in a beginningless web of rebirths called samsara. Driven by craving, we move from one life to the next among various planes of existence. The factor that determines our destiny as we move from life to life is our karma, that is, our volitional actions.
Lecture 5: The Buddhist Path—September 17th
To overcome suffering and bondage, the Buddha laid out a precise path of personal development called the Noble Eightfold Path. In this talk we will examine the individual factors of this path and how they work together to eliminate suffering.
Lecture 6: Noble eightfold path-part 2 — October 15th
In this talk, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi will continue his explanation of the noble eightfold path. He will explore the last six factors of the path, with an emphasis on the seventh factor, the practice of right mindfulness.
Lecture 7: Stages of attainment and nibbana — November 12th
In this talk, Ven. Bodhi explains the two main elements in Buddhist meditation–calm and insight–the four stages of realization, and the final goal of the path, nibbana.
Lecture 8: Living a Buddhist spiritual life—December 17th
In this last talk in the series, Ven. Bodhi explains how to start living a spiritual life in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings. The topics he covers include: setting up a Buddhist altar, the role of faith and devotion, the undertaking of the precepts, and the balance of study and practice.
The program will be presented over Zoom. To participate in this class, you must register with BAUS.