Buddhism is a vision of human existence. It is also a practical guide that we can apply to every aspect of our lives. Meditation and buddhist principles, practiced together, bring us closer to our direct experience, dissolving our misperceptions to reveal the boundless potential and precious opportunity of life.
Central to Buddhist practice is a deep desire to understand suffering and the means to end suffering; to discover the "magic of the ordinary"; and to live in harmony with ourselves and those around us.
This introductory course aims to bring us closer to the principles of buddhist practice and experience its liberating potential.
What you will learn:
- Introduction: what buddhist traditions have in common
- The relevance of the historical Buddha for us today
- The Buddha's teachings
- The Four Noble Truths: suffering, cause of suffering, cease of suffering, Noble Eightfold Path
- Three marks of human existence.
- Buddhist meditation - why meditation is important in Buddhism, and how Buddhist principles help us go deeper with meditation.
- Working with the transformation of difficult emotions and perceptions.
There will also be time to discuss topics that arise during the course.
The course is informal, interactive, and friendly, and is open to anyone interested in Buddhism for its own sake, or as a means to support and deepen meditation practice.
Since this class is in person we have safety requirements - please check them here. Right now masks are optional.
Please register by Monday 5pm Nov 27
To register: enter the amount you wish to donate in the Event Donation box and click add to cart. The range is $150 to $110, and paying the higher amount helps us to offer our events to those who are not in a position to pay. No-one is turned away for lack of funds, so please let us know if you require a lower rate. If you prefer to pay when you come in person you can enter 0 and click 'pay later' on the payment page. (If you don't click "pay later" the registration may not go through.)
All our teachers are volunteers and our class fees and donations all go towards keeping our center running so that we can continue to provide a space to practice.
Thank you!
This course is a series of 4 courses you can take in any order.
Mindfulness of Breathing, Sep 5 to 26 (and Feb)
Meditating with Kindness, Oct 3 to 24
Mindfulness in Everyday Life Oct 31 to Nov 21
Buddhism Introductory Course (this course)
or Online Buddhism Introductory Course Sep 14 to Oct 5.