Overview

Over ten weeks, we will examine and discuss two of the most fundamental ideas in Buddhism: the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The following diagram is the most concise possible statement of those ideas; throughout the course, we will work to make sense of that diagram and relate it our lives.

Click on the diagram to download a PDF document, with glossary of terms

As we examine these ideas, we will learn about the man who formulated them, the Buddha himself, born Siddhatta Gotama in Northern India about 2500 years ago. We’ll look at the culture from which he emerged and work to recognize and appreciate the radically new way of understanding that he introduced to that culture. Throughout the course, a major emphasis will be on the continuing relevance of the Buddha’s teachings to the situation of our world today.

All course materials will be available on the web. Each week, sometime before Saturday evening, I will post a collection of readings for the following Wednesday’s class. Readings will be posted on the Dharma Study website, along with links to other web-based resources. The posted readings will usually be from original sources, most often from the collection of texts known as the Pali Canon—the oldest and most probably authentic compilation of the Buddha’s discourses.

Syllabus

Week 1. The context. We’ll look at the unique history, geography, social structure and economy of Northern India at the time of the Buddha’s birth toward the beginning of the Fifth Century BCE. The Buddha himself embarked on his quest for a path to Awakening because he was profoundly disturbed by many of the changes that were taking place in his culture; we’ll see what those changes were, and how they stimulated other seekers to embark on their own quests. And we will look, in some detail, at the Buddha’s early life and at the particular series of experiences that led to his own Awakening.

Week 2. The announcement. We’ll look at the meaning of the term awakening and read the short but amazingly concise announcement by the Buddha of what he had realized with his Awakening experience: a new way of understanding how things unfold in the world (The Four Noble Truths), and a way of responding to that understanding (the Noble Eightfold Path) that can lead one to live happily and freely, with a steady sense of purpose, in a world that seems unsteady and too full of pain.

Week 3. The first thing to do: fully know dukkha. We will look, in depth, at the multiple meanings and implications of the Pali word dukkha. We will see how we can see our world as marked, at every turn, by dukkha, and how we can use that understanding as motification to find a way of living that does not trap us or leave us paralyzed by fear, despair, or sorrow.

Week 4. Next, let go of craving. We will see the difference between motivational desire—for a healthy relationship, for a fulfilling life, for greater understanding, for more skill, or just for a good meal—and the kind of craving that generates dukkha—craving for what we know to be not good for us; craving for what is beyond our ability to control, like the behavior of other people; craving for things impossible to be or for dreams to come true.

Week 5. Experiencing the cessation of dukkha. We’ll look at what we can do to increase our sensitivity to our own experience, so that we can recognize what happens to us—to our mental well-being, to our sense of relief, to our ability to control impulsive behavior—when we can release, if just for a moment, our desire to control everything, our sense that we won’t be complete unless we can have things our way.

Week 6. Cultivating the Noble Eightfold Path. We’ll review the factors of the Eightfold Path and look at the various different ways in which we can see those factors emerging in our lives, modifying our response to events, and interacting with one another. We’ll look carefully at what it means to “cultivate” the Path, and what benefits we can expect from accomplishing that.

Week 7. Begin with understanding. We’ll look at what is traditionally seen as the first factor of the Path, Right Understanding or Right View; we’ll examine the meaning of the term (samma) that is translated as “Right”, and we’ll see the intimate relationship between Right View and Right Intention.

Week 8. Do the right thing. We’ll examine what are traditionally understood as the “virtue” set of Path factors: Right Speech, Right Actions, Right Livelihood. We’ll discuss what those factors involve in our lives, and how they can be seen, both as warnings against the kind of behavior that will lead to an increase in dukkha and as encouragement to behave in skillful ways, ways that are likely to lead to our happiness and the happiness of others in the long run.

Week 9. Stay the course. We’ll look at how energetic persistence, along with the regular and structured practice of mindfulness and wisdom, can keep such things as doubt, laziness, cynicism, and restlessness from blocking our progress on the Path.

Week 10. Wrapping it up. We’ll review where we’ve been through the past weeks and go back to the beginning, to see how our understanding of the whole process has gotten deeper. And we’ll consider where each of us might go next, based on our deepened understanding of the Buddha’s dhamma and the experiences we’ve had in the course.