Reading Buddhist texts

Selected Sermons of the Buddha Relating to Everyday Life

Buddhist sacred texts

Buddhist sacred texts

Winter Term: 8 weeks from 18 January

18 January –  8 March

Wednesdays: 7.00pm – 9.00pm 

Tutor: Richard Jones M.A.(Cantab)

Course Fee: £80

——————————————————

A tradition that combines sensible advice on practical issues, like the importance of family life, while offering enlightenment on such themes as spiritual liberation and nearness to the transcendent.

Programme Outline

This eight week course has been developed to help English speakers read and study Buddhist sacred texts, offering enlightenment.

The course is ideal for anyone else wanting to understand what Buddhism is all about, in an informal, relaxed environment.

18th January – Karaniya Metta Sutta. The Buddha’s discourse on the practice of loving-kindness

25th January – Ariyapariyesana Sutta. The Buddha’s search for Enlightenment.

1st February – Mangala Sutta. The Buddha’s discourse on 38 things which can be considered as blessings. They form a blue-print for how one should live one’s life.

8th February – Parabhava Sutta. The causes of downfall. The opposite of the Mangala Sutta, the Parabhava Sutta supplements it by pointing out the causes of downfall. He who allows himself to become tarnished by blemishes of conduct blocks his own road to worldly, moral and spiritual progress.

15th & 22nd February – Sigalovada Sutta. The Buddha’s advice to Sigala on how to conduct oneself in 6 key relationships: friends, child/parent + parent/child, pupil/teacher + teacher/pupil, husband/wife + wife/husband, master/servant + servant/master, religious teacher/layman + layman/religious teacher.

1st & 8th March – Satipatthana Sutta. The Buddha’s comprehensive discourse on the practice of mindfulness and meditation.

Dates: 18 January – 8 March 2017

WEDNESDAYS: 7.00pm-9.00pm

Course Fee:  £80

Contact us by email: info AT benedictine-institute DOT org

OR contact us
by post:  74, Castlebar Road, Ealing, London W5 2DD
by telephone:  +44 (0) 20 8862 2156

Ealing Abbey, page updated 15 November 2016