Thursday, January 3, 2013

Buddhism before Theravada (audio)

John Peacock (audiodharma.org)  "Buddhism Before the Theravada"; Wisdom Quarterly
(Auto_Mattic/flickr.com)

 
The Buddha did not teach in a vacuum. His teachings were directed to those who shared the social world in which he lived. 

John Peacock, a British scholar who studies and translates in more than a dozen languages and is familiar with the philosophical environment of the Buddha’s day, maintains that by framing the Buddha’s teachings in their original context, it is possible to RECOVER the original meaning of teachings that have been ignored and lost by later Buddhist schools -- including the Theravada.
  • Thera + vada = "Elders' Teaching" or "The Teaching of the Elders." Who are these "elders"? They are the immediate enlightened monastic disciples of the Buddha, the monks (theras) and nuns (theris) of ancient India.
These talks examine many of the ways in which Buddhist practice was radically different from the Brahminical and Upanishadic thinking of the time and, indeed, how it differs in substantive ways from much present-day understanding of the Dharma. 

This exploration details the Buddha’s shift away from metaphysical thinking to a focus on internal experience and ethical activity. In the process there will be consideration of how the Buddha’s earliest teachings diverge from much of the Western philosophical tradition and often from what has become the traditional view of the Dharma today as well.
 
Part 1 John Peacock2011-09-031:36:43
Part 2 John Peacock2011-09-030:42:32
Part 3 John Peacock2011-09-031:53:13
Part 4 John Peacock2011-09-031:13:40
Part 5 John Peacock2011-09-041:16:31
Part 6 John Peacock2011-09-041:54:06

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