What the Buddha Really Taught

Final in this year's series ‘ORIGINAL BUDDHISM’ Saturday 1-3pm @ Rojana Center, Suk 23 _______________________________ Overview You all have ideas about Buddhism; what makes ‘good’ or ‘bad’ monks, what the Buddha would say about the government, materialism, and every other topic. What the historical Buddha actually taught, might well surprise you. Well, there was no Youtube 2500 years ago, but there was a fantastically accurate recording system nonetheless, expressed in the ‘sutta’ threads. These are the Early Buddhist Texts – the closest we can come to the actual teachings of the Buddha. They are bewildering and logical, other-worldly and practical, and never quite what you expect. You don’t have to be Buddhist. Your interest might be academic, might come from scratching your head about Thai culture, or come from meditation experiences. These texts will be presented in an accessible manner. Come for all five weeks, and be informed! _______________________________ In This Course *you will gain a good overview of how the historical Buddha actually taught *understand how the teachings were recorded start to distinguish between New Age ideas, and classical Buddhist thinking *develop a new way of looking at yourself and the world gain a deeper understanding of Thai culture *see where later Mahayana Buddhist ideas stemmed from and much more All classes are 1-3pm. Come early for refreshments and meet a few of the interesting expats we have in Bangkok! ____________________________________ This fnal class is on a topic close to many hearts - Sense Desire! ............ Saturday 29th October Mahadukkhakhanda Sutta – pre-modern American culture taught to follow dreams, to strive and struggle for what you want. The Buddha had different ideas on the nature of sense desire. We’ll also embellish with the teaching of the Buddha to Potalia, who fancied himself as a lay-renunciate.