Topics Include: 1) Our failure to meet the basic needs of the people of the earth 2) The defilements: greed, hatred, and delusion: the roots of suffering 3) The social and institutional embodiment of the defilements in our lives. The role of national and international corporations in an unregulated free market system. The role of marketing and advertising in creating desire and greed 4) The underlying message: consumption is the key to happiness 5) The four distorting assumptions: that the impermanent is permanent, that the painful is pleasant, that the insubstantial is a self, that the ugly is beautiful 6) The Buddhist response: the Four Noble Truths. 7) The effect of capitalism on the fragmentation and polarization of society 8) The role of the Dharma in offsetting the impact of greed 9) Finding a path to reform for all the religious traditions.
18 March, 2023
51 min.