Topics Include: 1). The four chapters or phases of the Budda’s life: a. his early life, b. his training, c. his going out on his own and achieving enlightenment, and d. his eventual ministry. 2). Gotama’s preparation in meditation and asceticism before setting out on his own path. 3). The importance of the third phase in setting the foundations for his eventual teachings. 4). Identifying the crucial insights in Gotama’s development that laid the basis for his later teachings. 5). The first insight: the liberation from suffering comes from one’s self and not through an external spiritual authority: the difference between theistic and non-theistic approaches to spirituality. The secular humanism of Buddhism. 6). The essential unity of purpose of all religions, both theistic and non-theistic: greed and the overcoming of the ego. 7). The rejection of hedonism and asceticism and the discovery of the “Middle Way.” 8). The development of mindfulness, 9). The significance and importance of mindfulness in freeing ourselves from suffering.
54 Minutes