Introduction to Buddhist Meditation, and Buddhism

This course has been designed as an introduction to Buddhist meditation and Buddhist teachings.   In the first two weeks, we will learn the basic two meditations taught by the Triratna Buddhist Order which are the Mindfulness of Breathing and the Metta Bhavana, or loving-kindness meditation, in the first half of the evening we will learn the designated meditation, after the tea break, we will join the main Sangha class to take part in a led mediation ( the one we have just learned).  If you would like to come along and try the introduction to meditation in the first two weeks of the course and see how you get along, that is okay.

Over the next four weeks, we will be leading talks (and meditating together) on the basic teachings of the Buddha, so this is a chance to find out a bit more about Buddhism, you are encouraged to ask any questions you may have on the talks.

The First of the series of talks are over 3 weeks, on the Threefold Path which are:

Ethics

To live is to act, and our actions can have either harmful or beneficial consequences for ourselves and others. Buddhist ethics is concerned with the principles and practices that help one to act in ways that help rather than harm.

Meditation

Meditation is the second stage of the threefold way.

Wisdom

The aim of all Buddhist practices, including meditation, is Prajna, or wisdom. The Buddha taught that the fundamental cause of human difficulties is our existential ignorance – our failure to understand the true nature of reality and wisdom is the opposite of this. To start with, we simply need to hear the teachings that indicate the Buddhist vision of life. Then we need to reflect on them and make sense of them in relation to our own experience. But Prajna proper means developing our own direct understanding of the truth.

The last of the talks, in the sixth week, is The Four Noble Truths

The Four Aryan (or Noble) Truths are perhaps the most basic formulation of the Buddha’s teaching. They are expressed as follows:

1. All existence is dukkha. The word dukkha has been variously translated as ‘suffering’, ‘anguish’, ‘pain’, or ‘Un satisfactoriness’. The Buddha’s insight was that our lives are a struggle, and we do not find ultimate happiness or satisfaction in anything we experience. This is the problem of existence.

2. The cause of dukkha is craving. The natural human tendency is to blame our difficulties on things outside ourselves. But the Buddha says that their actual root is to be found in the mind itself. In particular, our tendency to grasp at things (or alternatively to push them away) places us fundamentally at odds with the way life really is.

3. The cessation of dukkha comes with the cessation of craving. As we are the ultimate cause of our difficulties, we are also the solution. We cannot change the things that happen to us, but we can change our responses.

We hope that you can join us as we explore these themes together.

Best wishes

Rijudaya