Buddhist Scholars

This lecture series with Sarah Shaw looks at several texts in the Pali Canon from the Dīgha Nikāya, the "collection of long discourses". Sarah explores the Buddha's teachings on subjects including meditation, ethics, meditative states and conditionality. This series is an excellent foundation for understanding the underpinnings of all Buddhist philosophy. The discourses are set within narratives of the Buddha's life. These texts have varied genres designed to have different effects. They range from prescriptive ways to apply the practice, to evocative imagery that symbolises the teaching, to ethical recommendations about how to act in the world. This course explains the context and background of these timeless teachings. Session 1: Sarah gives an overview of the course. She offers a historical and cultural background for the early suttas and discusses some of the key teachings in Buddhist philosophy including the four noble truths and the eightfold path. Session 2: Samaññaphala-Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life — Through the story of King Ajātasattu's visit to see the Buddha we are introduced to the stages of meditative absorption, the jhāna s. Session 3: Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna-Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Establishing of Mindfulness — Sarah covers the four foundations of mindfulness in this, one of the most famous, important and most widely studied texts in the Pali Canon. Session 4: The Mahāsamāya-Sutta, a very popular ceremonial text, and the Mahāsudassana-Sutta, a visualization of the 'palace' in the 'city' of the mind, ruled by a great king, the Buddha in an earlier life as Bodhisattva. Session 5: The Sangīti-Sutta — Sariputta, one of the Buddha's chief disciples, gives a talk listing the principles of the Buddha's teaching. Session 6: The Sigālovāda-Sutta — The Buddha instructs a young man on how to live an ethical life. Session 7: The Mahānidāna-Sutta — The Great Causes Discourse — In this session Sarah explains this key text on the principle of dependent origination.

Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy with Bee Scherer This course introduces key concepts of Indian Buddhist thought. Over 5 lectures Bee explains the fundamental themes and problems of Buddhist Philosophy; from the early Buddhist teachings on 'suffering', 'karma' and 'No-Self', to the later scholasticism and the famous schools of thought around 'emptiness' and 'mind-only'. Each chapter introduces another layer of Buddhist philosophical development and depth. The course forms a very clear and intriguing introduction to the wealth of Buddhist thought. Session One: Introduction — Buddhism as religion, philosophy or psychology? Modernism and Buddhist thought; the Buddha and the Four Noble TruthsSession Two: Understanding the Four Noble Truths — unsatisfactoriness, afflicting emotions, nirvana and the eightfold PathSession Three: Buddhist psychology of no-self — heaps of grasping, dependent arising and cause & effect (karma)Session Four: Buddhist ontology. Scholasticism and reality (Abhidharma); perfection of wisdom and emptiness (Madhyamaka)Session Five: Buddhist metaphysics. Mind and Buddha-Nature. Professor Bee Scherer, PhD is a long-time practitioner of Buddhism and has been globally teaching as a Buddhist lay teacher. Bee currently serves as the vice-chair of the International Lay Buddhist Forum. After the study of classics, Indic (Sanskrit, Pāli, Prakrits) and Tibetan philology in Germany and the United States, completed by a PhD (Groningen, The Netherlands 2002), Bee published among others on karma; Nāgārjuna and early Mind-only; and, in recent years, on transnational Tibetan Buddhism; radical, reform and socially engaged Buddhism in Asia; and on Buddhist perspectives on gender and sexuality. Currently, Bee is chair (full professor) in Religious Studies & Gender Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University and directs the INCISE research institute (http://incise.center). As a trans/non-binary scholar-cum-activist Bee has established the interdisciplinary, transnational Queering Paradigms Social justice academic network and conference series. Prof. Scherer has authored more than a dozen monographs and edited volumes in German, Dutch and English, among which features the substantial Introduction to Buddhism (2005, in German) with a foreword by HH. The Dalai Lama.

In this ten part lecture series Sarah Shaw explores several stories from the Jatakas, stories of the previous lives of the Gautama Buddha both in human and animal form. The stories are entertaining and allegorical. Sarah connects these tales from 4th and 5th century B.C.E. with their relevance for our lives today. Session 1: Sarah discusses the Bodhisatta vow and the 10 perfections, The Dīpaṃkara Jātaka Session 2: Sarah explains the structure of Jataka tales and explores why birth stories are important. She shares the story: Lost in the wilderness. Apaṇṇaka-jātaka: a True Story, Jātaka 1 Session 3: Sarah explains how Jātakas were heard and how to cope with moral dilemmas, the people of Kuru and their code: Kurudhamma-Jātaka (Jātaka 276) Session 4: The historical background of the Jātakas. Why are birth stories important? Session 5: Protection and story of the golden peacock The Peacock Story, Mora Jātaka (Jātaka 159) Session 6: Sarah discusses Jātaka 541: Nemi Jātaka about king Nemi Session 7: Jataka 55: Pañcāvudha-jātaka, the five weapons story. Session 8: Jataka 385. Nandiyamiga-jātaka. The story of the Buddha's life as Nandiya, the deer. Session 9: Mahosadha or Ummagga Jātaka , Jātaka 546 Session 10: Sarah concludes the course with the final life of the Buddha Sarah Shaw received her Ph. D. in English from Manchester University. After studying Pali and Sanskrit at Oxford, she began teaching and writing on Buddhist subjects. She has written several books on meditation theory and practice, and jātaka literature. She is the author of several books including Introduction to Buddhist Meditation, The Jātakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta and her most recent book, The Spirit of Buddhist Meditation. She is a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, and Wolfson College. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies.