Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Buddha said, "I teach suffering and the end of suffering."
The first discourse of the Buddha after his awakening was the Four Noble Truths, his teaching on the existence of suffering, its cause, its end, and the path to its cessation—and all of the teachings point back to and support the ending of suffering in this very life.
We live in a very different world today—of airplanes, computers, smart phones, weapons of mass destruction, climate change—that would have been unrecognizable to those living a hundred generations ago. But while humans have developed in extraordinary ways scientifically and technologically, we don’t appear to have made similar advances in wisdom or in living together wisely and harmoniously.
In this six-week class we will explore the core teachings of the Buddha and investigate through practice and reflection how these teachings can support us in living wisely and compassionately and help us find freedom from suffering. |