Ancient scriptures of Theravada Buddhism are one of the best ways to learn more about the Buddha’s teachings.
And the most prolific writer in this field is Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi.
A kindly man has observed that Buddhist monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi presents to the Western world the intellectual equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope: Peering through the gigantic lens one blinks a time or two in absolute amazement — and then suddenly sees, with unprecedented clarity and brilliance, formerly unseen reaches of the spiritual cosmos. And I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’m sharing Bhikkhu Bodhi’s free Buddhism course on YouTube.
1. The Buddha and His Timeless Teachings
This lecture introduces the core teachings of Buddhism, focusing on the original discourses of the Buddha preserved in the Pali Canon. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi explains how Buddhism emphasizes personal verification of truth and liberation from suffering through ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom development, rather than blind faith or philosophical speculation.
Key talking points:
- The term “Buddha” is an honorific title meaning “one who has understood,” referring to someone who has comprehended the deepest truths of existence.
- The Buddha’s teachings (Dhamma) were preserved orally before being compiled into collections called Nikayas, with versions in Pali being closest to his original language.
- Buddhism’s three-fold training consists of moral conduct, meditation practice, and development of wisdom.
- The Buddha taught people to verify truths for themselves rather than accept teachings on blind faith, as illustrated in the Kalama Sutta.
- The core aim is to overcome the “three unwholesome roots” – greed, hatred, and delusion – which cause harmful actions and suffering.
- The Buddha rejected abstract philosophical speculation in favor of practical teachings about understanding and overcoming suffering, as shown in the famous “poisoned arrow” simile.
2. The Four Noble Truths
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This in-depth lecture explores Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths, considered the core framework of Buddha’s teachings. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi explains how these truths form both a diagnostic and prescriptive approach to human suffering (dukkha), presenting them as a systematic method for understanding life’s challenges and achieving liberation through the elimination of craving.
Key talking points:
- The Buddha expressed his enlightenment through the Four Noble Truths and used them as the foundation for his first formal discourse.
- The First Noble Truth concerns “dukkha” – which goes beyond mere suffering to encompass a sense of fundamental unsatisfactoriness in life that exists at physical, psychological, and existential levels.
- The Second Noble Truth identifies craving (tanha) as the root cause of dukkha, manifesting in three forms: craving for sensual pleasures, craving for continued existence, and craving for non-existence.
- The Third Noble Truth asserts that liberation from dukkha is possible through the complete elimination of craving, leading to Nirvana.
- The Fourth Noble Truth presents the Noble Eightfold Path as the practical way to achieve this liberation.
- Each Noble Truth has a specific task associated with it: dukkha must be understood, craving must be abandoned, cessation must be realized, and the path must be practiced.
3. Karma and Rebirth
In this lecture on Buddhist philosophy, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi explores the concepts of karma and rebirth, contrasting Buddhist views with materialist and Christian perspectives. The lecture delves into the Buddhist understanding of consciousness as an ever-changing process and explains how karma influences the cycle of rebirth across different realms of existence.
Key talking points:
- Three major views of what happens after death: philosophical materialism, one-afterlife theory (Christianity), and multiple lives theory (Buddhism/Hinduism).
- The distinction between Hindu reincarnation (involving a permanent self/soul) and Buddhist rebirth (involving continuous consciousness without a permanent self).
- Three grounds for believing in rebirth: scriptural basis from Buddha’s teachings, rational arguments about moral equilibrium, and empirical evidence from children’s past-life memories.
- The concept of samsara as an endless cycle of birth and death without a discoverable beginning.
- Detailed explanation of karma as intentional action, with wholesome and unwholesome roots determining the quality of actions.
- The five realms of rebirth (hell realms, animal realm, afflicted spirits, human realm, and heavenly realms) and how karma determines rebirth in these realms.
- Buddhism’s ultimate goal of breaking free from the cycle of birth and death through liberating wisdom.
4. The Five Aggregates and the Three Marks of Existence
In this deep exploration of Buddhist philosophy, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi unpacks two fundamental concepts: the five aggregates (khandas) that make up human experience and the three universal characteristics of existence. The lecture explains how our misunderstanding of these elements leads to suffering, and how proper insight into their true nature is key to achieving liberation.
Key talking points:
- The importance of understanding one’s own existence through wisdom and insight rather than external scientific observation.
- Detailed explanation of the five aggregates:
- Material form (physical body and sense faculties)
- Feeling (pleasant, painful, or neutral sensations)
- Perception (recognition and labeling of experiences)
- Volitional activities (intentions, motivations, and mental formations)
- Consciousness (basic awareness through the six sense bases)
- The three universal characteristics of existence:
- Impermanence (everything is constantly changing)
- Unsatisfactoriness (clinging to impermanent things leads to suffering)
- Non-self (absence of a permanent, independent self)
- Practical examples showing how the five aggregates work together in daily experiences.
- The Buddha’s metaphors comparing the five aggregates to: a lump of foam, bubbles on water, a mirage, a banana trunk, and a magician’s illusion.
- The ultimate goal of seeing through delusions about permanence and self to achieve liberation.
5. The Noble Eightfold Path
This lecture introduces the Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, as the Buddha’s distinctive discovery and the way to end suffering. It emphasizes that the path is not a sequential process, but rather a set of interconnected factors that work together to achieve liberation.
Key talking points:
- The Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, providing a prescription for ending suffering after identifying its cause and the possibility of its cessation.
- The path is also called the middle way because it avoids the extremes of sensual indulgence and extreme asceticism.
- The Noble Eightfold Path is not a standard practice for all Buddhists but rather a high point of Buddhist practice, with other practices preparing the way for it.
- The eight factors of the path are interconnected, working together like fibers in a cable, not as sequential steps.
- Right View is the forerunner or “eye” of the path, involving an understanding of the Four Noble Truths, the law of karma, and the principles of impermanence, suffering, and non-self.
- Right Intention arises from right view, including intentions of renunciation, goodwill, and harmlessness.
- Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood comprise the ethical dimension of the path, focusing on abstaining from harmful actions and speech.
- Right Speech includes abstaining from false, slanderous, harsh, and idle speech.
- Right Action includes abstaining from taking life, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
- Right Livelihood means earning a living without harming others.
- Right Effort involves cultivating wholesome states of mind and eliminating unwholesome states through restraint and abandonment.
- Right Mindfulness is about deepening awareness of one’s body and mind, using the four foundations of mindfulness: contemplation of body, feelings, states of mind, and phenomena.
- Mindfulness of breathing is the foundation of other types of Buddhist meditation.
- Walking meditation is a way to extend mindfulness into daily life.
- Mindful contemplation of feelings helps to understand how feelings are the basis for attachment and aversion.
- Mindful contemplation of the state of mind helps to weaken and remove unwholesome states.
- Mindful contemplation of phenomena helps to gain insight into the nature of reality.
- Right Concentration involves deep states of absorption that are used to investigate the nature of the body and mind and develop insights leading to liberation.
6. The Buddha’s Teachings in the Modern World
This lecture explores the relevance of the Buddha’s teachings in the modern world, emphasizing that the teachings are not just for monks but offer benefits for everyone. It highlights how Buddhist principles can promote personal well-being, ethical conduct, and social harmony.
Key talking points:
- The primary goal of the Buddha’s teachings is enlightenment and liberation from suffering, which is achieved by eliminating greed, hatred, and delusion through the Noble Eightfold Path.
- The Buddha’s teachings offer three kinds of benefits: well-being in the present life, a fortunate rebirth in future lives, and liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
- The principle of rebirth is governed by an ethical system, where ethical behavior leads to a favorable rebirth.
- The ultimate goal in Buddhism is to attain Nibbana, which is freedom from birth, old age, sickness, and death.
- The practices for reaching Nibbana, such as the Noble Eightfold Path, are not exclusive to monastics and can be practiced by anyone.
- The Buddha emphasizes the importance of practicing for one’s own welfare and the welfare of others.
- Moral conduct and generosity are foundational practices that support meditative development.
- The five precepts are derived from moral reflection and include abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants.
- The practice of generosity involves sharing resources and helps to break down the barriers that separate us from others.
- Meditation practices like right effort and right mindfulness, as well as the cultivation of lovingkindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity, have important implications for how we relate to others.
- The Buddha gave many teachings on how people can live harmoniously in family life and community life.
- The Buddha’s teachings also offer guidance on the proper role of government, emphasizing that leaders have a responsibility to promote the well-being of everyone.
- Applying Buddhist principles can provide solutions to modern-day problems such as war, economic inequality, violence, and climate change.
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Complement Bhikkhu Bodhi’s free Buddhism course on YouTube with In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon and then revisit five best Buddhism books for beginners.
I’m a freelance writer and mindfulness advocate behind this blog. I started my meditation practice in 2014, and in 2017 I launched this website to share what I learn with others. Here are the three things you can do here:
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