The Path to Happiness - An Introduction to Buddhism

The Path to Happiness - An Introduction to Buddhism

An Introduction to Buddhism

Finding a sense of peace in this turbulent world is not easy. This course - A Path to Happiness - is another in our Introduction to Buddhism series and will show you how to create more positive mental states through the way you engage with the world. It is also a classic introduction to Buddhist thought and practice. You will also learn two kinds of guided meditations - one which follows the breath and helps calm the mind and one which cultivate loving-kindness to ourselves and others.

Complete newcomers are very welcome as this is a good introduction to Buddhism,  but this course will also be useful for those who already have some experience.  The Eightfold Path is a very comprehensive overview of the Buddhist life  and, if we commit ourselves to it fully, it can transform our lives and  eventually take us all the way to Enlightenment!

Week One: The Path of Vision - The Four Noble Truths, the unsatisfactoriness of our lives (dukkha) and the Eightfold Path
This week we'll be looking at the Buddha's analysis of the human predicament and how this suffering or dukkha can be overcome through the twin Paths of Vision and Transformation.
Week Two: Emotion - Cultivating a positive direction in our lives
Tonight we will explore what Buddhists call the Divine Abodes: Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy at others' good fortune and Equanimity. We'll see how by practising them we can transform our lives. This will be combined with a look at the benefits of cultivating gratitude.
Week Three: Perfect Speech - the gateway between our inner world and the outer world.
The way we speak has a powerful effect on other people and the world around us. This week we'll be exploring truthful and positive speech and seeing how it is an important aspect of transformation.
Week Four: Perfect Action  - Buddhist Ethics - Being more skilful in our interaction with the world. 
Exploring the benefits of ethics to ourselves and others.  We'll follow this with an exploration of the ways that we can guard our minds and avoid those experiences that cause us pain.
Week Five: Perfect Livelihood and Perfect Effort - Job satisfaction and guarding our minds
Ultimately Buddhism encourages us to see our lives as being about what we can contribute to the world, not what we can get for ourselves, so tonight we'll look at our approach to work and see how this might help or hinder us in our practice. After that we’ll explore how we can help our mental states by ‘guarding the gates of the mind’.
Week Six: Perfect Awareness and Perfect Meditation - Overcoming what holds us back and cultivating pleasure in meditation.
Tonight we'll round of the course with a look at what awareness is and the mental habits that hold us back from fully experiencing it. Then we'll look at the positive states of mind, or dhyanas that can arise when these mental habits or 'hindrances' abate.

BOOKING: The course itself is offered free of charge but there is a £20 booking fee. This includes a copy of ‘The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path' by our teacher Sangharakshita.

 To Book please follow the link below. You may pay by credit/debit card or PayPal. 

DONATIONS: York Buddhist Centre has no outside income or support and no one is paid. So these classes are given  freely in a spirit of friendship. However we do have rent to pay and utilities and other running costs and we could not meet these without the generous support of those who use our centre. So, if you can, we ask you to make a donation each week when you attend. This is entirely optional but it will help us enormously. We suggest £8 to £12 each week but please give more or less according to your means.

Book Now: £20

Booking Fee includes a copy of 'The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path by Sangharakshita. Apart from the booking fee, there is no charge for the course itself, but we would very much appreciate a weekly donation of £5 to £10 to help cover our costs.

The Team

Joan
Joan
Shakyapada
Shakyapada