Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. CT
April 7 – 21 (3 classes)
This course explores the Buddha’s discovery of the fundamental laws that govern existence. The Buddha taught the principle of conditioned arising to explain how things come to be without the need for an all-powerful being to orchestrate existence. This principle applies to karma, rebirth, the continuity of samsara, and the path to liberation.
These laws of nature, like the laws of physics, operate whether they are known or not. Through understanding these principles, it becomes possible to bring greater direction toward enlightenment.
See below for the full course syllabus.
Suggested cost: $45
Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s) that can be viewed for four weeks following the conclusion of the program.
Course Syllabus
Week 1: The Law of Karma
The Buddha’s teachings on this natural law explain how intentional actions have consequences for the agent, in this life and in future lives.
Week 2: The Process of Rebirth
Rebirth in Buddhism teaches that birth is not the beginning, nor death the end, of the stream of consciousness. In Samsara, the moment of death is one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation of mind and body. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical to nor entirely different from that of the deceased; together they form a causal continuum or stream.
Week 3: From Samsara to Nirvana
This law describes how all existence arises through causes and conditions and reveals the relationships that keep beings in Samsara. The path to enlightenment is also a causal process, in which certain conditions naturally lead to insight, liberation, and the end of Samsara.
John Cianciosi was ordained a Buddhist monk in Thailand in 1972 and trained under the late Venerable Ajahn Chah. Later, he was appointed abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat, the International Forest Monastery established to provide training for the growing number of Ajahn Chah’s Western disciples. In 1982, he was asked to establish a Buddhist monastery in Perth, Western Australia, and for the next 14 years was instrumental in successfully establishing Bodhinyana Monastery and Dhammaloka Buddhist Centre. In 1995, he left monastic life and moved to the Chicago area, where he continues to share his insights and wisdom. He is the author of The Meditative Path and is currently the director of public programs at the Theosophical Society in America.
Program Format
This is a live, interactive online program that will also be recorded. Registrants will receive on-demand access to recording(s) that can be viewed for four weeks following the conclusion of the program.
Join online via a Zoom link that will be emailed upon your registration. Please download Zoom for free at zoom.us/download and test your connection at zoom.us/test. For further information, check out www.theosophical.org/FAQ or email webinars@theosophical.org.