Early Buddhism—Lectures

Bhikkhu Bodhi

Lectures

• Source: Bodhi Monastery website
  • The Buddha’s Teaching As It Is (10 lectures)
    (alternate source: YouTube Playlist)
    Fundamental teachings of Early Buddhism
  • A Study of the Pāramīs (10 lectures)
    The word pāramīs literally means perfections. The southern Buddhist commentaries define the Pāramīs as “noble qualities beginning with giving, accompanied by compassion and skillful means, and untainted by craving, conceit, and wrong views.”
  • A Systematic Study of the Majjhima Nikaya (156 lectures)
    The direct teachings of the Buddha himself as preserved in some of the oldest records of his discourses.
  • The Sutta-Nipāta (40 lectures)
    The Sutta-Nipāta contains some of the oldest discourses in the Pali Canon. It is a rich source of texts offering guidance to lay Buddhists and also abounds in suttas that extol the contemplative ideals of early Buddhism.
  • A Course in the Pali Language (34 lectures)
    Pali is the language used to preserve the Buddhist canon of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which is regarded as the oldest complete collection of Buddhist texts surviving in an Indian language.
    [Note: also of interest to the Pāli student will be the following information:
    • the Pāli section of our Canonical Texts Web page,
    • Access to Insight‘s Web page of Pali Language Study Aids, 
    • SuttaCentral‘s online discussion, ‘Online Pali Courses,‘ and
    • Introduction to Pali by Ajahn Brahmali.]

 

 
Bhikkhu Anālayo

Since the Chinese Madhyama Āgama is equally as early as the Pāḷi Majjhima Nikaya, the comparison of corresponding pairs of Majjhima chapters is especially interesting. Bhikkhu Anālayo has spent many years studying these (as well as Sanskrit) parallels. He was a coeditor of the BDK English Tripiṭaka, which is available on the BDK America website as a series of free downloads.

Here are some of his lectures from the University of Hamburg’s website.

Lectures

Karma & Rebirth in Early Buddhism — 2015
Sutta Central Karma & Rebirth category discussion group
Archived at Wisdom and Wonders:

• Course Overview
• Workshop 1 — Mythbusting
• Workshop 2 — Historical Context
• Workshop 3 — What the Suttas Say
• Workshop 4 — The Evidence
• Workshop 5 — Going Deeper
• Workshop 6 — Reflections