Buddhism (early)

Why Buddhism? I'll discuss a couple of quick reasons why we might want to consider adopting a Buddhist outlook and Buddhist practice into our lives.

You want a crash course in Buddhism? Here are four of the shortest descriptions of the dharma of early Buddhism: four ways to get a handle on the Buddha's teaching. We will look at what they tell us, and how they help us triangulate on…

What is early Buddhism? On this channel I highlight early Buddhist teachings from a contemporary perspective. We will look at early Buddhism and its sources and consider some of its doctrines and pitfalls.

How did Buddhism begin? We'll look at its place in the "axial age" of great thinkers who changed the world, then turn to the historical context in which the Buddha's ideas arose. Where did his ideas come from? What did he accept, and what…

We'll take a step back and look at the reason why I started making videos for this YouTube channel, why I feel that the teachings of early Buddhism are so interesting for today. We'll look at how their teachings compare with contemporary…

Academic study of early Buddhism has waned to near nothing, if a recent editorial by eminent scholar Richard Gombrich is anything to go on. I'll discuss why this should concern us.

Today we'll touch on a bit of the early history of Buddhism and its context within ancient India, its social structure, and a little about some later developments. Thanks for watching!

What does the word "dharma" mean in early Buddhism? We will look at several ways it's used in the texts, and discuss its importance. For further information, see Rupert Gethin, "He Who Sees Dhamma Sees Dhammas: Dhamma in Early Buddhism".…