- Fame and Polemics: Lion's Roar of the Heart Sutra
In this second video on the Heart Sutra we'll look at its importance within the history of Buddhist dharma. What is its distinctive, polemical framing? What sorts of claims does it make, and how does it justify them? This all leads to the…
- Heart Sutra: Essence of a New Wisdom
What is the Buddhist Heart Sutra and what does it tell us? We'll look at its history, peruse the text, then discuss some of its key insights through various early commentaries.
- Buddha Nature
What is Buddha nature or the "Tathāgatagarbha"? We'll begin by looking at the roots for these concepts in the early Buddhist texts. Then we'll turn to the origins of the mature concepts in later Mahāyāna texts. Finally we'll turn to some…
- The Buddhist Doctrine of Two Truths: Abhidharma and Nagarjuna
This is a short introduction to the development of the doctrine of two truths in Buddhism. We'll look briefly at the doctrine's origins that are treated in an earlier video, then we'll turn to the role of the abhidhamma/abhidharma in…
- Good Books on Early Buddhism
Lots of folks ask me for recommendations of good books on early Buddhism. I have a bunch of good ones here. This is my fourth YouTube video, so it's a bit rougher than some of the later ones. Apologies and thanks for watching!