- The Knowledge That Can't Be Overpowered — Socrates & the Buddha
Doug takes up Socrates' claim that genuine knowledge cannot be "overpowered" by desire or emotion, and reads it alongside early Buddhism's treatment of the same problem. Distinguishing knowing about what is good for us from the kind of…
- Why Our Deepest Certainties Can Be Completely Wrong
Doug examines whether there is any reliable way to know when we are right, tracing how confident certainty has misled even history's greatest thinkers, and asking whether Buddhist meditative insight offers a better standard. Drawing on…
- Avoiding the Trap of the 'Intelligent Fool' in Buddhism
The Buddha gave us a way to know about the world, but knowledge can become a trap without wisdom. How do we avoid becoming intelligent fools?
- Wisdom Isn’t What You Might Think — The Buddha’s View
What makes someone wise? We'll consider two competing views from the Buddha's day, as reflected in an early sutta. Then we'll see how both views can be integrated into a livelier whole.
- Buddha's Response to Harm: Challenging Wisdom
What does early Buddhism say about responding to harm? We'll explore how the Buddha's teachings on kindness, compassion, and forgiveness inform a wise response to harm in general, and to habitual or unavoidable harm in particular.
- 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.
- "All Dharmas Are Not Self": Have We Got It Wrong?
"All dharmas are not self" is perhaps the deepest wisdom in Buddhism. How should we understand it? We'll look at both a traditional interpretation and a new understanding based on the suttas by monastic scholar Bhikkhu Sujato.
- Buddhism and the AI "Alignment Problem"
Can Buddhist dharma help align AI values with our own? I'll explain how Buddhism provides a model of ethical wisdom training, and why knowledge of it might be helpful to AI researchers.
- Overcoming Arrogance: Story of the Buddhist Monk Malunkyaputta
Who was Malunkyaputta and why was he important in early Buddhism? We'll look at his story: how he began as an arrogant monk interested in intellectual matters and learned how to overcome his problems through meditation and wisdom.
- Universal Healthcare is Dharma: Coronavirus Wisdom
How important is healthcare to society, and to each of us individually? We will consider that question and how it can best be provided. We will also take a look at an event from the Buddha's life that illustrates the essential nature of…
- Coronavirus Wisdom: Learning from Difficulty
The Coronavirus can provide us wisdom teachings. We will look at one in this video. In particular we will look at how important it can be at times to step out of our ordinary lives and in so doing overcome our ordinary tendencies towards…
- Constructing a Daily Practice
How should we go about constructing a daily practice? We will look at several aspects that could go into it, including ethics, meditation, and wisdom infused by regular reflection and sutta readings.
- Greatness and Wisdom: Two Opinions
What is human greatness? What makes someone wise? We'll look at a couple of opinions on these matters, the Buddha's and that of another powerful and influential person of his day.
- Buddhist & Stoic Wisdom for a Skeptical Age
Today we will look at Antonia Macaro's great new book "More Than Happiness: Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Sceptical Age". We'll consider what it says about the projects early Buddhism and Stoicism have in common, as well as mention some…
- Knowledge and Wisdom: What's the Deal?
What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? Should our aim be to pursue one or the other? We'll look at these questions in this video, and also discuss the role of contemporary skepticism and science.