Tpcs in Theravada Buddhist Tht

Catalog description

Taught by GTU. TOPICS IN THERAVADA BUDDHIST THOUGHT: LOVING KINDNESS AND ETHICS This class will provide an introduction to the Buddha's approach to ethics and the role of love in his ethical system and our spiritual lives. This class will first look at the surviving record of what the Buddha taught about loving kindness and related forms of love. We will then survey how the teachings on loving kindness changed and developed through the history of Theravada Buddhism up to the present. With this as a foundation, we will also study how Theravada teachings on loving-kindness have been both adapted by Western Buddhists and applied to secular, therapeutic purposes by contemporary psychologists. The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Grading will be based on class participation, reflection papers and analytical papers.