The History of Buddhism in India: The Gradual Unfolding of the Buddha’s Profound Intention
To fully understand the profundity of the Buddha’s teachings it is helpful to also understand its gradual unfolding in this world realm. The view and approach to practice are taught in terms of historical developments over time, and also as a personal evolution of understanding where each stage builds on the insight of the previous. In this course we will explore both traditional and contemporary western scholarly views of this evolutionary historical process. By becoming familiar with the major periods, systems of thought, authors and their texts, we can then understand the core texts of the tradition in a deeper and more experiential way. This will reflect in the stages of our development in understanding the view and our experience of view through practice. Readings will be provided in a sourcebook.