Home

The Buddhist Path of Ethics, Concentration and Wisdom

This special weekly course led by Chuck Damov will explore the three principal paths of Buddhist liberation and enlightenment in both theory, meditation and everyday life. All Buddhist traditions teach that ethics, mindful concentration and understanding the ultimate and relative nature of reality function are the foundations of a liberating spiritual path. The format of this weekly course will be lecture, discussion and guided meditation.

The course will run for 8 Tuesdays beginning January 12th to March 2nd, from 7-9pm. There may be some optional course materials (books) that students can buy as a group, but these are not necessary to participate in the class. Drop-ins are welcome! Suggested donations are $10 a class, though students, under-employed and seniors are encouraged to pay what they can. Please contact us with any questions you may have, using our contact page.

While the Blessed One was living at Savatthi, it seems, a certain deity came to him in the night, and in order to do away with his doubts, he asked this question:

"The inner tangle and the outer tangle—
This generation is entangled in a tangle.
And so I ask of Gotama this question:
Who succeeds in disentangling this tangle?"

When questioned thus, the Blessed One, whose knowledge of all things is unimpeded, ... uttered this stanza in reply to explain the meaning:

"When a wise man, established well in virtue,
Develops consciousness and understanding,
Then as a bhikku [monk] ardent and sagacious
He succeeds in disentangling this tangle."

Buddhaghosa, Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification, transl. Bhikkhu Nanamoli.
(BPS Pariyati. 1991). pp. 5-6.

 

Course Materials

  • A poster for the course.
  • Book: Matthew Flickstein. The Meditator's Atlas: A Roadmap to the Inner World. (Wisdom Publications, 2007). [at indigo.ca] [at amazon.ca]
    Note: This book is a very slight revision of Flickstein's earlier book, "Swallowing the River Ganges."
  • Table of contents from "Swallowing the River Ganges." [PDF document]
  • Some figures from "Swallowing the River Ganges." [PDF document]
  • Homage to Buddha, in Pali [PDF document]
  • Quiz for this course, and here are the answers to the quiz. Both are PDF documents.