Journey Through the Four Noble Truths of Socially Engaged Buddhism (A 3 Day Workshop on Integrating Personal and Social Transformation) led by Jonathan Watts
Objectives & Style:
Using the Four Noble Truths as a system of pedagogy, we will explore the path of Socially Engaged Buddhism with reference to its history and contemporary practitioners. In this way, there will be space for meditation practice, exploration of personal motivations and goals, interpersonal sharing of ideas, and intellectual study of Buddhist teachings in a contemporary context.
Outline of Contents:
Day 1 Morning: An Introduction to the History and Praxis of Socially Engaged Buddhism
Day 1 Afternoon: The 1st Noble Truth: Entry into Dukkha & Personal Suffering
Day 2 Morning: The 3rd Noble Truth of Personal Transformation through Buddhist Psychotherapy & Chaplaincy
Day 2 Afternoon: The 2nd Noble Truth of the Dependent Origination of Structural and Cultural Injustice
Day 3: Morning: The 4th Noble Truth of Social Transformation: A Buddhist Approach to Holistic Development
Day 3 Afternoon: Notes on a Sustainable Buddhist Revolution: Self-Care & Sangha
About Teacher:
Jonathan Watts began working at the main office of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) in Bangkok in 1990 shortly after graduating Princeton University in the United States where he was born and raised. Under the tutelage of renowned Thai engaged Buddhist Sulak Sivaraksa and the teachings of one of the earliest articulators of progressive modern Buddhism, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, he has spent the last thirty years immersed in the international engaged Buddhist movement. Moving to Japan in 1993, he has worked in a variety of Socially Engaged Buddhist fields there, such as end-of-life care, suicide prevention, Buddhist chaplaincy, anti-nuclear activism, and holistic Buddhist development. In 2023, he published a two-volume set on the historical development of Engaged Buddhism in Japan and its contemporary practitioners. In 2009, he also edited a volume called Rethinking Karma: The Dharma of Social Justice, which presents Buddhist social issues in the Theravada world.
Please note- “attendance in all sessions is mandatory.”
For queries, registration & accommodation, please email: info@deerpark.in