The Buddhist Psychology Road Map – the Buddha’s story and the Four Noble Truths.
The core teachings of Buddhism provide a framework for understanding mental process. In particular, the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, was said by the Buddha's disciple, Shariputra, to be the 'elephant's footprint' into which all other teachings can be fitted. This teaching therefore can be seen as explaining the core of Buddhist thought and, as such, offers us a model for understanding the structure of ideas in Buddhist psychology. It can be interpreted as showing the two potential paths between which we find our direction in life. One path reflects the spiritual path to awakening, whilst the other is a path of avoidance in which we try to escape the realities of things which are frightening or uncomfortable through a variety of habitual distractions. In this session, we will look at this core teaching in some detail, seeing how it emerged from the Buddha's own journey and how it can offer us guidance in understanding our patterns of response to life's difficulties. We will look at the way that it shows us points of leverage where choices can be made between engaging and disengaging with life's challenges.
Part of the Buddhist Psychology series. Sessions can be booked standalone so don't worry if you missed previous sessions.
About Caroline Brazier: Author of seven books on Buddhism, psychotherapy and ecotherapy and many chapters, papers and articles. Caroline has taught Buddhist psychology, ecotherapy and psychotherapy for more than thirty years, latterly through the Tariki training programmes. Alongside this, she has worked as a therapist and supervisor; work which continues now that she is semi-retired. She has also worked in a number of community settings over the years including community education, women's health projects, community arts and running residential retreats. A Buddhist for many years with experience in a number of traditions, Caroline took Tokudo ordination in the Jodo Shinshu school in 2018. She is also a mother and grandmother and enjoys plenty of family time.
