Sangharakshita

Sangharakshita | Founder of Triratna

It gives me great pleasure to know FBA benefits so many people. One of the most important developments within our community for many years.

It gives me great pleasure to know FBA benefits so many people. One of the most important developments within our community for many years.

What Do We Really Know About the Buddha?
Cambridge
26:21
0:00 0:00
0:00 0:00
  • 1 Introduction; Who was the Buddha; The Buddha both as a human being and archetypal representation of enlightenment 03:05
  • 2 Humanity of the Buddha; Reading from the Analysis of the Elements Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya 03:54
  • 3 Traditional story of the Buddha as Bodhisattva; Four biographies of the Buddha; Reading from the Lalitavistara Sutta 04:14
  • 4 Factual knowledge of the teaching is difficult; Knowledge was pooled and compiled many years after the Buddhas death 02:20
  • 5 What historical facts can we know; Buddha was a member of the Shakya clan but was almost certainly not a prince 01:55
  • 6 Gotama goes forth - quite common at the time; Reading from Aryapariyesana Sutta has no mention of a wife or child 03:23
  • 7 The novelty of the teaching and the great intellect of the Buddha 05:34
  • 8 Conclusion; The Buddha as someone motivated by compassion; Uniting the human and archetypal versions of the Buddha 01:56

Talk Details

A lovely talk here from the excellent Dhivan. Be prepared for the odd surprise as he considers the relationship between what we think we may know about the Buddha, and what the historical evidence suggests. As Dhivan sifts the information that's come down to us, we meet several different versions of a human being as he blurs with the archetypal presence he has also come to represent. Yet whichever manifestation we prefer, more than anything this talk brings us face to face with the rich and moving legacy of a brilliant and truly compassionate individual, changing the world he took part in, stepping out of history "with the walk of a lion, the walk of a swan".

Talk given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2008