22^nd March – 16^th April  – The Dilemmas of Ethics  – A course in change through ethical and behavioural awareness.

For the next 5 or 6 weeks we will be exploring the Buddhist path through a course on ethics. The emphasis of Buddhist Ethics is on personal change. Change that supports our deepening human life and understanding. We will be doing this with an emphasis upon the practical. 

Ethics in the Buddhist context means more than just awareness of right and wrong or good and bad. It is about finding ways to transform those aspects of our behavioural and relational life that hold us back from a fuller human experience. 

In this course we will be looking at our own particular behavioural and relational patterning and the specific ways that we can change what is unhelpful and encourage what is helpful in us and in our life and world. We will do this supported by our awareness of the Buddhist framework of the five precepts.

We will be forming into small groups or ‘kulas’ for the duration of the course and in these groups we will bring the ethical issues that we want to explore. This means we will need to think about what it is that we want work on in ourselves. Doing this in a small group environment requires trust and sensitivity with each other and we will also be exploring practical skills and awarenesses that can help us to become better listeners in this context. 

This way of working will be familiar to those who are more deeply involved in Triratna. There is an emphasis in Triratna upon Sangha as a practical and lived experience and the sort of format we will be adopting, especially for those who might be new to the Triratna Buddhist Movement, will hopefully give a taste of what is possible within the practice of Sangha.

Week 2: This week we start with a short talk about working with Buddhist ethics and a recap about listening skills and the format of the group work.

(No need to have attended previous weeks)