Great Minds 4, The Buddha

I will begin today a series of lectures given by Grant Hardy, PhD, drawn from a long series of 36 lectures entitled: Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition. We will be concerned of course with the representative figures of Buddhism, although there is much of interest in other sections of this series.

The lectures are part of a series recorded for The Great Courses, which I have previously drawn upon for talks by Prof. David Eckel, which provided an excellent introduction to their subject.

In the first talk Dr. Hardy is talking about the Buddha, and gives a very competent overview of the life and teachings of the Buddha in a concise fashion, which touch on all the main topics which are important for a general understanding.

Topics covered here include the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Noble Path, the three characteristics, the four immeasurables, and the precepts for lay and monastics.

Other figures coming up in successive weeks will focus on Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Xuanzang, Dogen, Padmasambhava and others.