Videos

Buddhist Teachings: The Noble Eightfold Path

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The heart of the Buddhist teachings can be found in practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. It is a guide for us to follow if we want to walk the path of awakening and enlightenment. It consists of eight trainings that can be summarized into three parts: the training of wisdom, morality and meditation. It is a holistic practice in that all the eight trainings are interrelated and each is as important as the other. The Noble Eightfold Path involves the practice of Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

Buddhism is often referred to as a philosophy or a way of life. In this video I explain how the Noble Eightfold Path can be integrated into our lives to help us lead a happier life that incorporates the Buddhist principles of peace, compassion and wisdom.

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The Four Noble Truths

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The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are fundamental teachings in Buddhism. They are considered equally important among all the Buddhist schools and are central to the core of Buddhist beliefs. Sometimes Buddhists are criticized for always talking about suffering (because of the First Noble Truth); yet the majority of Buddhist teachers I’ve come across, if not all, are the most peaceful and joyous people I’ve ever met. So surely, there is more to Buddhism than just suffering.

In this video I explain how the Buddha taught the 4 Noble Truths to show us how we can move from a state of unrest to attaining an everlasting peace and happiness, known as nirvana or nibbana. But first, like any good physician, before prescribing the medicine, the Buddha had to diagnose our problems and show us why we feel less than one hundred percent happy most of the time, and what we can do to fix this.

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Letting Go & Developing Unconditional Love with Mindfulness

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Learning to let go is something we need to do often during our lifetime. Sometimes we let go by choice and other times we are forced into letting things go. You could say mindfulness practice belongs to both categories: by choosing to practice mindfulness we are forced to let go of the past. Mindfulness is a practice that gives complete attention to the here and now, without entertaining thoughts about the past and the future. Mindfulness is an invaluable tool for helping us to let go of the past, be it our stories about ourselves or others. In this video I explore the personal freedom and happiness we can gain from letting go of our past stories. We don’t need to be a prisoner of our past mistakes or painful memories anymore. And I discuss how mindfulness and letting go of our past stories about others can improve our relationship with them and allow us to generate an unconditional love towards them; a love that isn’t based on past experience and expectations.

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Samatha Meditation (Mindfulness Meditation)

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This is an ancient technique that works wonders in our modern world. Not only does it help us to relax, but it brings clarity to our busy mind. The two breathing exercises shown in this video are what are commonly taught when people come to learn meditation as a tool for increasing mindfulness. Mindfulness is a hot topic at the moment and is being taught everywhere from schools to businesses, it’s no longer a practice exclusive to monasteries and temples. People are deriving the great benefits of mindfulness, specifically by practicing mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness meditation, more commonly known in Buddhism as Samatha or Calm Abiding Meditation, is a technique practiced across all schools of Buddhism, though it is more favored in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Regardless of your religion or beliefs, this simple meditation technique focuses entirely on one’s breath and can therefore be practiced by everyone.

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4 Key Characteristics about Buddhism

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From the conversations the Buddha had with his followers we are able to learn some important aspects about Buddhism and the reason why the Buddha taught what he did. In this video I introduce some sutras that highlight four key characteristics of the Buddha’s teachings. In particular this video investigates whether blind faith is the order of the day in Buddhism or whether there is room for logical analysis and personal investigation, whether we need to expand our theoretical knowledge before we begin any sort of practice, and whether Buddhism is something that we should or shouldn’t become attached to.

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Tripitaka and the First Buddhist Council

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Recording the Buddha’s teachings was perhaps the most important legacy left to us by the Buddha’s followers of monks and nuns. The Tripitaka (its name in Sanskrit) or Tipitaka (in Pali) are a large body of the Buddha’s teachings that were recorded after the Buddha’s passing away. It was at the First Buddhist Council that the Buddha’s teachings were first recalled and committed to memory. The Tripitaka (also known as the Pali Canon) is composed of the Vinaya, Sutras and Abhidhamma (or Abhidharma). These form the foundations for what are considered some of the most important Buddhist scriptures.

There is no single book that can be pointed to as a ‘Buddhist bible’, rather there are volumes of teachings that are attributed to the Buddha, and you would need a whole bookcase to house them all. Fortunately, there is no requirement for a Buddhist practitioner to read the whole Pali Canon, and Buddhist literature is not limited to the Pali Canon alone, but they possess some of the most fundamental teachings required for a basic Buddhist education (namely, The Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path).

In the Suggested Reading section of my website you can find many great Buddhist books I highly recommend reading.

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