The Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths contains the entire path to awakening and gives us all the practises we need in our current life. Indeed it is the Path of Life, or the Path of Living.

This Path –the Eightfold Path– is traditionally divided into three distinct training emphases. These are: Wisdom, Ethics and Meditation. This list is cyclic, rather than strictly sequential, and each training supports the other two. Through meditation we may gain flashes of wisdom, which illuminate an aspect of ethical behaviour; we meditate more in order to refine this new insight, and so on. This illustrates how flexible and adaptable the Buddha’s teachings can be, and yet retain their depth and effectiveness. The Three Trainings could be likened to a “cheatsheet” of the entire practise of the Dharma in the crucible of our daily lives. Indeed as the great Buddhist scholar and practitioner Nagarjuna once wrote: there is no samsara distinct from nirvana, no nirvana distinct from samsara, and not even a subtle difference can be found between them.

We will look at each training over three sessions, starting with Ethics, followed by Meditation and lastly Wisdom. As in other talks, we will be looking at what the traditional Pali texts tell us, and then we will investigate how we can apply this knowledge in our daily practise of life. Aimed at those who wish to know – or know more – about what Dharma practise entails, these talks will attempt to present the teaching in a pragmatic, easy to approach manner.

Pierrick Parigot has been a practising Buddhist for over 25 years. He has learned meditation and has been taught much on the Dharma (Buddhist Teachings) when involved with the Triratna Buddhist Order. Pierrick has also led, co-led and organised Buddhist retreats and workshops in France and here in New Zealand. Pierrick tries to present the Dharma in ways that are easily accessible to most people, and immediately applicable in daily life.

The Dharma is a living teaching, enacted by us, not just words in dusty tomes, and it is Pierrick’s wish to offer this teaching in a dynamic and enthusiastic way, by involving the audience in the discovery of the Buddha’s message.

Contact: Claire cbc@rigdzin.org