Date: 9 – 17 May 2024
Time: Various timings
Venue: Onsite at the Buddhist Library and Facebook Live
Click here to see full details including registration link

About the Teaching Tour

The BL has always brought in renowned scholars to illuminate the teachings of the Buddha, and we are delighted to be bringing to Singapore renowned academic Dr. Asanga Tilakaratne, Founding Head of the Department of Buddhist Studies at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and former Director of the prestigious Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya. In this tour titled Buddhism: Addressing Challenges in Our Understanding, we hope to benefit the entire spectrum of practitioners and students of Buddhism, as well as those keen to learn more about the religion.

To provide holistic teachings with some depth, several of the 8 programmes offered will be multi-session classes that take place across different days.

About Dr. Asanga Tilakaratne

Dr Asanga Tilakaratne

Asanga Tilakaratne (PhD, University of Hawai’i), Emeritus Professor of Buddhist Studies, was the Senior Chair Professor of Pali and Buddhist Studies and Founding Head of the Department of Buddhist Studies at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

He was the Director of the prestigious Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, from 2003 to 2006, and has served as Visiting Professor at numerous universities across the Asia-Pacific. He was previously also a Senior Commonwealth Fellow at Oxford University.

Dr Asanga has published both in Sinhala and English more than 20 books and one hundred papers, and currently serves as the Editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, Government of Sri Lanka, Colombo.

He is also Founder of the Sri Lanka Association of Buddhist Studies, an academic and professional organization of Buddhist scholars in Sri Lanka, and the Founding Chairman of Damrivi Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on economic, social, educational and spiritual development.

Programme Booklet 

Click below to download the Programme Booklet, which shows the session timings in list and timetable format.

PROGRAMME BOOKLET


Programme at a Glance

S/N Talk Title Date and time
1 Vijñānavāda of Vasubandhu Thu 9 May, 1.30pm – 4.00pm
2 Public lecture: Attaining Peace and Happiness (Through the Teachings of Buddha as Found in the Pali Canon) Thu 9 May, 7.00pm – 9.30pm
3 Public lecture: Different Approaches to Well-Being: Buddhism, Classical Western Philosophy, Secular Approaches and More Fri 10 May, 4.00pm – 6.30pm
4 Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana: Appreciating the Traditions

(4 parts over 2 days)

 Part 1: Sat 11 May, 10.00am – 12.30pm

Part 2: Sat 11 May, 4.00pm – 6.30pm

Part 3: Sun 12 May, 1.30pm – 4pm

Part 4: Sun 12 May, 7.00pm – 9.30pm
5 Sutta Class: Dhammacakkappavattanasutta & Alagaddūpamasutta (3 parts over 1 week) Part 1: Tue 14 May, 10.00am – 12.30pm

Part 2: Thu 16 May, 10.00am – 12.30pm

Part 3: Fri 17 May, 10.00am – 12.30pm
6 Buddhism in Comparative Perspective: a Discussion Tue 14 May, 4.00pm – 6.30pm
7 Nirvana, the Philosophy of Religious Experience and Language
(2 parts over 2 days)		 Part 1: Wed 15 May, 1.30pm – 4pm

Part 2: Wed 15 May, 7.00pm – 9.30pm
8 Śūnyatā of Nāgārjuna Thu 16 May, 4.00pm – 6.30pm

Venue

All sessions will be held at the Buddhist Library, and also streamed live on our Facebook page.

Address: The Buddhist Library, 2 Lor 24A Geylang, S398526
Facebook page: click here

Registration

We will endeavor to accommodate all who wish to attend any of the programmes. That said, we would appreciate if you could register to help us plan better.

Click below to register.

Suggested Donation

To defray the costs of the teaching tour, do consider making a donation. We estimate that a donation of $10 per session attended will help us recoup costs e.g. $10 for the 10 May lecture “Different Approaches to Well-Being”, $40 for the “Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana” four-session programme, etc. but all amounts are welcome.

The most expedient way to make a donation is by PayNow to UEN S81SS0026HBRS or scan below; do include the text “Bacu” in the Reference field. For other ways to donate, please see here.

FAQ

As we do not have unlimited seats, we encourage you to register only if you can make all the parts of the programmes which have multiple parts. We hope you can make the time to do so.