Courses

It is natural for any religious teaching or practice to evolve with time. This nature applies to the Buddhist tradition as well, especially it being a 2500-year-old body of teaching. Therefore, it is expected that the knowledge imparted by Buddhist religious institutions would have undergone such an evolution.
Only a handful of highly educated scholars from a handful of universities where Buddhism is undertaken as an academic study are exposed to the deeper academic discussions, conferences and the knowledge uncovered by new research. Against this background, the knowledge of Buddhism among the common people, who are the majority of the Sri Lankan population, remains highly traditional and conservative.
Therefore, a need for a discussion that provides behavioural change beyond mere traditional knowledge of Buddhism exists. To address this need, the Walpola Rahula Institute has introduced this course, which undertakes a critical study of early Buddhism.
“What the Buddha Taught”, an academic work by Professor Walpola Rahula, an astute Buddhist scholar, was used as the foundational resource in the preparation of this course.