02/23/2023 “How the Buddha Found the Path to Awakening” with Walt Opie

Before he discovered the path to awakening, the Buddha tried various ascetic practices in accord with the beliefs of his time in ancient India. One belief was that “happiness cannot be gained through happiness, but instead requires going through (self-inflicted) pain,” according to Bhikkhu Analayo in his book A Meditator’s Life of the Buddha. However, at a certain point the Buddha saw that he was not achieving his goal of liberation, so he began looking for another way. This led him to a realization that certain types of wholesome joy or happiness related to meditation and renunciation might lead in the direction of awakening. The Saturday, February 25 daylong retreat will also touch on this theme and expand on it, but both events are standalone; you may attend one or both. Bhikkhu Analayo’s aforementioned book A Meditator’s Life of the Buddha (Windhorse Publications, 2017) is one of the main inspirations for this theme.