Some of the earliest teachings in the Pali Canon may surprise you!

SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde has undertaken three “study/meditation” retreats with Venerable Analayo, one of the premier scholars of the early Pali Canon.  Bhikkhu Analayo researches the earliest teachings and determines their authenticity by comparing them to the Chinese āgamas (brought to China 300 years after the Buddha’s death), as well as portions which have survived in Tibetan translation and in Sanskrit. The āgamas’ existence and similarity to the Sutta Pitaka are sometimes used by scholars to assess to what degree these teachings are an historically authentic representation of the Canon of Early Buddhism. Sometimes the differences between them are used to suggest an alternative to the accepted meaning of a sutta in either of the two recensions.  Bhikkhu Analayo is the first Westerner to translate many of these texts from the ancient Chinese.

At the Analayo retreat — held in April 2017 at Insight Retreat Center for teachers and senior practitioners —a wealth of information was offered. Topics included (but were definitely not limited to!) the early teachings on forgiveness, conceptual thinking, sickness and death (research derived from his new book, “Mindfully Facing Disease and Death”) and many other relevant topics for today’s practitioner. Community Mentor Diane Wilde will share what she learned at the retreat and the practical application of these teachings in everyday life.