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Mangala Sutta
- Lim Fong |
The Maṅgala Sutta is a discourse of the Buddha on the subject of 'blessings'. In this discourse, the Buddha describes 'blessings' that are wholesome personal pursuits or attainments, identified in a progressive manner from the mundane to the ultimate spiritual goal.
This sutta consists of 38 blessings and it is one of the best known and popular short discourse. It is commonly used for recitals in Theravada Buddhist countries. This sutta serves as a fundamental text for Buddhist laity, helping them to lead a life of blessings.
Prerequisites
To take this course, the prerequite is to have some basic knowledge of Buddhism. Nevertheless, this online course will have adequate notes with detailed commentaries so that even beginners would have no problem following.
Course Information
Objective of the course
- To enable learners to appreciate the finer points of the Mangala Sutta
- To help learners realize what "true blessings" are, as taught by Buddha
- To help learners put into practice these blessings so that their personal lives are spiritually enriched.
- Dissect the sutta into its parts, so as to guide the learner to analyse its finer points.
- Introduce Pali terms and give explanations to their meaning, usage and content within this sutta
- Identify characters and the role they play in the sutta, with stories added to clarify their behavior and intent.
Topics covered in this course
Module 1: Introduction - Origin
Module 2: Stanza I - Oneself a Gentleman
Module 3: Stanza II - Appropriate environment
Module 4: Stanza III - Proper Education
Module 5: Stanza IV - Healthy family life
Module 6: Stanza V - Healthy social life
Module 7: Stanza VI - Healthy individual life
Module 8: Stanza VII - Spiritual preparation 1
Module 9: Stanza VIII - Spiritual preparation 2
Module 10: Stanza IX - The spiritual Path
Module 11: Stanza X - The Spiritual Fruit
Methodology of the course
The course is geared towards adult self paced learning. We encourage learners to explore certain subject matter of the suttas and decide what aspects are most important or relevant to their own interests. From there, we allow them to explore their own areas of interest while still controlling the overall setting for learning. We hope leaners will enjoy the extra autonomy. The methodoloy is quite straight forward, and entails the following:
- Access to course materials (self paced learning) by chapters.
- There will be quizzes at the end of each chapter to test comprehension and understanding.
- A progress bar will display each learner's level of completion.
- After the completion of the entire course, a digital badge will be awarded that determines the quality of their completion.
- Learners can always go back to the course materials at any point to further their studies.
Coaches
Lim Fong