Read the Dīgha Nikāya
The Long Discourses of the Buddha
About this Course
Join us for a comprehensive dive into the majestic first collection in the Pāli Canon, the Dīgha Nikāya, or Long Discourses of the Buddha. In these texts, the Buddha talks with seekers, kings, ascetics, Brahmins, and gods, describing the path to liberation using endlessly diverse skillful means.
This course was recorded during our first Book Club series, where we met monthly, exploring together the Dhamma the chants call “well-expounded, apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation, leading inwards, to be experienced individually by the wise.”
We read the entire collection, roughly in order of difficulty, beginning with several gorgeous, simpler discourses. Though they are largely accessible once you get the sense of the style, some experience in meditation and Buddhist teachings will be helpful. If you need a more basic overview of Buddhist practice in the suttas, you might check out the courses called Path Classes, which work through a set of discourses intended to provide a foundation for Theravāda practice.
Path Class 2 | Rebuild Your Attention: Buddhist Practices for Focus, Clarity, and Joy
Path Class 3 | Seeing the Dhamma: How Practice Leads to Understanding
The Long Discourses is one of the more narrative-centered collections of the Buddha’s discourses, and the collection traditionally understood as being more directed toward laypeople.
Join us for a comprehensive dive into this beautiful, ancient collection of spiritual writing.
Take this Course
All courses are offered in the Gift Economy model. This course is available on a wide sliding scale, based on self-assessment of your income and ability to offer your resources in a way that supports others with lesser resources to attend. Please support us in using the Gift Economy model by engaging sincerely with the process and selecting the highest level you can on the sliding scale (or beyond it). Your generosity directly gifts scholarship support to those who need it, and allows us to share these teachings with everyone who might benefit from them, regardless of access to wealth. Thank you!
SELECT A TIER TO ENROLL:
Further scholarships are offered as widely as possible and based on request. Our goal is to not turn anyone away for lack of resources, both for this course and future offerings. Email us here to request a scholarship.
What’s included
34 video lessons, covering roughly one sutta from the Dīgha Nikāya per video
Further study and additional resources included throughout
Lifetime access to the course!
Meet your teacher, Dr. Sean Oakes
He/they, queer, Puerto Rican & English ancestry, living on unceded Pomo land in Northern California
Sean teaches Buddhism, Yoga, and somatic practice, focusing on philosophical inquiry, trauma healing, devotion, and social engagement as expressions of the Dharma. He wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance, and teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and elsewhere. Read more about…