Four Noble Truths Online Course
A Short Course on The Four Noble Truths
This short course includes video, reflections, and the chance to comment and ask questions
This course is temporarily closed while we move the content to another platform. Join our mailing list if you’d like to keep in touch.
A great big thank you for this introduction to Buddhism it has been clear and concise and I thought very relevant to modern life.
– Allan, Nov 2015
You can find a list of the classical 4 Noble Truths pretty quickly on the Internet. If that’s all you’re looking for, we invite you to stop reading and just click the orange link above and we’ll email you our take on the 4 Noble Truths.
Or, if you’re looking for something that goes into more depth and introduces you to the 4 Noble Truths with a modern view, you’re in the right place.
You’ve found a short, interactive course that will give you a good sense of what the Buddha was talking about in his first teachings after his awakening.
Your guide is Clear Sky’s former Chairman, Duncan Cryle, who gives you clear explanations of the 4 noble truths – the key concepts that provide a foundation for understanding what Buddhism is all about.
What does the course cost, and how does it work?
You can sign up with no obligation and choose to donate – or pay by the heart – at any time before, during, or after doing the course.
The modules are short, with a mix of video and text. We’ll email you reminders every few days to help you through it. You can also skip around, and just take what you want from the course. You can ask questions and we’ll do our best to reply quickly.
We recommend taking your time, though. The Buddha thought this was pretty important, after all, if it was the very first thing he decided to teach!
Write comments, write replies to other people. Let things sink in.
Photo credit: Pixabay.com/Helena
I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who worked so hard to bring this course about. I am intrigued and will continue to learn and go deeper.
– Dino, Nov 2015
How this course came about
Without the group intention to work together, to awaken together, and create a 300-acre meditation center, this course wouldn’t be here.
We all need a source of connection, energy and focus – a place, a refuge or focal point – to keep making a positive difference in this busy world.
Have you noticed it’s kind of difficult to keep our heads above water by ourselves? That’s why Clear Sky exists. All the people who gave time to making this course happen have chosen Clear Sky as their refuge. Working and studying together is our path.
This course gives you a taste of what we do and, however you approach it, we hope you get something from it.
Your Teacher:
Duncan Cryle:
I’m the former Clear Sky Chair, a certified Mindfulness teacher, Dharma teacher, and an IBM Executive in Toronto.
Through 15 years of teaching meditation and mindfulness, alongside an active career working all over the world, I’ve learnt a lot about an integrated spiritual path. With a Ph.D. in philosophy in my pocket, I was gung ho to join a monastery until I met my root teachers Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat in Japan in 2001, who turned my views upside down and encouraged me to grow and contribute at the busy end of life!
A founding member of Clear Sky in 2004, I’m amazed at the power that working together in compassionate service has for enriching and widening spiritual growth. Combined with a dynamic relationship and a challenging career, I have fun with a wide-ranging and holistic approach to spiritual growth.
The course explores in a fresh, relevant way central teachings of classical Theravadin Buddhism, and ways the teachings are evolving to speak to the reality of the fast-moving lives we lead.
– Course Creator Duncan Cryle, PhD. Blue-chip executive, and former Clear Sky Chairman
Here are some noble reasons to sign up, and the course contents
- Get the 4 Noble Truths, the basics of the Buddhist teachings, in a fresh and relevant way that helps you really understand them.
- Original content, mixed with video content from other eclectic sources such as Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Stephen Fry and Eckhart Tolle, gives you more than one point of view and allows you to make up your own mind about what you hear.
- This online content gives you a no-commitment look at the kind of thing Clear Sky is doing, and prepares you for further study with us or in your own way.
- The suggestions for further study will give you a direction if you want to continue.
- These testimonials show that people like you are enjoying it!
This course has inspired me to continue to meditate in accordance with the 4 Noble Truths. Thank you.
– George, Jan 2016
Course Contents
- Welcome to The 4 Noble Truths – Buddha Dharma 101
- Introduction to Buddha Dharma
- The Four Noble Truths
- Wrapping up – further exploration