University of the Third Age

On Friday 19th April I gave a talk to a University of the Third Age ‘philosophy and ideas’ group.  It was in a lovely Victorian hotel beside Rest Bay, Porthcawl.  It was possibly the largest group I had ever addressed and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  They asked many interesting and intelligent questions and expressed great appreciation of the content of my presentation.

Brief outline of the talk:
Shakyamuni Buddha
Fundamental Sutrayana teachings including: Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path; Middle Way; Anatman – as they were a group interested in philosophy I included the Four Denials and Four Philosophical Extremes
Brief outline of different approaches to Buddhism in different schools and vehicles (yanas)
Tantra and Dzogchen

For the last 20 minutes I talked about what it means for me to be a Buddhist, and showed images of some of our retreats and craft projects.

I took questions throughout the talk, rather than waiting till the end as I like the way this makes a talk more relevant for your audience.  They said that they would invite me back to talk to them again and I would be delighted to do so.