This Friday is Buddha's Basics, and we begin watching Robert Thurman's three-episode teaching:  On Buddhism. This week focuses on Buddha. Topics: 

1. The 3 Jewels of Refuge
2. What is a Buddha?
3. Bodhicitta: the spirit of enlightenment
4. Becoming a Buddha
5. Accumulation of merit
6. Accumulation of wisdom
7. Purifying the Buddhaverse
8. Fulfilling the vows
9. The rarity of a Buddha appearing
10. Path to achieving real happiness
11. What is a Buddha?

 About the series: 

"Take refuge in the three jewels, the three precious gems," begins Robert A.F. Thurman's introduction to Buddhism: "the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha." Each of these is the focus of one lesson in Thurman's three-part lecture series On Buddhism, an extremely thorough introduction to the philosophy, theology, and history of Buddhism. Thurman is well-known as a professor of Indo-Tibetan studies at Columbia University, having also translated The Tibetan Book of the Dead into English.  

In these lectures, Thurman patiently takes apart each jewel of Buddhism: the Buddha as the teacher of enlightenment, the Dharma as the teaching, or enlightenment itself, and the Sangha as the historical and current community of learners seeking to become Buddhas. The episodes do not have elaborate production values: these are essentially college lectures. For those who want to gain insight and understanding from a leading scholar, these lectures are an excellent foray into the intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual underpinnings of Buddhism.