Course description
The increasing interest in Buddhist spiritual caregiving and mindfulness is partly due to a disproportionate increase in mental distress and decrease in wellbeing, and the promise and potential of Buddhist approaches to these topics.
The current popularity of mindfulness is at a peak and quite encouraging. However, there is often a lack of authentic input from the ancient Buddhist wisdom traditions. This lack has become an obstacle to deepened, embodied experiences, and has made mindfulness techniques often mechanistic and have diminished their true value and effectivity.
The Buddhism team at the VU aims to cater for the need and the demand for rooted mindfulness by enabling students to explore the holistic and authentic Buddhist tradition that base mindfulness in its natural home.
This course will introduce Buddhist mindfulness in theory and practice with special focus on Spiritual Care. We will learn about the basics of authentic Buddhist practice and mindfulness in context of globalisation; learn mindfulness meditation and practices; we further learn about Buddhist Chaplaincy in theory and practice and learn selected tools of applied Buddhist care such as Insight dialogue.
The course is guided by the Mitta Sutta (SN5 Magga) in the Pali Canon which discusses seven qualities of a noble/good friend:
1. Giving what's difficult to give
2. Doing what's difficult to do
3. Bearing up what’s difficult to bear
4. Keeping others' secrets
5. Revealing one's own secrets
6. Doesn't abandon one in misfortune
7. Doesn't despise one in misfortune
These seven characteristics of a good friend are matched with real-life and work requirements such as assessing spiritual needs of a person, assessing religious needs of a care-receiver, practicing ethically, confidentiality, communication skills, team working and maintaining one's own practice respectively.
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