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IN OUR TIME
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The big ideas which form the intellectual agenda of our age are illuminated by some of the best minds in the world. Melvyn Bragg and three guests investigate the history of ideas and debate their application in modern life. |
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LISTEN TO THE LATEST PROGRAMME |
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PRESENTER |
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BIOGRAPHY |
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| "I'm fascinated by the fact that we live in a time when so many people are doing fantastic work, and thinking in areas which it's not remotely possible for me to keep up with & and these people are prepared to talk about it. They're prepared to come on In Our Time and other programmes on Radio 4 and try and talk to the rest of us ..." |
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LATEST PROGRAMME |
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THE BUDDHA
Two and a half thousand years ago a young man meditated on life and death and found enlightenment. In that moment he saw his past lives spread out before him and he realised that all life, indeed the very fabric of existence, was made of suffering.
That man was Siddhartha Gautama but we know him as The Buddha. He taught us that we have not one but many lives and are constantly reborn in different forms according to the laws of Karma: an immortality that binds us to a cosmic treadmill of death, decay, rebirth and suffering from which the only escape is Nirvana.
Buddhism was quickly established as a major religion in South East Asia but now two millenia later it is one of the fastest growing religions of the Western world. Why has it captured the spirit of our times? Is it because there is no compulsion to believe in God? And what is it that Western converts hope to get from Buddhism - truth and enlightenment or simply a spiritual satisfaction that Western religion cannot provide?
Guests
Peter Harvey
Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sunderland
Kate Crosby
Lecturer in Buddhist Studies, SOAS
Mahinda Deagallee
Lecturer in the Study of Religions, Bath Spa University College and a Buddhist Monk from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka.
Listen to Kate Crosby
Listen to Peter Harvey
Listen to Mahinda Degalle
Listen to conclusion
NEXT WEEK - MARRIAGE
How did the marriage ceremony evolve and what were its origins? Has the Christian church always promoted marriage? St Paul advocated a life of celibacy but conceded that it was ‘better to marry than burn’. What was the purpose of marriage and when did love come into it? So next week, for better or worse, Marriage with Christina Hardyment, Frederik Pedersen and Janet Soskice.
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