Introduction to Buddhism: A Year In-Depth

Discover your next big insight with your Wisdom Experience membership.

Picture spending a year being introduced to different Buddhist traditions, thoughts, and practices by beloved masters and teachers.

Imagine a world where these profound teachings are at your fingertips, supporting your spiritual journey as you study at your own pace.

Visualize having direct access to this timeless wisdom whenever you seek guidance.

Can you envision it? 

We could, which is why we created the Wisdom Experience. Designed to bring Buddhists practitioners, scholars, and the curious even closer to the heart of the Buddha’s teachings, a membership to the Wisdom Experience means stepping into a world where profound wisdom is accessible, where community thrives, and where your journey on the path is nurtured and celebrated.

Our Introduction to Buddhism: A Year In-Depth program within our In-Depth membership takes that even further and provides a year of study designed to help you develop a solid understanding of the core Buddhist teachings. And our non-profit mission means we’re committed to reinvesting every membership contribution into sharing the Dharma, supporting teachers, and expanding our library of exceptional Buddhist content. Becoming a member or upgrading your membership makes you a vital part of this process. Continue reading to explore everything our Introduction to Buddhism: A Year In-Depth entails, or simply click “Join” to embark on this transformative path now.

Discover a deeper learning experience and go even further on your path.

The Wisdom Experience is pleased to announce the launch of our new membership, In-Depth. Can you envision where you could be in your practice or studies after spending a year delving into various Buddhist thoughts and practices, exploring them across traditions while being lead by beloved teachers? Through your In-Depth membership, you can do just that. We’ve developed the Introduction to Buddhism program as a part of your membership that is specifically designed to help you develop a comprehensive, unified vision of the Buddha’s teachings and their framework.

*By joining the Introduction to Buddhism program are NOT locked into these four courses. Should wish to change any, or all, of the courses and select a different course from the Wisdom Experience Course Catalog you may do so by emailing us at [email protected].

This program will provide you with a thorough understanding of Buddhism across time and traditions.

When you sign up for your In-Depth membership and the Introduction to Buddhism program, you’ll embark on an extraordinary journey with amazing teachers to support your exploration. Be guided through the rich philosophical fabric of Buddhist thought, practices, and beliefs as you explore how they developed and vary across traditions, cultures, epochs, and geographies. You’ll gain a deep, meaningful, and sophisticated understanding of what the Buddha taught, what mindfulness really means, how it intersects with compassion, wisdom, and concentration, before going on to learn about multiple forms of contemplative practices, their underlying theories, and how different traditions work with them. At the end of the year, you’ll have a clear, unified vision of the Buddha’s teachings and both a theoretical and experiential knowledge what makes up these expansive traditions.

Click the button below to join In-Depth and start learning at your own pace.

Wisdom is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which means we’re committed to reinvesting every membership contribution into sharing the Dharma, supporting teachers, and expanding our library of exceptional Buddhist content. By becoming a member, you become a vital part of this process. Thank you for supporting our mission to share the Dharma!

*By joining the Introduction to Buddhism program are not locked into these four courses. Should wish to change any, or all, of the courses and select a different course from the Wisdom Experience Course Catalog you may do so by emailing us at [email protected].

Meet Your Teachers

Jay Garfield is Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Logic Program and of the Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program at Smith College; Visiting Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Harvard Divinity School; Professor in the graduate faculty of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts; Professor of Philosophy at Melbourne University; and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. He teaches and pursues research in the philosophy of mind, foundations of cognitive science, logic, philosophy of language, Buddhist philosophy, cross-cultural hermeneutics, theoretical and applied ethics, and epistemology. He is the author, editor, and translator of several books on these subjects, most recently The Essential Jewel of Holy Practice, a co-translation of verses written by Patrul Rinpoche (Wisdom 2017).

Guy Newland  co-teachers the Wisdom Academy Course The Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. He is Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Central Michigan University, where he has taught since 1988. He has authored, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism, including the three-volume translation of The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment and Introduction to Emptiness. In recent years he has expanded his teachings at Dharma centers to include the topics of death, dying, and grief; he is the author of A Buddhist Grief Observed (Wisdom 2016).

Bhikkhu Anālayo is a scholar-monk and the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthāna, and Satipatthāna Meditation: A Practice Guide. His main area of academic research is early Buddhism, with a special interest in the topics of meditation and women in Buddhism. Bhikkhu Anālayo was born in Germany in 1962 and ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995. In the year 2000 he completed a PhD thesis on the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta at the University of Peradeniya (published by Windhorse in the UK). In the year 2007 he completed a Habilitation research at the University of Marburg, in which he compared the Majjhima-nikāya discourses with their Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan counterparts. Besides his academic activities, he regularly teaches meditation.

John D. Dunne serves on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he holds the Distinguished Chair in Contemplative Humanities at the Center for Healthy Minds. He is also chair of the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures. His work focuses on Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice, especially in dialog with Cognitive Science and Psychology. His more than fifty publications appear in venues ranging across both the Humanities and the Sciences, including Foundations of Dharmakīrti’s Philosophy (2004) and Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics: The Mind (2020). John Dunne speaks in both academic and public contexts, and he occasionally teaches for Buddhist communities. His broader engagements include being a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, where he was previously a member of the board of directors, and serving as an academic advisor to the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the US. She graduated from UCLA, and did graduate work in education at USC. Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, she has studied extensively with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhap Serkong Rinpoche, and Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has co-authored a book with His Holiness the Dalai Lama—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions. Visit thubtenchodron.org for a media library of her teachings, and sravasti.org to learn more about the Abbey. Thubten Chodron featured in Tricycle: “Tibetan Buddhist Nun Blazes Trail for Others to Follow.” See Thubten Chodron’s teaching schedule here.

¹ In-depth members have access to exclusive video content such as multiple 8-week retreats with Lama Alan Wallace, one-day retreats, concerts, etc. They also have access to our entire catalog of movies and documentaries, lecture series, Thupten Jinpa’s Masterclass: The art of Translating Tibetan, and more.
² Wisdom Academy Courses are created by the Wisdom Academy, on branch of Wisdom, and are their own unique products. Newly released courses from Wisdom Academy are not included in the offering for In-depth members.
³ The Wisdom Experience Course Catalog is made up of a selection of Wisdom Academy Courses. To learn more about which courses are included and to see the selection of courses that In-Depth members can select from please click here. In-Depth members can enroll in two courses at a time, and will retain access to all completed courses as long as they are an In-Depth member.

For full terms and conditions including cancellation time periods, click here.