Thanks. That should be really interesting. Ven Analayo has mentioned visiting Ven Nanananda in some of his previous courses, but I don’t recall him saying anything specific about his ideas.
just some further information for those interested: Ven Anālayo knew Ven Ñāṇananda in Sri Lanka and is the one who transcribed the audio lectures and compiled the references for the footnotes. Ven Ñāṇananda translated the lectures into English himself.
Highly highly highly recommend Ñāṇananda’s work, in particular the Nibbāna Sermons!
I’m having trouble finding any details - how does it work? It will be pre-recorded video to watch at any time, or some kind of live streaming? If the second, are there any hours mentioned anywhere?
Yes, apparently the full set will be 3 years, one course each spring.
This year he will not give live lectures. Instead there will be a prerecorded lecture posted each week. As in previous years, there will be a discussion /Q & A forum. @tuvok, you can click on the ‘register’ link in the mail and they will send you a confirmation e-mail. The first lecture will be up on April 7 (see schedule following that) and at that point I believe the discussion forum will also be open.
Here is an interview BCBS did with him talking about the course.
I just listened to the first class lecture, which was an introduction by Bhikkuṇī Dhammadinnā on the historical, scriptural and epistemological foundations of Ven Ñāṇananda’s ‘Nibbāna sermons’. I found it to be excellent. Ven Anālayo will begin his lectures covering the first 11 Nibbāna sermons on April 21 and continue each week with the course ending on July 7.
I think it’s still possible to sign up until registration closes on April 20. I’m very grateful to BCBS and the Univ of Hamburg for hosting & supporting this course, what a gift. And of course to Vens Anālayo & Dhammadinnā.
I am really enjoying this course. Fans of Ven Ñāṇananda often seem to me to focus on philosophical analysis. Perhaps they see him as a successor of Ven. Ñāṇavīra…
I have particularly appreciated how Ven Anālayo brings out the intimate connection of these lectures to the practice of the monks at the monastery they were living in at the time. This, of course, is obvious if you read between the lectures carefully, and examine Ven Ñāṇananda’s books on meditation on http://seeingthroughthenet.net/books/, but it was useful to have it emphasised.