Archive for January 2017
What Is Dependent Arising?
By Linda Blanchard I said that dependent arising is both very simple, and very complex, but always helpful, and worth the effort to understand. Let me start with the very simple. It Really Is Simple Dependent arising says that we come into the world with certain drives that cause us to build a view of…
Read MoreYes, Dependent Origination Can Be Saved
This post is going to get personal. It can’t be helped. I’ve looked for some other way to write it, but there isn’t one in which I can be straightforward and tell the truth. I’m not going to attack anyone. I might — oh, okay, I will — argue against methods and conclusions, though. But…
Read MoreA Camera Vipassana – Essential Buddhist Insights Through Photography
For some years I have been deepening my understanding of certain Buddhist principles through the practice of photography. These realisations have happened very slowly but deepened over time. The core tenets of Buddhist reality are not easy to realise, especially when they have to do with the way we see & experience the world. But…
Read MorePractice Circle: The Antidote to Hatred
In this world Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, Ancient and inexhaustible. Dhammapada As a mother watches over her child, willing to risk her own life to protect her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, suffusing the whole world with unobstructed…
Read MoreEpisode 268 :: Professor Richard Gombrich :: Buddhism in the Modern World
Richard Gombrich Professor Richard Gombrich speaks with us about Buddhism in the modern world. The term living tradition may seem as much an oxymoron as, well, Secular Buddhism. And yet this organic vitality is a hallmark of Buddhism, even and perhaps especially today. There have been growing pains as Buddhism rubs up against, and eventually…
Read MoreStrong Views and Skillful Action
Western Buddhists tend to be wary of strongly-held views. Holding and asserting views with strong emotion or passion is often seen as a form of unskillful clinging, based on an egoic need to be recognized as right, a competitive struggle over who has the best views, or an aversion to another person’s ideas. Strong views…
Read MoreThe Buddha Before Buddhism: Review of Fronsdal
In his new book The Buddha Before Buddhism, Gil Fronsdal undertakes a translation of the Aṭṭhakavagga or Book of Eights, one of the Buddha’s most profound and enigmatic teachings, also widely considered one of his earliest. As is to be expected from his previous translation of the Dhammapada (2005), Fronsdal’s book is lucid and readable, one that should…
Read MoreEpisode 267 :: Nathan Jishin Michon and Daniel Clarkson Fisher :: A Thousand Hands: A Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community
Nathan Jishin Michon and Daniel Clarkson Fisher speak with us about A Thousand Hands: A Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community. Many of us who attend a Buddhist or meditation center simply stop by a few times a week, or perhaps just once for a community sit. Some may also volunteer their time and…
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