Tag: featured
Avoiding Teacher Misconduct
Buddhist teacher misconduct has been in the news recently. We’ll consider some ways the Buddha’s teachings can point us to a more skillful and secure relationship to teachers and to the teachings themselves. Suttas mentioned: Faith in Individuals (AN 5.250) The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16) The Siṃsapa Grove (SN 56.31) Justin Whitaker’s blog report. Some […]
The Three Marks of Existence
Buddhism’s three marks of existence are the deepest part of the dharma. We will discuss what they are, and how there are subtle differences between their scope. We’ll then look at how they were emphasized in different ways throughout history, and how they’ve made a strong comeback in the modern world due to one influential […]
Two Important (but Rather Overlooked) Episodes in Human History
I Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta — Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion – Samyutta Nikaya 56.11 The End of the Buddha’s First Sermon The Buddha’s First Sermon is a very important event in human history indeed – but fortunately it cannot be said to have been overlooked. In it the Buddha expounds the Middle Way and […]
Episode 300 :: Arno Michaelis and Pardeep Singh Kaleka :: The Gift of Our Wounds
Dhammapada Verse 5 Kalayakkhini Vatthu Na hi verena verani sammantidha kudacanam averena ca sammanti esa dhammo sanantano. Hatred never ends through hatred. By non-hatred alone does it end. This is an ancient truth. The Dhammapada: Teachings of the Buddha translated from the Pali by Gil Fronsdal 2008 Thank you for joining us for this landmark […]
8/26 Practice Circle: Getting Out of Default Mode
I have tended to give concentration practice short shrift. To me, devotion to intense concentration – jhana practice, long sesshins, and the like – seemed like spiritual calisthenics, meditation for its own sake, another skill to attach the ego to. Coming out of the vipassana-influenced MBSR tradition, I thought the tangible benefits of exploring the […]
Of Onions and Anatta
Of all the central notions of Buddhism, anatta ‘no self’ is the hardest to understand. At least it is the most counter-intuitive. Of course I have a self! If I tread on someone else’s toe, I may feel apologetic but I do not feel pain. If someone else treads on my toe I do feel […]
Secular Buddhism and the Real Reasons to Meditate
In the most recent issue of Lions Roar magazine (July 2018), Buddhist teachers representing Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajryana lineages discussed the “real” reasons to meditate. While the responses were insightful and reflected the full range of beliefs among Buddhist lineages, there is a glaring omission: no one presents a secular Buddhist view of the real […]
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