Early Buddhist Discourses (Book Review)

If you are curious to read where the Buddha’s teachings came from and want a small sampling of discourses, or suttas, that reveal the basic teachings, the book Early Buddhist Discourses edited and translated by John J. Holder may be just the book for you. This book is similar in organization and breadth as Glenn…

Read More

Episode 98 :: John Peacock :: Buddha the Radical to Creeping Brahmanism

Scholar and Associate Director of The Oxford Mindfulness Centre John Peacock joins us to speak about secular views of early Buddhism.

It’s strange, thinking from our current vantage point, that the religious edifice we call Buddhism might not have been intended by the Buddha to become such an edifice. But, unless we take a closer look, unless we allow ourselves to think outside what the traditions are telling us, we might miss that potential fact of this pragmatic and beneficial practice.

Read More

The Buddha’s Teaching on Loving-Kindness: A Mature Path to Awakening

In much contemporary Buddhist teachings, the paths of the heart are often relegated to second place behind the primacy of Wisdom on the path to awakening. In the earliest texts, however, the Buddha appears to consider the cultivation of kindness and compassion as a fully viable and equal path to awakening, to enlightenment, to Nibbana.…

Read More

Buddhism Before the Theravada (Audio, John Peacock) & Comments

I’ve  listened to the first audio recording of a series of six talks called Buddhism Before the Theravada, speaker John Peacock, held at the Insight Meditation Center. This talk is fascinating! John Peacock gives a really great history of the times Gotama lived in, and additionally he relates the importance of that history as context…

Read More

The Buddha On Love

“Suppose, bhikkhus, a man loved a woman with his mind bound to her by intense desire and passion. He might see that woman standing with another man, chatting, joking, and laughing. What do you think, bhikkhus? Would not sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise in that man when he sees that woman standing with…

Read More

Basic Teachings of the Buddha

I’ve just finished reading  Basic Teachings of the Buddha by Glenn Wallis for the second time, and I must say I really like this book. In fact, I wish I had had it years ago when I first started my exploration into Buddhism. I will be referring to this book in years to come. So…

Read More