Ministers in the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) began performing same-sex marriages approximately forty years ago. These were among the first clergy-led religious ceremonies for same-sex couples performed in the modern era, and were apparently the first such marriages conducted in the history of Buddhism. In this article, I seek to explain why Jodo Shinshu Buddhists in America widely and easily affirmed same-sex weddings in the later 20th and early 21st centuries. My argument is that there are three factors in particular—institutional, historical, and theological elements of American Shin Buddhism—that must be attended to as contributing reasons why ministers were supportive of same-sex marriage.
]]>Wanderers of other religions advocate three kinds of seclusion. What three? Seclusion in robes, almsfood, and lodgings.
While other religions’ monastics focus on external seclusion, the Buddha taught his monastics to be inwardly restrained.
]]>Perhaps to the ordinary believer the very idea of upholding the precepts themselves promised safety as much as moral improvement…
]]>The essay asks what an enlightened moral sensitivity might require, and concludes in challenging the Zen tradition to consider reengaging the Mahayana Buddhist practices of reflection out of which Zen originated in order to assess the possible role of morality in its thought and practice
]]>This essay responds to Brian Victoria’s critique of Zen social ethics by attempting to answer his question about Japanese Zen masters before and during the Second World War: how could they seemingly act without moral conviction in confronting the crisis of their time? How could Zen manifest itself in anything less than morally admirable actions? By assessing the role of morality in Zen tradition, the paper considers how the Zen tradition might extend itself in response to the moral impasse that these questions bring to light.
Learn well yourself this Law
That the Blessed One has taught;
Teach it to others in compassionate love
By the results of skillful acts performed.
Bar forever the roads to realms of woe
A 15th century, Sri Lankan poem beautifully exhorting the listener to the ethical life and to right view.
Listen to the poem in the original Sinhala on Archive.org.
And if this poetic translation is a bit hard to follow, see the more prosaic translation, Towards a Better World.
]]>Pure Land Buddhists in America seek to create a Pure Land here on Earth through ritual acts of devotion, care for animals and human beings, study, meditation, and acting compassionately in the public sphere.
]]>According to our Buddhist sutras, the way things were handled in the age of the Buddha, we can’t act in a spirit of revenge. We cannot treat animals in a hateful or angry spirit.
In this brief question and answer, Master Sheng-yen discusses different contexts of taking life and their moral valence. Throughout the interview, Sheng-yen repeatedly points out that there are usually other options in common situations other than taking a life.
]]>Against the background of guidelines on non-killing and developing ideas on the release of captured or domesticated animals, this study focuses on how vinaya (disciplinary) texts deal with dangerous and/or annoying animals, such as snakes, mosquitoes, and flies. Are there any circumstances in which they may be killed, captured, or repelled? Or should they be endured and ignored, or even protected and cherished, at all times? This paper discusses the many guidelines relating to avoiding—and, if necessary, chasing away—dangerous and annoying animals.
]]>All of these proposals call for meticulous care to reduce the risk of harming the creature. In this sense, animals, such as snakes and mosquitoes, seem to be assured a better life in comparison with domesticated or hunted animals. This distinction reflects the somewhat uncomfortable balance that Buddhist monastics must achieve between respecting the life of individual sentient beings, including all animals, and adhering to social conventions in order to safeguard their position in society.
These are the five benefits of good conduct.
]]>one accomplished in vision is a disciple of the Buddha.
]]>Let him be able, and upright and straight,
Easy to speak to, gentle, and not proud…
“What should be done” by us Buddhists.
]]>A true hero will be prepared to sacrifice much of himself or herself for others.
This brief essay discusses two similar Jataka stories that show how the Bodhisattva sacrificed himself to relieve the suffering of others. S. Dhammika muses on the purpose of such stories.
]]>The question, then, is whether we desire and are able to organize society according to higher principles or whether we will surrender to the lowest common denominator approach of capitalism.
]]>The index of moderated mediation from the Five Precepts was significant (b = -0.019 (95%CI -0.029, -0.009)).
]]>Observing the Five Precepts offers evidence that it buffers the effect of perceived stress on depression. People with high levels of observing the Five Precepts are less likely to develop depressive symptoms.
The well-behaved have many friends,
because of their self-restraint.
But one lacking ethics, of bad conduct,
drives away their friends.
]]>Ethical conduct is the starting point and foundation;
the mother at the head
of all good things:
that’s why you should purify your ethics.
Monks, there are these eight bonanzas of merit, rewards of skillfulness, nourishments of happiness…
]]>Ten things hinder the ten likable, desirable, and agreeable things that are rare in the world.
]]>… your conscious mind is more a press secretary. You’re not the president or the king or the CEO. You aren’t in charge. You aren’t actually making the decision, the conscious part of your mind at least. You are there to make up a good explanation for what’s going on so that you can avoid the accusation that you are violating norms.
]]>Greed is to be abandoned neither by body nor by speech…
Some things are to be abandoned through wisdom.
]]>The snake, the scorpion, the centipede, the mongoose, the cat, the mouse, and the owl, or any other animals that creep away when they see people. Thus a being is reborn from a being; one is reborn through one’s deeds.
Those who do the ten kinds of bad deeds are like creepy creatures and are reborn as such.
]]>Someone with forty qualities is cast down to hell…
]]>A mendicant might wish: ‘May I be liked and approved by my spiritual companions, respected and admired.’ So let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.
If a mendicant wishes to attain spiritual heights, they should begin by practicing the monastic rules.
]]>Now a great producer of happiness is the making of good kamma. What is good about it? It is rooted in non-greed (generosity, renunciation), or in non-hate (loving kindness, compassion) or finally in non-delusion (wisdom, understanding).
In this booklet, Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli Thera offers a translation of Majjhima Nikāya 57, 135, 136, and 41 with a brief introduction to each sutta, highlighting the importance of wholesome states of mind, right intention, and right mindfulness in generating good kamma. There is also a short but humorous and insightful preface.
]]>Mendicants, don’t fear good deeds. For ‘good deeds’ is a term for happiness…
The Buddha recalls the results he himself has experienced from doing meritorious deeds.
]]>Kamma is action; vipáka is result. Therefore kamma is the active principle; vipáka is the passive mode of coming-to-be.
A collection of essays by five different authors that explain actions and results and how this understanding plays a role in cultivating the Buddha path. The essays are:
Just as, Kassapa, gold does not disappear so long as counterfeit gold has not arisen in the world, but when counterfeit gold arises then true gold disappears, so the true Dhamma does not disappear so long as a counterfeit of the true Dhamma has not arisen in the world, but when a counterfeit of the true Dhamma arises in the world, then the true Dhamma disappears.
Kassapa asks the Buddha why there are now more rules but fewer awakened mendicants. The Buddha explains the five factors that lead to the decline of the religion.
]]>However, if you simply practice with the mind, neglecting body and speech, that won’t work either. They are inseparable.
]]>Take a golden mountain,
made entirely of gold, and double it—
it’s still not enough for one!
The Buddha wonders whether it is possible to rule justly, without violence. Māra appears and encourages the Buddha to try it.
]]>Results reveal a compassionate culture towards this marginalised group, for which Buddhist lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGBs) cultivate self-acceptance through Buddhist teachings, such as the clarification of nature and manifestation, Buddhist equality, and proper interpretation of precepts. These teachings also encourage inclusiveness.
]]>Bhikkhus, it is good for a bhikkhu from time to time to review his own failings. It is good for him from time to time to review the failings of others. It is good for him from time to time to review his own achievements. It is good for him from time to time to review the achievements of others.
Devadatta’s downfall was from not overcoming the eight worldly winds.
]]>The grass, sticks, branches, and leaves of India would run out before that person’s mothers and grandmothers.
Saṃsāra has been going round for a long, long time.
]]>It has to do with spending a great amount of time in a meditative state where I am able to connect with people [energetically] in anticipation of meeting them [physically].
An African-American, Buddhist herbalist explains how she’s able to build communities of care across political and cultural divides.
]]>If you’re peaceful, learn from peace. If you’re not peaceful, learn from not-peace.
Ajahn Jayasaro offers a talk covering a wide variety of themes on Buddhist practice during and outside formal meditation practice, such staying mindful and cultivating wholesome thoughts.
]]>A diligent layperson observing these duties
Ascends to the gods called Self-luminous.
The proper code of conduct for followers of the Dhamma.
]]>Mendicants, all the hard work that gets done depends on the earth…
]]>Any bhikkhu who is skillful in this, diligent, clearly comprehending and ever mindful, is said to be standing in an ancient, primal noble lineage.
Contentment with any old robe, alms-food, lodgings, and love of meditation: these are ancient traditions of the noble ones.
]]>There are, mendicants, these ten topics of discussion…
]]>… based upon virtue, established upon virtue, a bhikkhu develops and cultivates the Noble Eightfold Path
]]>King Pasenadi of Kosala had returned from the war front, victorious in battle, his purpose having been achieved. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala set out for the park.
Fresh from battle, King Pasenadi declares his love and devotion to the Buddha.
]]>… wine at minimum conduces to madness
The karmic results of breaking the five precepts.
]]>Aspiring to these three forms of bliss, a wise person should guard his virtue.
]]>Buddhist ideas about suffering narrow the shape any acceptable theory of welfare may take. [This] narrowing process itself is enough to reconstruct a philosophical defense of the forms of life endorsed in Buddhist texts.
]]>What kind of person, bhikkhus, is like a rainless cloud?
Three types of people: one like a cloud without rain, one who rains locally, and one who rains everywhere.
]]>What should one who desires the good
not give away?
What should a mortal not reject?
… can you point out a fruit of giving that’s apparent in the present life?
The Buddha teaches General Sīha the benefits of giving.
]]>I’d hold his head with my left hand, and take [the stone] out using a hooked finger of my right hand, even if it drew blood.
The leader of the Jains, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, gives his disciple Prince Abhaya a dilemma to pose to the Buddha.
]]>Because of these meritorious deeds, I have been born as a very beautiful devata
A deva explains how keeping the precepts and being a follower of the Supreme Buddha can bring happiness.
]]>To defend the innocent is a bright deed. To kill is a dark deed. To kill in defense of the innocent is a deed both bright and dark
On how the Buddhist tetralemma helps us to approach ethical questions with an appropriate level of compassion, nuance, and humility.
This essay constitutes Bhante Sujato’s (somewhat elliptical) response to the now-infamous Bodhi/Thanissaro debate on “Just War.”
]]>… if sentient beings only knew, as I do, the fruit of giving and sharing, they would not eat without first giving
]]>The lay life is like farming in that it’s work with many requirements and when it fails it’s not very fruitful; but when it succeeds it is very fruitful.
Working hard is not valuable in and of itself; what matters is the outcome. And just as in lay life, spiritual practice may or may not lead to fruitful results.
]]>… digital technology often seems to make it harder for us to respond in the right way when someone is suffering and needs our help
]]>… social interaction is more complex and frequent than before
A few sage words on “playing around.”
]]>… observance of the monastic rules was not intended to be only a matter of acceptance of institutional rules and lifestyles. […] educated monks understood a causal connection between the exercise of ethical behavior in a monastic lifestyle and progress on the path
Mahayana (and Tantric) Buddhism is often portrayed as antinomian or even “lay oriented” but, while certainly a strand, did not constitute the mainstream understanding, even in late India.
]]>… an ethical theory centered on the experience of an individual where perception and affect are the loci of moral development
]]>Are we really living according to our ideals?
A talk on overcoming philosophical laziness.
]]>The third, and most important, reason [Buddhism uses narratives to communicate its ethics] is that we are narratives ourselves.
A defense of Buddhism as Philosophy from the Western perspective.
]]>… for Śāntideva, since vice is always ultimately rooted in confusion, and the elimination of confusion issues in virtue, there can never be a situation in which one really knows what is right but chooses what is wrong. There is always a failure of knowledge, not just of will, in vicious action.
An introduction to Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra.
]]>You should not evade self-responsibility for your own actions by blaming them on circumstances.
]]>There’s enough overlap to make conversation possible and enough difference to make that conversation worthwhile.
Philosopher Jay Garfield talks about getting into Buddhist philosophy from the Western, academic tradition, and introduces the classic book of Mahāyana ethics by Śāntideva.
]]>Feeling comfortable with one’s balance of harmful and helpful actions is qualitatively different from reducing harm in the first place.
]]>We ask Gotama, the Eye that has arisen in the world:
Is one a brahmin by birth, or by action?
Explain to us what we do not understand –
how to know a brahmin.
What makes someone respectable?
]]>… you should ignore that person’s impure behavior
A series of remarkable similes illustrate the lengths we should go to to remove resent.
]]>Brahmin, I don’t say that coming from an eminent family makes you a better or worse person. I don’t say that being very beautiful makes you a better or worse person. I don’t say that being very wealthy makes you a better or worse person.
The Buddha strongly rejects the caste system and the “prosperity gospel” interpretation of Karma.
]]>[In Buddhism, morality] is not concerned so much with the result of one’s actions on other people as it concerns the result of one’s actions on one’s own mind.
An excellent introduction to Buddhist ethics and its place in the path to liberation, including answers to many frequently asked questions.
]]>I do not like the ‘single issue’ approach to Dhamma. However, a few years ago I had an encounter which made me realize that inquiries about homosexuality should be given my whole attention.
]]>… prostitutes do not, or at least do not necessarily do, wrong, and do not break the Third Precept. Men who visit them likewise do not
A preliminary investigation of the orthodox, Theravāda definition of “sexual misconduct.”
]]>Should you find a way to peace and happiness,
Strive constantly to put it into practice
Raise your spirits and encourage yourself.
And always meditate on emptiness.
should laziness or procrastination strike,
Immediately take note of your errors, one by one,
And remind yourself of the heart of your discipline.
]]>Practising like this, you will complete Accumulations of both merit and wisdom,
And eliminate the two forms of obscuration.
You will make this human life meaningful,
And, in time, gain unsurpassable awakening.
… someone with this wholesome state of mind looks at unwholesome, unkind actions and speech in the same way as if he were invited to excrete in the middle of a marketplace
]]>We are committed to living simply and sharing our time, energy, and material resources with those in need.
]]>By thinking of all sentient beings
As more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel…
For a commentary on these verses, see Finding Genuine Practice.
]]>Bodhisattvas who genuinely take the bodhisattva vow of ethical discipline do nothing but act for the benefit of beings, either directly or indirectly, but unless one is skilful in benefiting these beings, no matter how much one does, it might not benefit beings, but could actually be a direct or indirect cause of harm.
An excellent summary of what to take into account in ethical decisions: useful for any serious practitioner.
]]>Buddhism is a middle course, a via media; pragmatic and innovative
A smartly written introduction to the sociology of Buddhism from the inside looking out.
]]>Practicing Buddhism is the art of being peace, the art of promoting peace, in society and in the world. We all should learn this art.
A speech calling for mindful, ethical living in the new millennium according to Buddhist principles.
]]>… this paper aims for a philosophically more nuanced discussion of the case for and against eating locally. I assess, in turn, locavore arguments based on environmental preservation, human health, community support, agrarian values and political concerns
]]>If we have learned one thing from the #MeToo campaign, apart from just how pervasive sexual violence is, it is that we as a society do not have a clear, uncontested idea of what sexual consent looks like, and that we do not all universally and equally value it.
A lucid treatment of an important and difficult subject, this book should be considered required reading for anyone who wishes to navigate their sexual relations more skillfully or who wishes to understand the contemporary discourse about sex.
]]>… the vast majority of Americans (97 percent) are forfeiting the chance to enhance their well-being by practicing real generosity with their money.
]]>The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll.
]]>… a bhikkhu who is without ardour and without fear of wrongdoing is incapable of attaining enlightenment
]]>This book is intended to provide an introduction to the teachings of the Buddha which will shed some light on a subject that, to non-Buddhists, can appear both unexpectedly rational and exotically strange.
A consise and admirable introduction to Theravāda Buddhism by one of Thailand’s most charismatic converts.
]]>They feel safe around you, and because you, out of genuine compassion, never intend to harm them but only try to be of help, they also feel a sort of joy in your presence.
A short introduction to the Bodhisattva Precepts and on seeing the positive side of the familiar five.
]]>A lay follower living at home with these five qualities is self-assured.
Confidence or lack thereof in layfolk is due to their precepts.
]]>… whenever we practise the bodhisattva’s actions–the trainings in generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation and wisdom–it will cause this bodhicitta that is the union of emptiness and compassion to increase further and further.
A transcript of a short talk on how the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is taught in the Tibetan tradition.
]]>All of us want some happiness and no one wants to suffer, so every action we take is motivated by the thought of how can I be happy, how can I avoid pain. In a world already divided in so many ways, we create a world of our own.
A short essay introducing the interplay between compassion and wisdom.
]]>I give you back 1948.
A poem about what time can do to a person.
]]>Forget you. This is about waiting
A poem which shakes ‘work’ from its masculine frame and recenters it, not on you, on your brother.
]]>Psychopaths are more likely to be attracted to singing, dancing, love, light, miracles, and channeling. Usually psychopaths have a great deal of trouble sitting quiet and still. I appreciate the boring facade of Buddhism, as it is a great protection.
A new age mystic gives his advice on how to identify psychopaths on the spiritual journey.
Despite Bill’s many painful experiences, he never lost his faith in the transformative, human potential to awaken. His lifetime of spiritual stumbling is a rich source of warnings and advice, especially for Westerners still struggling to get a foothold in a tradition.
That said, however, the book’s interpretation of “enlightenment” should be taken cautiously, as his understanding seems to come from ecumenical assumptions that the various “contemplative traditions” (never defined) all describe the same goal. A bit of a black sheep even within the heterodox, secular “Insight” community, Bill Hamilton is best read with his own warning in mind, that “monks and nuns make safer teachers than laypeople, especially if they are actively associated with their tradition.”
]]>If someone gives up this body to continue with another body, I say that this is indeed a serious fault. If someone has given up this body and does not continue with another body, I do not say that this is a serious fault.
]]>The key is to focus on two distinctions: systems as distinct from individuals, and having privilege as independent of choosing how to engage with it.
]]>You can also listen to this book on YouTube.
]]>… bodily conduct that harms oneself, harms others, harms both; that destroys wisdom and fosters evil; that does not [lead to] attaining Nibbāna, does not lead to knowledge, does not lead to awakening, and does not lead to Nibbāna.
]]>The gift of fearlessness, if extended beyond its classical scope to include the challenges of xenophobia and terrorism threats, is a capacious framework through which to probe the moral contours of contemporary refugee policy and the security concerns of states.
]]>Buddhist ethics corresponds to a more generic, act-centered virtue ethics.
]]>For at least the Pāli Buddhist tradition, the cessation of suffering is the sole intrinsic good.
]]>… critics have highlighted a number of weak points in Buddhist arguments thus far about environmental issues. Nevertheless, Buddhism does provide resources for constructing an environmental ethic.
]]>Protecting oneself, bhikkhus, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.
A reading of SN 47.19.
]]>There are a few English translations of this classic of world literature. Steven Bachelor has a free translation (linked above), but I strongly prefer the Padmakara translation published by Shambhala in 1999 for its unparalleled accuracy and force.
]]>Mansplaining is not a universal flaw of the gender, just the intersection between overconfidence and cluelessness where some portion of that gender gets stuck.
A classic essay (updated slightly in 2012) on casual misogyny which prompted the addition of “mansplaining” to the lexicon.
]]>Notice especially how the Westerner philosophers tie themselves into knots trying to classify Buddhist Ethics according to their inferior theories and dogmatic rejection of karma.
]]>If you can intentionally kill out of compassion, then fine, go ahead. But are you sure? Are you sure that what you think are friendliness and compassion are really friendliness and compassion? Are you sure that some subtle aversion and delusion have not surfaced in the mind?
]]>]]>Such an interpretation is a fruitful one, both in the sense that it increases our understanding and that it motivates to engage in Buddhist practice.
For Bhante Sujato’s reply to their debate, see his essay On deeds of war.
]]>Such cultivation of mindfulness provides the foundation by establishing the balance within oneself that then enables helping others.
On how mindfulness can help us face climate change productively.
]]>The young people of today are not usually impressed by the wisdom of their elders.
A surprisingly humble and nondogmatic essay on sex.
]]>… whatever the various reactions to a Buddhist monk people might have, fear is highly unlikely to count amongst them. People see a Buddhist monk and they know that he is not dangerous
]]>Thought is the source of desire.
A fairy sings a love song for the Buddha, and Sakka asks a few deep questions.
]]>“Possessions, honor, and popularity are brutal, bitter, and harsh. They’re an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary.
So you should train like this: ‘We will give up arisen possessions, honor, and popularity, and we won’t let them occupy our minds.’
In which the Buddha compares attachment to wealth to a dung beetle proud of her dung.
]]>Take a person who kills living creatures. If we compare periods of time during the day and night, which is more frequent: the occasions when they’re killing or when they’re not killing?
The Buddha rejects the poorly phrased fatalism of a Jain follower and gives an alternative method for overcoming bad karma.
]]>What are the qualities that make one a contemplative?
The Buddha gives an overview of the path from the perspective of ethics, from the establishment of shame all the way to the realization of the highest good: Nibbāna.
]]>Thus, Rahula, you should train yourself, ‘I will not tell a deliberate lie even in jest.’
Using the “object lesson” of a cup of water, the Buddha explains to his son, Rāhula, the importance of telling the truth and reflecting on one’s motives.
]]>What is the cause, what is the reason why, of the two persons without a blemish, one is said to be worse and one better?
On the importance of mindfulness in our cultivation of virtue.
]]>“Be my heirs in the teaching, not in material things.”
Venerable Sāriputta explains how by following the Buddha’s example we can experience the spiritual fruits of his path.
]]>Furthermore, a mendicant is attached to their own views, holding them tight, and refusing to let go. This too is a quality that makes them difficult to admonish.
Venerable Mahā Moggallāna lists 16 qualities that make someone difficult or easy to admonish.
]]>‘What the hell, Kāḷī!’
Mendicants, there are these five ways in which others might criticize you. Their speech may be timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, beneficial or harmful, from a heart of love or from secret hate. When others criticize you, they may do so in any of these ways. If that happens, you should train like this: ‘Our minds will remain unaffected.’
Even if low-down bandits were to sever you limb from limb, anyone who had a malevolent thought on that account would not be following my instructions.
If you frequently reflect on this advice–the simile of the saw–do you see any criticism, large or small, that you could not endure?”
A discourse full of vibrant and memorable images on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism.
]]>The ghosts who lust for our dedication [of merits] are like beggars. Only a tiny fraction of the merits we have accumulated can be shared with them
]]>If we are satisfied, then we will not want more. Wanting more is delusion. We think that it will be better if we can just have this person. But instead of getting better, many problems follow.
A short talk on the ten kinds of unwholesome action from MN41.
]]>Here, bhikkhus, someone in pain and grief abstains from killing living beings, and he experiences pain and grief that have abstention from killing living beings as condition.
In this sutta, the Buddha admits that following the ethical path isn’t always pleasant. Still, he assures us it’s worthwhile in the end. But the best path of practice is that which is pleasant now and in the future.
]]>During my first weeks with my teacher, Ajaan Fuang, I began to realize that he had psychic powers.
]]>There is no single “swiss-army knife” technique that works equally well at all times; instead, we must carefully examine our present conditions and determine what practice is most relevant.
]]>What is the one thing, O Gotama, Whose killing you approve?
]]>… use these five methods to completely get rid of resentment when it has arisen towards anyone
Five reflections to eliminate enmity in brief.
]]>Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks to a charnel ground…
How a person may have the same defects as a cemetery.
]]>Householder, there are these four kinds of happiness that may be achieved by a layperson
The happiness of ownership, using wealth, debtlessness, and blamelessness.
]]>The mind of equanimity, poised beyond the play of worldly opposites, is the highest safety and security, but to gain this equanimity we stand in need of guidance. The guidance available cannot protect us from objective adversity. It can only safeguard us from the dangers of a negative response—from anxiety, sorrow, frustration, and despair. This is the only protection possible, and because it grants us this essential protection such guidance can be considered a genuine refuge.
In this important treatise, Bhikkhu Bodhi gives context and rigorous definition to the refuges and precepts based on the traditional commentaries. If you want to know exactly what makes someone “a Buddhist,” this is the book for you.
]]>The suttas featured are:
]]>As for the question of suffering in the future—in this life or the next—don’t overlook your heart that’s suffering right now.
A collection of Luangta’s talks delivered to lay people. A beautiful collection of sermons from one of the great modern masters.
]]>Discriminatory views and practices are the antithesis of Right View, and they undermine the Middle Path by perpetuating identification with concepts of independent, constant, inherently existing selves and others
A brief outline of the discrimination faced by women across the Buddhist world, and a thoroughly cited argument for rejecting sexist views, even those that can be found in the Buddhist Canon.
]]>…when these people meditate they’re awfully grim.
Ajahn Geoff reminds Westerners to ground their meditation practice in generosity.
]]>It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief
This discourse is one of the few teachings in the canon (along with the teachings on mindfulness) which the Buddha declared as “categorical”: always applicable and useful in any situation. This sutta gives, better than any other, the overall direction of the teachings, and is a helpful rubric to refer back to.
]]>It’s only natural that joy springs up when you have no regrets.
This lovely sutta reassures us that the path to awakening is the natural result of cultivating and perfecting ethics.
]]>What lies behind this insistence on love is a worry: without a deep-seated fear that one day love would no longer exist (or exist in the same way) why would anyone feel that they have to insist upon it so much?
Applying Buddhist wisdom to an area of our life we all care about deeply — our relationship with our loved ones — Ajahn Jayasaro makes the teachings relatable and applicable. An excellent sermon and well worth a read.
]]>You will experience many sensual pleasures in your life: food, music, sex and zombie movies. You should become aware as well of the great joy, a pleasure beyond the sensual, that comes with generosity. Become aware that this joy is greatest when your intentions are purest, when the recipients of your generosity are worthy and when the manner of giving is proper. This joy is the direct experience of the merit you have earned.
This book gives a gentle and readable introduction to the Buddhist path of self-transformation and transcendence with a heavy emphasis on virtue.
]]>Freud in particular developed the concept that freedom means acting on one’s desires. … From a Buddhist standpoint, this notion is totally twisted
Buddhism has a lot to contribute to the pressing problems of modernity. In this article, Powers briefly explores four such domains: individualism, science, freedom, and morality.
]]>