Leaders of New Thought were first exposed to Buddhism and Vedanta philosophy through the publications of European Orientalists and the Theosophical Society and, later, though personal contacts with Asian Buddhist and Hindu missionaries. In addition to D. T. Suzuki, who helped to spark American interest in Japanese Zen, other important early missionaries were Anagarika Dharmapāla, a Sri Lankan Buddhist and Theosophist, and Swami Vivekenanda, an Indian monk of the Ramakrishna Order who launched the Vedanta Society in North America. New Thought leaders, Theosophists, and Asian missionaries met in person at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions and continued to develop relationships for more than a decade, particularly at the Greenacre conferences in Eliot, Maine. This chapter reveals the transnational nature of New Thought, which is typically considered to be an American metaphysical religious movement.

Since fear discourages the aspirant and dissuades him from seeking seclusion, staying in the wild was a proven method for reducing and eventually eliminating this kilesa (defilement).

This is the first part of chapter three from “Forest Recollections” focusing on Thudong monks of the early 20th century who used their fear of animals in the jungle to train their minds and overcome their attachments.

…importation of an ordination—an act of using trans-regional monastic intermediaries to enable local initiators of reordination to start a new monastic lineage—did not necessarily entail the transplantation of the lineage of the intermediary or any features associated with that lineage in its location of origin.

This book chapter explains transregional ordination lineages in early modern Southern Asia. It does this by following the movements of the monk Sāralaṅkā, an eighteenth-century Thai monk who traveled to Kandy and then to Burma. The overall study attempts to show that, even in a short period of time, imported ordination developed its own independent identity within its new surroundings, and how even trans-regional monks adapted to local conditions.

This selection from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand was published for free distribution by the Lam Rim Buddhist Centre of South Africa.

The Buddhist attitude to any such revelation would be that of accepting what is true, good and sound and rejecting what is false, evil and unsound after a dispassionate analysis of its contents without giving way to prejudice, hatred, fear or ignorance.

K. N. Jayatilleke outlines three broad means of spiritual knowledge, where Buddhist thought fits in, and how this compares to the major religious thought at the time of the Buddha.

The three means are: revelation, reason, and direct experience. Jayatilleke places Buddhism squarely in the third category. He then explores these means of knowledge as viewed by the materialists, Jains, and followers of the Vedas, comparing them with Buddhist thought.

So there’s a tension in the Buddha’s recommendations about faith and empiricism. Few of Asian Buddhists I know find the tension uncomfortable, but Western Buddhists — raised in a culture where religion and faith have long been at war with science and empiricism — find it very disconcerting.

The delicate, but wonderful balance of faith and empiricism in Buddhism.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu highlights that it is direct seeing that liberates a practitioner, and faith operates as a working hypothesis. The essay also focuses on the psychological importance of faith.

The reason the teaching of anattā can serve as a strategy of liberation is precisely because it serves to rectify a misconception about the nature of being, hence an ontological error. It accomplishes this task by promoting a correct comprehension of the nature of being…

This essay is a response to Ajahn Geoff’s “The Not-Self Strategy”.

Bhikkhu Bodhi agrees with his contention that “the Buddha’s teachings on self and not-self are strategies” but disagrees strongly when he says that “true and false can be put aside.”

For Ajahn Geoff’s reply to this essay, see “The Limits of Description.”

Calling a galaxy a “wheel” is certainly appropriate for as we know from modern astronomy a galaxy is like a huge Catherine wheel revolving round a centre or hub.

One who has fully realized the truth of not-self thereby goes beyond the fear of death.

Surveying various suttas and agamas on the topic of death and translating a discourse that outlines the practice of the recollection of death, Bhikkhu Analyo brings out the importance of death in early Buddhism and contributes to modern research concerning how the thought of death affects human behavior.

By a misperception of emptiness
A person of little intelligence is destroyed.

A translation of a select seventy verses from Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The [newborn] baby is bumped softly on the floor in order to acquaint it with the fact that harsh and startling events may occur in the world of the humans where it has now been received.

… in the canonical Buddhist texts […] kṣatriya-dharma (The Way of the Warrior) is openly condemned as anti-social, whereas generally in the orthodox Hindu view, kṣatriya-dharma is considered as the norm or legitimate duty of kings

Although this is a matter of preparing and serving meals, the tenzo is not just “the cook.”

A beautiful and classic (13th century) essay on the Zen of running the monastery kitchen.

An alternate translation by Griffith Foulk can be found on The Zen Site.

One is in the center of the market engaged in all kinds of work and yet he stays on top of the solitary peak, gazing at the sky.

A word on the importance of balancing the relative and absolute, engagement and renunciation on the Bodhisattva path.

Chan did not originate in the Chinese appropriation of Indian Buddhist texts. Instead, its origins can be traced to the appropriation of Indian Buddhist practices

… the Buddha confined himself to asserting statements which were true and useful, though pleasant or unpleasant, so that the Dhamma is pragmatic, although it does not subscribe to a pragmatic theory of truth.

A short introduction to early Buddhist epistemology from its preeminent, modern scholar.

With these various strands of thought, the basic ingredients of the bodhisattva ideal seem to fall into place.

A paper outlining the pre-sectarian roots of the Bodhisattva Path.

This excerpt was extracted from Bhikkhu Analayo’s full-length monograph on the subject, The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal.

Capitalism thrives not by destroying natures but by putting natures to work as cheaply as possible.

… even an arahant can be “vexed”

… report of valiant soldiers from a master-slave society in Greece should have been brought home by the Indian soldiers that had participated in Xerxe’s campaign

It is plausible that the Buddha heard of the Spartans.

The Madhyama Āgama collection translated [into Chinese] by Sanghadeva contains altogether 222 discourses, distributed over eighteen chapters

… the Ekottarika Āgama preserved in Chinese translation is a text with rather complex features, combining some material that could be relatively early with other texts that clearly reflect later developments.

Particularly interesting to me is how you can see some of the seeds of the later Mahayana ideas about the Tathāgata-garbha and Dharmakāya within the Pali’s exuberant exultations.

The original book can be read in its entirety online here

We are committed to living simply and sharing our time, energy, and material resources with those in need.

The ability of a lineage to carry a particular association is of great benefit to the narratives, for it provides both weight and flexibility.

Note, an editted version of this article appears as chapter two of From Craving to Liberation.

Helpful for avoiding cults, for reassuring Westerners that Buddhist religious authority isn’t regressive, and a fascinating example of the West grappling with unfamiliar forms of spiritual education.