This ceremony centres on the recitation—usually by Buddhist monks—of extracts fron the Pali Canon, collected in a text called the Gatubhāṇavārapāli, Paritta or in Siahala Piruvānāpotvahanse. Its objective is to ward off danger, ensure protection and bless the sponsors. It is prevalent in other Theravada Buddhist countries such as Burma and Thailand as well, but this work is confined to a study of the tradition preserved in Sri Lanka.

Drawing from interviews, participant observation, and online research, I examine two interconnected issues. First, how temple food practices—offering alms to monks and operating newly invented temple food courts—sustain temples spiritually and financially. Second, how temple food, which is consistently integrated into various events and rituals, enables Thai Americans and a diverse assortment of other participants to connect and work together.

Today you have to understand charity if you want to understand Buddhism.

[Charities in the event-network style] emphasize not staying to talk… so you’re not creating more karmic entanglement… whereas the Cherish Children Fund… created long-term sustained relationships… as a form of collective karma.

People are doing very different types of projects for very different reasons… [But] feelings of care, feelings of selflessness were key ways that people demonstrated themselves as good people… ensuring that they were making merit.

Among these are an impressive variety of didactic poems, or cpāp’ (chbap), short, aphoristic verse compositions that were traditionally studied, copied, and recited by children studying at Khmer Buddhist temples.

In themselves, the forms are indeed empty and many of them are utterly arbitrary, but they are also profound and precious.

A short exploration of Buddhist rituals and objects, the work that they do for the Saṅgha, and the various ways people relate to the religious aspects of communal Buddhist practice.

… a critical assessment of naturalism and a reevaluation of the most recent forms of Buddhist modernism, including the extraordinary success of Mindfulness. It argues for a more balanced and encompassing approach that would extol the richness of the Buddhist tradition.

You live in the mountains a few years and then you go into town, you sit on the bus… you look at all those people and you feel, ‘Who are you struggling for?’

It’s not easy I tell you.
If you can live here,
you’re sure to arrive
in the Pure Land.

A disciple of the hermits of the Zhongnan Mountains introduces us to the lifestyle and wisdom of his masters.

After many years of observation I begin to perceive in Siamese religion a wise and generous pattern that accommodates the teachings of the Sage together with Hindu state-craft, and the fertility concerns of rice farmers, without doing violence to any one of them. It is a system that works, and has worked for many centuries, but today it is threatened by a new generation of thinkers, reformers, well-intentioned and well-educated, who have forgotten how symbolism works.

A brief word on how to view Thai religious “syncretism.”

These Buddhist traditions are often labeled as “Tibetan,” as they are believed to have originated historically from Tibet, to share narrative traditions with Tibetan Buddhism, and to use Classical Tibetan as the language of their recorded canons. The organization of these traditions into what we might call “orders” is, however, complex in the Tibetan cultural world.

Shakya Shri’s students and patrons chose to adopt and promote his lineage in the Himalayan region. It explores how new Buddhist lineages were integrated into existing religious frameworks without causing disruption, focusing on the cultural and ritual continuity that facilitated this process. these new transmissions were accepted smoothly because they utilized familiar Buddhist forms, rituals, and cosmological ideas, making them appear as extensions of established traditions.

Minds need a context. Mind needs fire and water, breath and ritual, it needs stories and song… it needs to establish a living relationship with those that came before and those yet to come, to offer in devotion and to enact its place in the cosmos. Such realizations return us to the sacredness of form. We find that all of the supposedly ‘non-essential’, ritual, form-based aspects of tradition actually architect a mind that has true fullness

Behind this marriage of the court and Buddhism, however, were the outstanding Buddhist monks who offered the ideology for it.

One of the distinguishing features of Himalayan Buddhism is that it has accommodated within itself a good number of elements and traits of the pre-Buddhist indigenous religions and folk traditions.

This paper explores how practices from Tibetan indigenous religions, particularly the use of spirit mediums and oracles, have been incorporated into Himalayan Buddhism. It argues that these pre-Buddhist elements continue to exist within Tibetan Buddhist institutions, highlighting a syncretism between the two.

So, like children of the same father and same mother,
Cultivate mutual accord, devotion, and pure perception,
And, while focusing on your own tradition, avoid belittling others.

A brief poem on the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

No one visiting a Siamese monastery, popularly known as a ‘wat’, would fail to notice a certain structure, pyramidal in form with a slender tapering spire at the top…

A few pages on Thai Stupas and Cetiya.

There are no deliberate austerities or penances associated with such journeys; over-crowded buses or trucks seemingly without springs are common modes of transport in Northeastern Thailand. One informant stated that if people took a journey solely to make merit somewhere, then the trip would be no fun. However, if people went traveling purely for their own pleasure, with no planned stops at holy shrines, then merit would not be obtained.

An ethnographic investigation of pilgrimage in Thailand focusing on the Wat Phrathat Phanom Stupa in Isaan.

The paper explains how the hierarchy emerged historically out of the attempts by the Siamese government to exercise control over the monasteries and how its rigid hierarchy is tempered by the Thai sense of “suitability” leading to an organization that balances central goals against local concerns. Each level of the hierarchy and the parallel system of royally-bestowed honorifics are explained in detail, including their qualifications and responsibilities.

Because official monks were bureaucrats, they did not need to form orders that included secular believers. In contrast, reclusive monks needed to establish orders that included secular believers because they were not supported by the government. Because they were no longer official monks, they were freed from certain restrictions. They could pray for the salvation of women and lepers, conduct funerals, and collect contributions, all of which had previously been regarded as involving impurity.

In the Kamakura Era, several new forms of Buddhism emerged in Japan which broke with the existing schools. Kuroda Toshio’s “exoteric-esoteric” model understood these new schools as rejecting the esoteric ritual system which bound the old schools together. This paper sees the new schools’ rejection of the ritual system as a rejection of entanglement with the state and as a desire to return Buddhist monasticism to its ascetic ideals. By focusing on their relationship with the laity, these “new schools” survived the later withdrawal of government support and are the schools we now think of as constituting “Japanese Buddhism”: Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren.

contemporary Buddhist women actively work through ritual to create meaningful relationships with one another.

He is usually understood through the process by which Sri Lanka became independent, by which Sri Lankans who had become Christians returned to their Buddhist origins: an entirely Sri Lankan context. But reading the diaries, I realized he spent 80–90% of his adult life living outside of Sri Lanka.

A brief look at the life of a famous Buddhist advocate as he understood it.

a comprehensive list of meditation techniques.

Body-centered techniques stood out in being of exceptional importance to all meditators.

These were attempts in the first instance not to achieve liberation, but to revive the forest-dwelling way of life and re-establish hermitages, whence liberation could be sought. It is relatively recent history…

The biographies of several pioneering recluses.

While the specific forms of ritual and ceremony in Sri Lankan popular Buddhism doubtlessly evolved over the centuries, it seems likely that this devotional approach to the Dhamma has its roots in lay Buddhist practice even during the time of the Buddha

An outline—and defense—of Sri Lankan ritual practices.

It actually saddens me as a monk that women don’t have the support to renounce. If we had bhikkhuni ordinations and monasteries just like we have for monks, women would flourish. That’s why we have to work really hard.

In this interview, Ajahn Brahm explains why granting Bhikkhuni ordinations is good for Buddhism in both Thailand and the West.

Across the Buddhist world, we find not only that our relationships are constituted by karmic affinities, but also that in many contexts those relationships are seen as the media through which karma unfolds.

These understandings not only provide frameworks for interpreting relationships but underwrite ritual technologies through which people can form, maintain, or disperse these affinities.

Justin Ritzinger shares what he learned about the nature of karma after attending the “Lived Karma” conference at Dartmouth in 2022. To read more papers from the conference, see the Journal of Global Buddhism Vol. 24 No. 2.

in a living tradition of Buddhism such as in Thailand, the members of that tradition themselves are often not quite aware of how the whole system is meant to work.

In this short talk, Ajahn Jayasaro discusses the history of Theravāda Buddhism especially in Thailand, giving a brief overview of Thai Buddhism’s own understanding of Buddhist history and its place within it.

Ideally, a Buddhist temple must have certain symbols and facilities. These include a shrine room with a Buddha statue and statues of Buddha’s main disciples, a bo tree and a small shrine, a pagoda with relics, living quarters for the monks, a preaching hall, and a compound for people to gather and offer flowers. It is also customary to have a small deity shrine within the temple premises.

A matter-of-fact, anthropological description of a typical Sri Lankan temple.

Four monks’ life narratives, two from the Vipassana group and two from the Vidayagom group, are used as case studies. The study reveals that the narratives of these monks follow the structure of the Buddha’s life due to the Buddhist tradition of using the Buddha’s life as a paradigm to compose religious persons’ stories. However, the miraculous power of each monk is highlighted in his narrative. There is both miraculous power as found in the Buddhist canon and as influenced by Thai cultural beliefs and practices.

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.

In Southern California, some Theravāda temples have taken up the practice of granting temporary novice ordinations to Cambodian American gang members, with the hope of reorienting the youth toward their families’ religion and culture.

The Tibetan term for mandala, kyinkor, means ‘center and surrounding environment.’ The center with its surrounding geometric designs, its doors, its guardians, and its gods—all become charged with the order and the energy of the whole cosmos.

The sesshin is designed to enable one to plunge ahead in one’s practice.

In spite of these negative descriptions of the behaviour of single Buddhist monks, the impression is certainly not correct that all monks followed all sorts of occupations to assure their good life and to increase their riches. There is no reason to doubt that the vast majority of monks seriously pursued their spiritual goals, particularly those who criticised their fellow monks for such lax behaviour.

The fact that the body of a deceased monk did not decompose had long been considered a sign of high spiritual attainment in many parts of Asia, including Buddhist China. There are numerous records of eminent Chinese monks whose bodies miraculously showed no trace of decay after death. For months or years following their decease their unembalmed bodies continued to bear a healthy and lifelike countenance and give off a sweet perfume.

fearing that the merchants would throw the Sūtras and Buddha’s portraits overboard, I concentrated with all my heart on Guanshiyin

The suttas were intended to be heard; long suttas were, and often still are, performative, listened to over sometimes several hours, embedded in rituals designed to highlight their efficacy. This article shows that the recital of key repeat passages within the long suttas is linked to specific and often distinctive literary and meditative effects, particularly adapted for oral performance. It suggests that such passages should not be marginalized but rather seen as central indicators of meaning.

An analysis of the function of the repetitions in the Brahmajāla Sutta (DN 1) and the Mahāsamaya Sutta (DN 20) and the role of community, ritual, and meditation in the reading of Buddhist canonical texts.

Offerings should be given for the dead

You can get the booklets for both albums here:

• Dhammapada
• Therigatha

The relationship between Buddhism and society was apparent in nearly every aspect of medieval life…

Thaumaturgic thinking and a polytheistic outlook pervaded premodern agricultural life. Much as we in modern times depend on scientific technology, people in premodern times relied on magical ceremonies for an abundant harvest.

Monks, these five future dangers, unarisen at present, will arise in the future. Be alert to them and, being alert, work to get rid of them.

The Saṅgha may forsake the simple life and indulge in luxuries.

Someone who formerly lived alone
and then resorts to sex
is like a chariot careening off-track;

The drawbacks of falling away from the celibate life.

We are going to give the departed the opportunity to rejoice in the good we have done.

This essay is a short response to a newspaper article that Ven. Dhammika read in May of 2020. In his respose, the venerable corrects the idea that rituals are not part of the Theravāda faith and practice, giving doctrinal support along the way. However, Dhammika does agree that the view of transferring merit is not supported in early Buddhist teachings. Rather, early Buddhism taught that a practitioner can give others the opportunity to share in the happiness of wholesome action. 

..accepting gold and money, it’s hard for you to know who is perfected or on the path to perfection.

How to judge another person’s spiritual character.

I have taught the Dhamma, Ānanda, without making a distinction between inside and outside. The Tathagata has no closed fist of a teacher in regard to the teachings.

The Buddha overcomes an illness and gives Ānanda a sermon on how he leads the Saṅgha—and how the Saṅgha should function after he’s gone.

Using daily and weekly data on Google searches for 107 countries, this research demonstrates that the COVID-19 crisis resulted in a massive rise in the intensity of prayer. During the early months of the pandemic, Google searches for prayer relative to all Google searches rose by 30%, reaching the highest level ever recorded. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that by April 1, 2020, more than half of the world population had prayed to end the coronavirus.

Prayer searches rose more among the more religious, rose on all continents, at all levels of income, inequality, and insecurity, and for all types of religion except Buddhism.

The monks themselves play an integral part in the social and moral education and support the social development of the village people of northern Cambodia.

A very brief introduction to the sociology of contemporary Cambodian Buddhism.

Anthropologists and religious scholars have long debated the relationship between doctrinal Theravada Buddhism, so-called ‘animism’, and other folk practices in southeast Asian societies. A variety of models of this relationship have been proposed on the basis of ethnographic evidence. We provide the first psychometric and quantitative evaluation of these competing models, using a new scale developed for this purpose, the Burmese Buddhist Religiosity Scale.

We argue that this model provides support for a two-dimensional distinction between great and little traditions, shedding light on decades-old theoretical debates. Far from being in conflict, the transnational religious tradition of the literati and the variegated religious practices of locals appear to be reflected in two [orthogonal] dimensions of religiosity.

You should neither approve nor dismiss that mendicant’s statement. Instead, having carefully memorized those words and phrases, you should …

How to determine if something is an authentic teaching of the Buddha.

This brought about the third great persecution of 845 which spared only a few temples.

A brief outline of the most important events in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

If we don’t freeze to death in the winter and don’t die of hunger on the other days, that’s good enough.

A loving biography of a modern Chan Master who faced many challenges in his mission to revitalize authentic, Chinese Buddhism.

For his offical autobiography, see Footprints in the Snow (2008).

Three touchpoints for ecological comparison emerge: Buddhist vegetarianism, the alleged practice of religion by animals and other natural beings, and nature mysticism.

A tour of different forms of Buddhism and how they relate to the environment through the lens of three common, Buddhist tropes.

A synthetic analysis of how Buddhism may help us move forward appropriately in the climate change age as well as a clear-sighted understanding of the limits of Buddhist environmental ethics.

Mendicants, a cowherd with eleven factors can’t maintain and expand a herd of cattle. What eleven?

For this sutta’s lengthy repetition series, see AN 11.22–981.

What is Tibetan Buddhism? What distinguishes it from other Buddhist traditions? Where do its unique practices and concepts come from?

People in Japan are born Shinto and die Buddhist.

While hell realms seem pretty distant from the serenely meditating monks and mindful contemplation that Buddhism is usually associated with in the Western imagination, Buddhism has some of the most elaborate hell realms in the history of religion.

When right view is assisted by five factors, it has liberation of mind as its fruit…

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.

… those Licchavis clothed Piṅgiyānī with five hundred upper robes. And Piṅgiyānī clothed the Buddha with them.

… possessing eight qualities, a bhikkhu is worthy of going on a mission

… these five things lead to the decline and disappearance of the true teaching

Mendicants, I’m not even comfortable thinking about a place where mendicants argue…

When mendicants fight, the Buddha doesn’t like it.

… the average sound levels at the four temples over the course of an entire day were between 47.0 and 52.7 dBA, and approximately 70% of those surveyed tended to evaluate the temples’ soundscapes as comfortable and harmonious. When the sound level of a temple was higher than 60 dBA, respondents were more likely to feel uncomfortable

Buddhist denominations sought to inspire Koreans to become reacquainted with cultural heritage and internationals to learn about Buddhism. Temple stays were and continue to be promoted as a way to find one’s “true self” […] This burgeoning tourism niche attracted 70,910 internationals in 2017

This is how a disciple of the noble ones dwells

… the person in whom the factors of stream entry are altogether and in every way lacking I call an outsider

On the pyre the fire burns bright
Setting alight this searing pain
With only my fate to blame
For the fierce flame that brands me.

… learn about—and listen to—the Cambodian Dharma song tradition

In Khmer and English translation.

One thought arising, it is hell;
One thought reversed, it is heaven.

Inside the 2001–2002, 90-day, winter meditation retreat at Baek Hung Temple, Palgong, Korea.

Buddhism’s second step in becoming a world religion occurred during the reign of King Kaniska (r. 130?–155?, or 78?–103?) of the Kushan Empire as the religion spread into Central Asia.

Raising my hands and putting my palms and fingers together, I saluted

Arahant Moggallana asks a deva about his previous good karma.

I arranged those flowers beautifully while recollecting the great qualities of the Supreme Buddha.

Arahant Moggallana asks what meritorious action a deva did to became so powerful.

Thai Buddhist nuns (mae chis) and bhikkhunīs are excluded from the country’s saṅgha, directly affecting their religious standing and social possibilities

An introduction to the status of women in Thai Buddhism and why it matters.

… the effects of a brief mindfulness program for emotional regulation and levels of mindfulness on senior students in Brazil.

So far the Bhikkhuni Sangha has mainly been comprised of individuals scattered here and there with no consistent standard. They have had to be very strong people in order to get where they are, but the next step is to take these strong individuals and form a community.

An interview with a monk from the Ajahn Chah lineage on what it will take for the Bhikkhuni Saṅgha to thrive in the West.

What impresses me most about that encounter is how unimpressive it was.

As Buddhism comes West, what should we do with this problem of “Buddhist culture?”

… fundraising is a form of Dharma practice, gathering with peers is a way to raise money, and Buddhism is practiced as a form of group solidarity and support. These tight weaves have enabled temples to thrive in racially and religiously hostile lands

Nagarjuna uses concepts to undermine the thought-constructed ways in which we understand the world

… although objects manufactured in factories for profit are not made or handled according to Buddhist tradition, the “aura” can be produced in different ways and at different points of an object’s life

In the Three Jewels, I take refuge…

… among practitioners, Zazen is affectionately known as “just sitting”

A brief introduction to West Coast Zen.

Just as I was talking about the unhindered Light,
In rolled the morning fog

A collection of “waka” verses on chanting the nembutsu.

Because of the difficulty of understanding the more abstruse concepts of Buddhism, popular Buddhism took over and modified Indian mythology

A very brief overview of the history of Pure Land Buddhism.

A reading of this essay can also be seen on YouTube

This book describes the basics of Buddhist philosophy and practice within the contexts of a number of dramatic, not documentary, films. It introduces some of the main traditions of Buddhism. Little or no knowledge of Buddhism is assumed of the reader. Instead, Buddhist concepts, practices, and histories are presented in progression so that this might serve as an introduction to Buddhism particularly accessible to those interested in film.

… partisans of Mahāyāna did not reject the Śrāvaka scriptures, or even their philosophies. Mahāyānists practiced the Vinaya, often quite earnestly, and studied the Sūtras and the Abhidharma.

… the deer can still be seen roaming around but the monasteries that were built here lie mostly in ruins

A brief introduction to ancient Buddhist Art in India.

Amida Buddha emerged in Mahayana Buddhism from among the multitude of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or other Indian divine beings to become the primary expression of Unconditional Compassion and Universal Wisdom [for Pure Land Buddhists]

This is the second painting that Seol Min has donated to the people of San Francisco.

… you can’t escape them

… to increase awareness among Buddhists of their own rich heritage of religious and ethical thinking as well as to increase understanding among non-Buddhists of the fundamental values and principles of Buddhism. It seeks to strike a balance between what is common to the Buddhist traditions and the diversity of perspectives among them.

The general public, including Western Buddhists themselves, often assumes that Buddhist monastics are cared for by an order, as are Christian monastics, and are surprised to learn that newly-ordained Western nuns and monks may be left to deal with issues of sustenance completely on their own.

The four toraṇas, or gateways, [put] the stūpa, symbolically, at the place where four roads meet, as is specified in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta.

How the early Buddhists took the burial mounds and sacrificial posts of prehistoric India and adapted them to fit their new religious context:

… the stūpa symbolises the Dharma and the transformations it brings

Season 2, special episode i of The History of India Podcast.

The brahmins would indeed take umbrage at being closely associated with the officiant, because the very fact of his being there as an officiant means that he is doing a paid job and so lowers his status below theirs. [The brahmins, in contrast,] have no duties; they are gracing the occasion.

On (one of) the differences between a priest and a Buddhist monk.

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.

… the alleged, extraordinary natures of such powerful relics and images compelled certain individuals to narrate and recount how they were found or made, where they traveled, and the various miracles they performed as a testament to their great power

… the evidence found in early printed liturgical booklets that promote Buddha-vandanā points to a different kind of modernization. This article reveals how Buddhist activists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries made use of the capabilities presented in the colonial context, including print technology, to promote this devotional ritual practice as a principal marker of a newly constructed Buddhist identity.

With skilful means and compassion, you were born in the Śākya clan…

Much as a soaking in good oil will prime a lamp’s wick for the lighting, miracle stories prepare the audience for the cultivation of potent emotions and resultant ethical transformation.

The Q&A format of this booklet is quite easy to skim, making it an excellent primer for those who have a bit of background knowledge already. Written from the Western, Tibetan perspective, it also has an admirably wide scope, covering questions about Tibetan and Mahayana Buddhism without disparaging the Theravāda perspective.

It was very gratifying to watch the fish slip over the side of the boat and quickly swim away.

A traditional explanation of ceremonial animal freeing: a popular, pan-Buddhist ritual.

When examined closely, the doctrines of the schools cannot be explained away as simplistic errors or alien infiltrations or deliberate corruptions. It would then follow that more sympathetic and gentle perspectives on the schools are likely to be more objective.

Although fairly short, this book presents several challenges. Not all of these are easily digested, and I anticipate that some of my readers will not feel comfortable with the material collected here and will experience at least parts of it as unwelcome and even enervating. I would like to apologize in advance if anything I say is felt as an affront. It is definitely not my intention to offend or be dismissive, but only to offer perspectives that might help to diminish conceit, even though the medicine might at times taste bitter.

… valuable material for the contemplation of the transit of ideas between South Asia and Korea

A Chinese monk visits medieval Sri Lanka and perhaps influences Korean sculpture, challenging our notions of nationalized Buddhisms.

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.

Ānanda, are all precepts and observances, lifestyles, and spiritual paths fruitful?

Not all paths go up the same mountain.

“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.

Mudras are hand positions often depicted in Buddhist art and used in practice to evoke a particular state of mind. The most notable mudras (Sanskrit for “seal”) are those commonly found in representations of the Buddha.

See also, Bhante Suddhaso’s translation of this sutta

… the deed in the early text [MN135] is simply stated to be the killing, or refraining from killing, of living beings, and so on. The specific types of actions, and their approval are not mentioned. In the [later] Sanskrit text we get a list of normally around ten causes that lead to the result, many of which are illustrated

In the centuries after the Buddha, many of the subtleties of karma were simplified for didactic expedience. This led to a formulaic, “if you do this, this will happen to you” understanding of karma (which the Buddha himself rejected as fatalistic). This model came to be repeated ad-infinitum in texts (such as the Karma-Vibanga) and in Buddhist art (such as at Borobudur) for millennia, perpetuating a simplistic, “popular” understanding of Karma which persists today.

… beings are intoxicated with life and engage in misconduct by body, speech, and mind. But when one often reflects upon [death], the intoxication with life is diminished.

Topics that are worth regularly reflecting on, whether as a lay person or a renunciant.

We are a huge and diverse Buddhist family following the same wise and compassionate Teacher, Śākyamuni Buddha. I believe our diversity is one of our strengths. It has allowed Buddhism to spread throughout the world and to benefit billions of people on this planet.

This introduction to the forms of Buddhism practiced today outlines with clarity and ecumenical understanding the convergences and the divergences between the two major schools–the Mahayana and the Theravāda. Especially deep consideration is given to the foundational Indian traditions and to their respective treatment of central Buddhist tenets.

Though it sprouted and grew in the water, it would rise up above the water and stand with no water clinging to it. In the same way, the Realized One has escaped

Giving up ten things, the Buddha lives free of limits.

The dhamma-cakka, the ever moving Wheel of Law, is the most prominent symbol of the Buddhists.

The lotus is rooted and grows in the slimy mud at the bottom of a pond. As it moves upward and blossoms forth, the white lotus is untainted by the mud of the Earth. Likewise, the successful monk emerges clean and purified of the world

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.

We waste our whole lives neglecting our minds. And this is really what our purpose is in being human: it’s to develop our minds.

An end to The Los Angeles Course, Bhante encourages us to use our human life wisely.

Just as the beautiful lotus blossom grows up from the mud and water, so one with an enlightened mind develops out of the ranks of ordinary beings

The early Buddhists of ancient India did not represent the Buddha with anthropomorphic statues as is ubiquitous now. This essay explores the symbols and objects that were venerated in the early period after the Buddha’s death.

I have referenced the fourth edition on this site, but the newest available version should be preferred.

… when counterfeit dhamma appears, the true Dhamma disappears, in the same way that when counterfeit money appears, true money disappears.

As Buddhism spread around Asia, many new teachings were introduced, and some of them miss the mark. Today, as all remaining traditions have their share of shady teachers, deity cults, and doctrinal confusion, Ajahn Geoff reminds us that we have to be discerning where we place our faith.

I would say that the Nikāyas and Āgamas give us a “historical-realistic perspective” on the Buddha, while the Mahāyāna sūtras give us a “cosmic-metaphysical perspective.”

Bhikkhu Bodhi explores the Bodhisattva ideal from the perspective of the both the Theravāda and Mahayana, with a brief summary of its history. An excellent introduction to this vital topic.

The Monastic Sangha is both training ground and dwelling place for the Noble Sangha, much like a university is both a training ground and a dwelling place for scholars.

Given the thousands of years separating us from the Buddha, Bhikkhu Cintita asks the excellent question of how it is that Buddhism has survived so well across time and cultures, and then uses this theory to ponder how modern, Western practitioners should approach this question of “Sasana.” An excellent and rare introduction to the sociology of Buddhism “from the inside,” this book is a must-read.