Is Your Hair On Fire? by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

Burmese Stupa Photo © John AskeImagine a person who feels completely healthy, completely free of all illness, sickness and physical disability. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous for that person to get medicine? What would be the point of that? What would be the rationale in getting medicine when you feel completely healthy? Those people who don’t see any problems, who are not aware of any dukkha, unsatisfactoriness, in their lives, what would be the point in their attempting to study the dhamma and to practise meditation?

If you are new to this thing called ‘dhamma’, and new to meditation, then you are not expected to immediately agree that you have all sorts of problems and are suffering from many burdens in life. However, if you are not completely sure that your health is perfect, you could examine yourself, you could get to know yourself and find out what kind of shape you are in. (more…)

Dalai Lama meeting Aung San Suu Kyi

Love this picture of Dalai Lama meeting Aung San Suu Kyi, in the UK, on her birthday.

Love this picture of Dalai Lama meeting Suu Kyi on her birthday

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Aung San Suu Kyi in London, England, on June 19, 2012. (Photo/Jeremy Russell/OHHDL) Read more here

And this one… (more…)

Words that live on, by Dalai Lama

Words that live on, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

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Bodhidhamma Bhikkhu

Bhante BodhidhammaIn the late seventies I began to meditate in the Soto Zen tradition with my first Buddhist teacher, Vajira Bailey in Birmingham. In August 1979 I underwent Jukai and committed myself to Buddhism as a Zen Buddhist at Throssel Hole Priory in Northumberland.

During this period I was living in Birmingham where a Burmese monk, Ven. Dr. Rewata Dhamma, had set up a Vihara. I began to visit and out of interest joined a course of meditation in the vipassana technique with Achaan Sumedho, now the Chief Monk of the Thai Forest Tradition based at Amaravati Buddhist Centre near Hemel Hempstead. That experience convinced me that Vipassana was to be the technique that most serviced my needs.

Soon after I met my core teacher, Sayadaw U Janaka of Burma (Myanmar). He is one of the main teachers in the Mahasi Tradition. I went to spend six months with him in Yangon. It had a deep effect upon me. I returned to my former job, but I began to have thoughts about joining the Sangha in order to do even longer periods of intensive meditation.

Bodhidhamma Bhikkhu, an English monk of the Burmese tradition, is now resident at Satipanya Buddhist Meditation Centre.

More articles by Bodhidhamma Bhikkhu here.

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