After six years of hardship, working to find the right spiritual path and practising on his own to seek enlightenment, Prince Siddhartha reached his goal of enlightenment when he was thirty five…
Buddhism
The All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide
The album was first brought to the West in 1923 by a Christian missionary who acquired it from a Buddhist monastery in Jehol, Inner Mongolia. It is believed to have been commissioned by a Mongolian patron during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), whose rulers sponsored extensive artistic production and supported Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. Drawing together Tibetan Buddhist content with the aesthetic traditions of Qing-era Chinese art in Inner Mongolia, the album exemplifies the rich patterns of cross-cultural exchange that characterized the period and region…
Part 2 Zazenshin: Acupuncture Needle of Zazen, by Shohaku Okumura
In our zazen we have to let go of any kind of thinking, even thinking about dharma.
Tathata or Suchness
When I first came across this word ‘Suchness’ in Zen literature, I thought, ‘What the heck is Suchness?
Meditation In Daily Life — emotional states, by Bhante Bodhidhamma
The moods, once so solid, now seem softer and there is a general uplift towards calmness, peace and joy…
Brothers and sisters in suffering, old age, sickness and death, by Ajahn Sumedho
If the Buddha had started with the teaching that there is no suffering, none of us would have believed it: There certainly is! He certainly got that wrong! So he started with: There is suffering…
Part 1 Zazenshin: Acupuncture Needle of Zazen, by Shohaku Okumura
When we practise for certain lengths of time we find that our motivation itself is influenced by poison. Then we often have doubts about our practice and whether or not it works to lessen the suffering caused by the three poisons. Sometimes we might even quit because we feel it doesn’t work…
Prajnaparamita Bodhisattva
The Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) texts, are said to be closest Buddhists got to putting truth (impossible task) into words.
Buddhism now 