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…
Buddhism
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.
A Good Dose of Dhamma: For meditators when they are ill, by Upasika Kee Nanayon.
You can’t prevent pleasure and pain, you can’t keep the mind from labelling things and forming thoughts, but you can put these things to a new use. If the mind labels a pain, saying, `I hurt,’ you have to read the label carefully, contemplating it until you see that it’s wrong. If the label were right, it would have to say that the pain isn’t me, it’s empty. Or if there’s a thought that `I’m in pain,’ this type of thinking is also wrong. You have to take a new approach to your thinking, to see that thinking is inconstant, stressful, and not yours…
In the moment of mindfulness, there is no suffering, by Ajahn Sumedho
In the moment of mindfulness, there is no suffering. I can’t find any suffering in mindfulness; it’s impossible; there’s absolutely none. But when there’s heedlessness, there is a lot of suffering in my mind…
Form is Void by Shen Hui
Form exists because the mind produces it; void exists because of that which cannot be perceived. It is also said…
Impermanence: The Butterfly on the Board, John Aske
Because life itself as it unfolds is unbound, and as the barriers to our understanding fall away, the simple uncompounded freedom that the Buddha taught becomes our life, and our happiness.
Cabinet Making, by Trevor Leggett
We often do not realise clearly that all our actions are of the same nature: they are bits for the ‘cabinet’ which is being made. One piece is as important as the other; some are bigger, some are smaller, but they are all important…
Buddhism now 