Buddhist meditation

Amitabha triad © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hearing Sounds Through the Eyes, by Jisu Sunim

By Buddhism Now on 10 September 2016 • ( 1 )

Sometimes people feel afraid because they don’t know what the teacher is talking about! `How we can face our own reality?’ But the teacher also has difficulty in getting the student’s discursive mind to understand what he is talking about. The best policy for the teacher, then, is to let practitioners continue with their practice, giving them time for some perspective to slowly come into focus. The most chronic disease for people who find it difficult to face reality is, indeed, this discursive mind…

Buddha, Cambodia or Vietnam, 7th–8th century. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Try to have a Permanent Emotion, by Ajahn Sumedho

By Buddhism Now on 18 June 2016 • ( 7 )

To think ‘I am screwed up’, is a value judgement, isn’t it? ‘Screwed up’ makes the ‘I am’.

Yoga Narasimha, Vishnu's Man-Lion Incarnation, India (Tamil Nadu), Chola period (880–1279). © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Misunderstanding, by Trevor Leggett

By Buddhism Now on 12 June 2016 • ( 3 )

‘Oh, it’s not finished yet,’ replied the senior. ‘Now do the same practise, but this time think about, and try to understand, yourself.’

Miracle of Shravasti, Terracotta, 7th–9th century, Thailand © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emptiness True Health, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

By Buddhism Now on 30 May 2016 • ( 3 )

The medicine which cures the disease is the knowledge and practice that gives birth to emptiness. When emptiness has appeared it will be the cure of the disease and alter recovery from the disease there will be nothing save emptiness, the state void of Dukkha and. void of the mental defilements that are the cause of Dukkha

Field of Boundless Emptiness, by Zen Master Hongzhi

By Buddhism Now on 10 May 2016 • ( 0 )

The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colours and sounds. The whole affair functions without leaving traces, and mirrors without obscurations…

Elephant Bell with Miniature Elephant, Thailand (Ban Chiang), ca. 300 B.C.–A.D. 200. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Precepts aren’t Hard, by Ajahn Chah

By Buddhism Now on 12 April 2016 • ( 4 )

If there’s someone to sweep them and look after them, they’re beautiful. They’re not dirty — because there’s someone to look after them. It’s because there’s someone looking after them that they can be beautiful…

Genko-an's (源光庵) 'Window of Enlightenment' Photo: @KyotoDailyPhoto

Being Awake, by John Snelling

By Buddhism Now on 22 January 2016 • ( 9 )

‘Buddha’ means ‘The Awakened One’. The Buddha was a man who discovered practical methods that enabled him to become permanently awake — hence his name…

A Dialogue on the Contemplation-Extinguished

By Buddhism Now on 31 December 2015 • ( 5 )

‘Nothing of this sort needs to be coped with. Why? Because, if avoidable, it will be avoided. If unavoidable, it will be borne. If sufferable, it will be suffered. If insufferable, it will be wept at.’