Recent Posts - page 225

  • Scroll of Mudras

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    Scroll of Mudras, Japan, Heian period (794–1185). The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    This handscroll depicts hand gestures known as mudras in Sanskrit, the Indian language in which many early Esoteric Buddhist texts were written. In Japan, the gestures are called insō, the Japanese term for a Chinese word that combines the characters for ‘seal’ and ‘form.’

  • Whom do we Believe? by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

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    Daisen-in's (大仙院) tiny L-shaped garden Photo © @KyotoDailyPhoto

    For instance, the Buddha taught that greed, anger, and misunderstanding are the causes that give rise to suffering. If we ourselves are not yet ac­quainted with greed, anger, and misunderstanding, then there is no way we can believe this. But to believe it would be foolish. When we know ourselves what greed, anger and delusion are like, and that whenever they arise in the mind, they produce suffering like a fire burning us, then we can believe it on the basis of our own experience…

  • Digitising manuscripts at Gangtey Monastery in Bhutan

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    Gangtey Monastery in Bhutan, British Library endangeredarchives project. @bl_eap

    Since the decline of Buddhism in Tibet, Mongolia and other parts of the Northern Buddhist world, the Kingdom of Bhutan has come to be seen as the last bastion of Mahayana Buddhism. With its long history of isolation and independence, Bhutan has remained a unique repository of the cultural and religious wealth of the Buddhist Himalaya. Its secluded monasteries and temples today represent a literary treasure trove that is largely unharmed and still unexplored.

  • The Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run (1904-1906)

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    Cover image of Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run

    The Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled from the British invasion of Tibet to Mongolia in search of support from Russia. Although the mission failed, his extended sojourn in Mongolia marked the beginning of political modernity in both Mongolia and Tibet. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run is a facsimile collection comprising 150 hitherto unpublished archival documents from Mongolia about this historical episode…

  • The Three Refuges, by Ajahn Sumedho

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    Photo © Lisa Daix, Mustang

    The post discusses the underestimated significance of the three Buddhist refuges: Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
    These aren’t merely traditional markers but pointers to reality. They elucidate that refuge in Buddha is mindful awareness, going beyond the body’s confines, potentially accessible to every human being.

  • The Laughing Buddha Humour and the Spiritual Life, by Dennis Sibley

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    Kashyapa

    Fun and laughter are also central to the story of Maitreya, the future Buddha, as taught in Mahayana literature.

  • Buddhist Insight from Mahasi Meditation Tradition, by Bhante Bodhidhamma

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    Bhante Bodhidhamma

    Bhante Bodhidhamma’s talk begins with a short meditation then goes on to explore the nature of self as experience.

  • Wrinkles, The Universe and All That, by Linda Clark

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    Yellow Bag. Art © @TessaMacDermot

    I never really thought about the ageing process until I was twenty-five and my new employers, the South-Eastern Electricity Board, sent me to London on an induction course. I was a very timid soul in those days and it was… Read More ›