Recent Posts - page 231

  • Symbols, forms and conventions, by Ajahn Sumedho

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    Buddhas. Photo: © Janet Novak

    These kinds of symbols, forms and conventions can be used for awareness rather than for developing worldly attitudes or attachments to becoming some kind of Buddhist…

  • Discovering the Text of Hui Hai, by John Blofeld.

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    Kangchenjunga mountain, Himalayas

    Back in my room, which even at midday was rather dark, I lighted a red votive candle and began idly glancing through the pages of the old gentleman’s gift. It proved to be a reprint of an eighth-century (T’ang dynasty) text composed by the Ch’an Master Hui Hai, together with a selection of his dialogues with his disciples…

  • Standing Under a Tree, by Beopjeong Sunim

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    Tree

    When rain falls, the urban alleyways fill with people under umbrellas, with each person walking rather glumly under his or her own. Occasionally there may be two people under an umbrella but the umbrellas of the secular world are so narrow they hardly cover a single person’s shoulders. That reflects how stingy space and urban life have become…

  • Dhammapada Studies, by Sylvia Swain

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    Hedge bindweed or bellbind (Calystegia sepium) with its pure white trumpet flower

    For those who know little of Buddhism or who find it obscure, the Dhammapada is an ideal book to begin with. For those who know and love Buddhism it is likely already to be a constant companion and a reminder, just like having the gentle hand of Gautama on the reins of the unruly heart…

  • The Dhammapada

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    Wheel Path

    ‘All conditioned things are impermanent’ — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification. v.277 The Dhammapada ‘All conditioned things are unsatisfactory’ — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns… Read More ›

  • Practice of metta and the English Problem, by John Aske

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    Devon stream

    The metta practice rests on the basis of loving oneself, or at least liking oneself. Without this step, no further progress is possible, either in the metta practice or in the practice of any of the Brahma Viharas (the Divine Abidings). And with the English — the men at least — this first step was proving very difficult, if not impossible…

  • This New Year, I wonder if you’ve made a wish? Beopjeong Sunim

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    Dragon

    Even if you can only start today, make one wish. If you are hazy about what kind of wish to make, shall I give you a hint? Try making a big wish, to become a ‘living Buddha.’

  • 2013 in review

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    WordPress.com stats prepared a 2013 annual report for Buddhism Now. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. Buddhism Now was viewed about 330,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum,… Read More ›