Recent Posts - page 234

  • An old Buddhist text written in Yi language

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    Sutra on expelling evils and begging fortunes. Click any photo to view full size gallery. Date: acclaimed 1745. Language: Yuanyang dialect, Yi language. Photographs from the British Library  #endangeredarchives project. Thanks to @bl_eap More posts about the #endangeredarchives project.

  • The Light of Asia

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    The Light of Asia

    Just testing how to embed digital books. This one is the wonderful ‘Light of Asia’ by Sir Edwin Arnold. One of the first books on Buddhism. Have a good read…

  • Om When Drunk, by Trevor Leggett

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    Todai-ji's (東大寺) Komoku-ten (広目天), one of the Shitenno (四天王 '4 Heavenly Kings'). As 'Lord of the West' he sees through evil, punishes wrong-doing, & encourages enlightenment. He carries a brush & sutra in his hands. #Nara Photo © @KyotoDailyPhoto

    At present you are occasionally saying it as a sort of insurance policy, paying a little sum now and then and then forgetting about it. But the time will come when there is a crisis, and you will need to practise seriously to find your way out of it. If you then try repeating ‘Om’ seriously, you will find that there are innumerable low-level associations coming into your mind, which will take a good time to get rid of. And you may not have that much time…

  • The Little Pine Tree.

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    The Little Pine Tree.

    The little pine tree puts on a show…

  • When you are on Retreat, by Ajahn Sumedho

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    Gango-ji

    When you are on retreat, restrictions are placed on your physical actions and speech. But there are also mental restraints and limitations. You are not to simply let your mind go wild or indulge in fantasies. Instead, you are to learn to bring the mind into the present.

  • Images of monasteries in Mongolia (most of them destroyed in 1930s).

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    Images of monasteries in Mongolia (most of them destroyed in 1930s).

    Images of monasteries in Mongolia (most of them destroyed in 1930s).

    Some more photographs from the British Library #endangeredarchives project.

  • Brahma Faring in 21st-Century Mazes, by Sylvia Swain

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    Wheel Path

    But first there is the maze which has to be negotiated. It is by definition a labyrinth—tortuous and serpentine—intended to confuse and disorientate. This brings us to the title: Brahma Faring in 21st-Century Mazes. The mind, because of its various functions, monkey origins, and self-deceptions, is very like those fascinating hedge mazes with their convolutions of temptation and the predicaments into which they lead us…

  • Some notes on Tantra, by Francesca Fremantle

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    Buddha Amitābha. Photo from from the Wikimedia Commons.

    It is possible to do any kind of spiritual practice—not only Buddhist, but Christian or other kinds of practices—with a Tantric attitude, with the attitude of seeing the sacredness in life, of relating our ordinary everyday experiences to this kind of sacred experience…