Buddhist blog

Self is Heavy, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

By Buddhism Now on 9 July 2014 • ( 2 )

Often, when we say that there is no self, people get worried, or angry. Their attachment and identification to this idea of a self is so strong that they actually become hostile towards us if we begin to say there is no such thing. We need to explain this a bit, therefore, so that you don’t get mad at us. The idea of a self is common to everyone. Whether we come from the East or the West, we have some kind of idea and belief in a self, every one of us, absolutely; it is a fundamental illusion that arises in all human minds. Indians, Thais, Chinese, everybody, is walking around with this idea of a self, a soul, an atman, or whatever we want to call it.

Vimalakirti Sutra

By Buddhism Now on 4 July 2014 • ( 1 )

At that time, out of this very skill in liberative technique, Vimalakirti manifested himself as if sick. To inquire after his health, the king, the officials, the lords, the youths, the aristocrats, the householders, the businessmen, the townfolk, the countryfolk, and thousands of other living beings came forth from the great city of Vaisali and called on the invalid. When they arrived, Vimalakirti taught them the Dharma…

We need to put ourselves into perspective, by Ajahn Sumedho

By Buddhism Now on 22 June 2014 • ( 7 )

Existence is something that can strengthen us, rather than weaken us. We need to put ourselves into perspective; we need to see ourselves in terms of the mass as well as in terms of the individual. When we take life on the extreme level of ‘me’ as a person, we forget the common problem that we share with the rest of humanity…

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

Whom do we Believe? by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

By Buddhism Now on 14 June 2014 • ( 7 )

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…

Cherishing Others, by Dalai Lama

By Buddhism Now on 16 May 2014 • ( 2 )

Equalizing oneself and others means developing the attitude and understanding that: ‘Just as I desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering, so do all living beings, beings as infinite as space; they also desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering.’

White Tara, raised right hand is in vitarka mudra. V&A, London

The Real Way by John Aske

By Buddhism Now on 14 May 2014 • ( 2 )

These loves, hates, frustrations etc, unpleasant as they seem, are the essential manure out of which the lotus of enlightenment grows and blossoms. And the bigger the clay, the bigger the Buddha, as the Zen men say, so the more and better the manure, the better for the flowering.

Our culture doesn’t encourage too much contemplation on birth and death

By Buddhism Now on 10 May 2014 • ( 6 )

We see and know impermanence as a constant. And that is liberating. All the mental suffering about what is going to happen to us, about being this or that person who will eventually disappear, about becoming ‘nothing’, is dissipated and this moment becomes a vast timelessness. The Buddha called it ‘birthlessness’ and ‘deathlessness’, freedom from birth and death…