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Monthly Archives: March 2012
Two kinds of doubt
There are two kinds of doubt: doubts leading to confusion, and doubts leading to clarity. Doubts leading to confusion are thoughts that deny the reality of cause and effect (karma), rebirth, and the Three Jewels (including the salvific activities and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bodhisattvas, buddhas, cause and effect, doubts, doubts leading to clarity, doubts leading to confusion, false self, five aggregates, intrinsic, kinds of doubt, rebirth, religious 'instruction', social interaction, temporary and dependent, three jewels, wrong views
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Baffled by “The Five Aggregates”?
When studying the Dharma, we often come across terminology that may initially baffle us. However, what is most often required is that we translate and define the terms in ways that are accessible to our understanding. One such difficult term … Continue reading
Spiritual Technology
Whenever the mind starts spinning negative or obsessive thoughts, counter-spin! That is the visual lesson of the Tibetan prayer wheel. It is not some magic instrument, but a tangible reminder that it is our own afflicted mind that sets thoughts … Continue reading
Life is not a problem
Life is not a problem. It can be lived, but it cannot be solved. When there is much confusion, it is not a good time to push through to decision. When the winds are blowing in all directions, with dust … Continue reading
Buddhist Divination
Two friends recently asked about divination practices in Tibetan Buddhism. One wanted to know if there was some validity to it; the other questioned if it was not contrary to Dharma. Since we are seeing more of these practices in … Continue reading
Karma Transference
Karma transference (Skt. parinamana) is an entirely natural process, in which we share the results of our acts with other beings, through an act of dedication. Although some persons consider that transference is somehow a denial of the law of … Continue reading
Posted in Q&A
Tagged act of dedication, employers, karma transference, Knowledge, law of karma, natural process, negative karma, parents, parinamana, protection, real and common, superiors, teachers, the powerful, wealth
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Nothing to do
Whenever we feel compelled, ‘driven’, to do something, anything, we can remember the words of Milarepa. As long as we feel compulsion, even if it is apparently for the Dharma, it is passion. Only when we do the needful, and … Continue reading
Posted in Dharma View
Tagged clarity, compulsion, concentration, dharma, dishonesty, effort, fear, fixating on self, generosity, morality, openness, passion, patience, peace, peaceful, practice, presence, the needful, wisdom
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Master Honen’s Final Statement
Honen Shonin, the founder of the Pure Land school in Japan, opened wide the doors of Buddha Dharma to the entire Japanese society. While many of the established schools had taken a scholastic bent, pursuing rarefied doctrines and complex practices … Continue reading
Posted in Dharma View
Tagged Amida, Amideva, attaining birth in the Pure Land, Buddha Dharma, complex practices, farmers and craftspeople, four modes of practice, Honen Shonin, inaccessible to the laity, meditate deeply, Pure Land school, rarefied doctrines, reciting the name of Amida, remembrance of the Buddha, scholastic, simple recitation, sincerity of simple lay followers, three minds
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Aspiration Prayer of the Ultimate Definitive Meaning
Om! Let there be auspiciousness! In all my lifetimes, may the three trainings, the three precepts, and all my tantric commitments be completely pure without blemishes! May my bodily postures, yogic gaze, and all of the extremely fine vital winds … Continue reading
Posted in Practice Texts
Tagged auspiciousness, bodily postures, conceptual imputations, Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, enlightened essence, incidental obscurations, ordinary consciousness, perfectly established, pristine awareness, tantric commitments, three precepts, three trainings, Ultimate Definitive Meaning, universal ground, vital winds, yogic gaze
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The Fourfold Negation & the Perfection of Wisdom
The chatuskoti, or the Fourfold Negation (NOT THIS: NOT THAT: NOT BOTH: NOT NEITHER) is a principal tool in Buddhist contemplation and analytic meditation. Repeatedly enunciated by the Master Nagarjuna, it is the systematic application of analysis for the deconstruction … Continue reading
Posted in Dharma View
Tagged absence of self, absolutization of emptiness, analytic meditation, Buddha Essence, Chandrakirti, compounded, consciousness, contemplation, deconstruction of false appearances, deconstruction of fixed views, dependent, direct, enlightenment, exhaustion of all views, external appearances, external fabricated natures, Fourfold Negation, fully established nature, gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha, Great Exposition (vaibhashika), Great Middle Way (maha madhyamika), Heart Sutra, impermanent, internal appearances, internal dependent natures, mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom, materialism, Middle Way (madhyamika), Mulamadhyamakakarika, nagarjuna, non-affirming negation, non-dual, NOT BOTH: NOT NEITHER, NOT THIS: NOT THAT, other-emptiness, peace and clarity, perfection of wisdom, Primordial Buddha, self-arisen pristine wisdom, self-emptiness, spontaneous, Sutra (sautrantika), the view of emptiness, True Bliss, True Permanence, true purity, True Self, ultimate reality, Yoga Practice (yogacharin)
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