Monthly Archives: November 2017

The various Buddhist views of reality are not competing with or refuting each other. They are indispensable at various times and for different persons. They are necessary while helpful. There is an orderly progression, from Vaibhasika realism, through Sautrantika subtle realism, … Continue reading →

The ground of purification is the universal ground wisdom, which is like the sky. The object of purification is the incidental stains, which is like the clouds. The agent of purification is the truth of the path, which is like the inexorable wind. The result of … Continue reading →

Those who know gratitude, even while in the cycle of birth and death, will keep intact their roots of virtue.   Those who do not know gratitude ruin their roots of virtue and accumulate unwholesome karma.   Therefore, the Tathagatas … Continue reading →

Being alone can be wonderful, but not if we feel lonely. Especially during the holidays, we can feel isolated and unloved, ignored and unimportant. It can feel as if the flow of social intercourse has passed us by —or worse, … Continue reading →

From attachment springs grief, From attachment springs fear. For one who is wholly free from attachment There is no grief, whence then fear? From lust springs grief, from lust springs fear. For one who is wholly free from lust There … Continue reading →

There are innumerable modes of entry into the Buddha’s teaching. Just as there are in the world difficult and easy paths —travelling on foot by land is full of hardship, and traveling in a boat by sea is pleasant—so it … Continue reading →

Mindfulness is often misrepresented as the practice of “being here now”, but what did the Buddha teach? One is mindful to abandon wrong view and to enter and remain in Right View. One is mindful to abandon wrong intention and to … Continue reading →

There are many boats the shore —some large, some small; some strong, some feeble; some beautiful, some not; some full, some almost empty; some rich, some poor; some sea-worthy, some not; some propelled by rowing, some by sail… So are the … Continue reading →

Rare is it to be born into human form, yet we take the lives of other sentient beings to satisfy our craving for the taste of flesh, this being something that we should never do, and even the Tathagata thus … Continue reading →

There is one contemplation which, when often practiced and much developed, leads to the complete turning away from the world, to detachment, to stilling, to ceasing, to peace, to final penetrating knowledge, to Enlightenment, and thus to Nirvana. Noble disciples, … Continue reading →