There is a lot of talk today about escaping Samsara, attaining the ultimate reality, and similar such escapist talk. As a result, if we're not careful we could be traveling in the opposite direction of Buddhism, which is not about escaping our present reality. Buddhism is the opposite of all that; it is about facing our present reality ( Read more... )

For people interested in non-violent responses to injustice, there's a free e-book in response to the bombings at Bodhgaya (where Buddha was enlightened).

Recently I have had the chance to travel and visit the places where I have been born and where I have spent my childhood and teenage years ( Read more... )

If you caught my post a few months ago, I'd been suffering from panic attacks and anxiety and had managed to overcome the worst of it, but just recently I've pretty much stomped out the remaining anxiety residue that remained. I thought I would share some of my thoughts/insights from this recent encounter with fear/anxiety ( Read more... )

My dad died on Saturday.

I will fly back to Virginia this weekend.

We will bury him on Monday.

In his sermon, which was used to write a famous Ch'an treaty, Bodhidharma said that: "The Dharmadhatu is free from the the impurity of sentient beings because it does not contain any sentient being", but he has also stated that: "The Great Path does not enlarge a person, but a person can enlarge the Greath Path ( Read more... )

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All that Buddha taught comes down to one single thing: Mind.

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Nature of the Mind is simple, it is here and now, it is already with us...

What is Samsara ( Read more... )

From a Japanese apocryphal sutra:

The World-Honored-One again said, "The original Buddha of no mind and no thought is by nature beyond conceptual understanding. Both the conceptually understood natures of the threefold body and sentient beings in the ten destinies, and the nature of that which is without a nature, arise from the nature that is ( Read more... )

Congrats to (formerly) Jeff who ordained today, his username was ocha_no_hanashi. Although I don't know the exact details or if he's still active in LJ, I'm happy to see him take this big step, and I'm sure that others here who know him would be happy to hear this news too. I aspire towards his decision, I hope it inspires other LJ/internet Buddhists also, and ( Read more... )