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Recent Posts Tagged With 'teachings of buddha'
Four Ways to Be Happy
From the first time I ever heard it until today, “everybody does it” seems to me one of the most moronic and irrelevant–not to say almost always untrue–things anyone can say, especially if it is meant to justify some thought or action. So whe...
The Ultimate Man: from Faith to Knowing
A Commentary on the Dhammapada “He has no need for faith who knows the uncreated, who has cut off rebirth, who has destroyed any opportunity for good or evil, and cast away all desire. He is indeed the ultimate man” (Dhammapada 97). He has no ne...
Buddha’s Words: the End of the Journey
The Dhammapada’s Wisdom “Journey over, sorrowless, freed in every way, and with all bonds broken–for such a man there is no more distress” (Dhammapada 90). (Other translators have either “fever” or “the fever of passion” rather th...
Escaping the Forest of Delusion
When a person is lost in a vast open expanse of land he may wander aimlessly, but usually he manages to go in one direction. Those lost in a forest, however, suffer a much different fate. For a reason that has never been discovered, those lose in the...
Who and What Were (and Are) the Wise Men from the East?
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship...
Dreams of Birth and Death
Just because something is the truth does not mean that we can easily grasp or accept it, however sincere we may be in our truth-seeking. How many years can go by without our fully grasping that someone we dearly love has left their body–they are so...
The Mind As Source of Our Experiences
A Continuation of “What Is the Mind?: A Meditator’s Guide“ “Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made.” First there is the mind. Let us go deeper than we have so far. It is possible to view “m...
What Is the Mind?: A Meditator’s Guide
“Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made.” –Dhammapada 1 What is the mind? The language of Buddha, as well as Pali, in which his complete teachings are set down, was based on Sanskrit, so we can get some understa...
Hard Sayings of the Great Masters
Great Masters are fearless, and so must those be who would benefit from their teachings. For Masters and (true) disciples see things exactly opposite to the world and the worldlings. Certainly greed and desire for control over others bring about the ...
The Importance of Moving Forward, Ever Forward
“Careful amidst the careless, amongst the sleeping wide-awake, the intelligent man leaves them all behind, like a race-horse does a mere hack.” –Dhammapada 29 Transmigration of the soul is true. We move from the simplest of forms to the increas...
Gaining Freedom from the Chains of Delusion
A continued commentary on “Those who meditate with perseverance, constantly working hard at it, are the wise who experience Nirvana, the ultimate freedom from chains.” –Dhammapada 23 We are bound by millions (if not billions) of chains, yet med...
Meditation: Realization vs. Speculation
“Those who meditate with perseverance, constantly working hard at it, are the wise who experience Nirvana, the ultimate freedom from chains.” –Dhammapada 23 One time a man asked me if he could speak with me about some problems and questions he ...
