Dependent Origination, the direct transcendent knowledge and understanding of which the Buddha proclaimed to be the lynchpin of enlightenment, is an area far removed from physical reality in many ways
In many other ways, Dependent Origination is the best intellectual explanation of the ... Views: 1279
A good friend of mind recently commented that his own kids and their friends are a lot less materialistic than our generations were, and that numerous surveys show that Millennials don't want their jobs to interfere with their family or social life. He went on to say that, "Some say this is ... Views: 1251
Similar to Christianity, Buddhism has many branches. The original doctrine that the Buddha taught his monks is called the Theravada or the Teaching of the Elders, but this very deep teaching may be too strange and frightening for everyday Americans.
This unpopularity is not unusual when we ... Views: 2017
It's obvious that only after young adults leave home do they find their own potential and blossom in their own way. The bittersweet acknowledgement of this reflects a mature relationship with parent and child. This is a cutting of the umbilical chord with our children, offering them a chance of ... Views: 1982
Enlightenment can take a long time, perhaps as long as it takes to wear a granite mountain down to the ground by a fine veil brushing its top once every hundred years, or perhaps as long as a lifetime, or a year, or perhaps in only a week, as the Buddha proclaims, if you can maintain perfect ... Views: 1211
It's obvious that other people, when they disagree with us, are just plain wrong. And when we confront these kinds of people, our only alternative is to let them know in no uncertain terms that they are not only wrong, but apparently stupid for disagreeing with us about something so obviously ... Views: 1261
There have been occasions when I have been told that “Jesus is the Son of God and the Buddha was just a man, therefore, the Buddha is a false prophet.”
Okay, I respect everybody’s freedom to voice their opinion. I also know how views and opinions are formed, and why they become so entrenched. ... Views: 1646
This world is an amazing place. Never-ending things to experience. Long ago this was not the case . Other than a change of seasons, nothing much happened. But today with the internet, we can be worldwide travelers while sitting in our media rooms. We can be authors and write articles, or ... Views: 1630
“Growing Old is Not for Sissies!” I remember this great bumper sticker making the rounds a few years ago. Unless life ends tragically, suddenly, we will all experience old age and the result of old age, which is death.
If we live long enough, on the way to death via old age, we begin losing ... Views: 1315
If a ladder represents our life, the rungs of our ladder represent our breakthroughs. Have you had one lately?
Sometimes we think that we have arrived at the top rung of our ladder. Nothing else needs to be done. All we have to do is hold on and hope no sudden wind blows us off.
And ... Views: 1986
We look in the mirror and notice a new wrinkle. Oh my God! I'm getting old! But I'm only forty-four! Let's see, Americans live to an average age of seventy seven. That gives me thirty-four more years! Wait a minute, Japanese live to be eighty one! I do eat a lot of fish. Maybe I have thirty ... Views: 1520
Humanity has always looked to the transcendent, a human trait pursued in many ways. And who can really say which way is right or wrong regarding an inherent desire to transcend this earthly life when our time is up. The religious insist that they are right, and spiritual seekers say likewise. ... Views: 1090
Truth is not what we believe truth to be. Whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we think, whatever we believe is not truth. Truth manifests beyond that. We might say that our religion is truth, but our religions are no more than a set of beliefs, and beliefs can never be truth, only ... Views: 2436
People who are truly spiritual tend toward quietness. Not too many saints and prophets of old were the life of the party with a lampshade on their inebriated heads! You might instead find them out in nature somewhere, on a mountain trail, at the ocean, or in a forest, quietly reflecting on the ... Views: 1510
Who has time to count calories, shop for exotic, low calorie, super foods, or sign up for all the latest fad diets? I know that I certainly don’t.
I remember times in my life when dieting was not a problem. Playing football and burning up five or six thousand calories a day made weight ... Views: 5519
There’s an old saying how a young man has no past so he drives fast cars to catch his future - and an old man has no future so he sits in his rocking chair trying to hold onto his past.
This has some truth to it. There comes a time when we get beyond the stage of reliving our past in ... Views: 1358
When I was living as a Buddhist monk in the backwater jungles of Thailand, I learned many important lessons that have made my life much easier. One of them was how to handle food. The rules of a Theravada monk include eating only once a day, and that is in the morning. Typically, we would walk ... Views: 5195
Although the usual suspects of stress may be our jobs, financial difficulties, illness, political and religious arguments, family, personal problems, etc., if you look into each one of these in depth, you will find within them all a common thread. If only we could identify that common thread, ... Views: 1290
"All is impermanent." What a depressing thought, but only to an untrained, worldly mind. Impermanence is never lost, just a flow of change; a flow of change that is an ultimate truth and therefore an ultimate security.
What is it that we instead depend upon for our security? When I was a ... Views: 1457
Years ago I lived a complicated life. I had a Porsche, a beautiful wife, three kids, a Tudor home in a posh Cleveland suburb and all the bills and headaches to go with it. And even though I had it made, something always seemed to be missing no matter how good it got.
Within two years after ... Views: 1526
Let's say that one person loves the president, Bush or Obama, and another hates him. Then, anything that one would write positively about the president would be hated and disbelieved by the other, regardless of whether it was true or not. A strong bias would blind the president hater to any ... Views: 5243
Saints have fourteen unforgettable characteristics that distinguish them, and when even just one of these traits are observed in someone, that observation prompts us to exclaim, "He/She is a saint!"
As we read about these fourteen traits, we might think that we can become saintly too by ... Views: 1746
Once the Buddha was asked if anyone can become enlightened, even if they were not a follower of the Buddha. His answer - a resounding; "Of course!"
He even went further than that. He warned about becoming attached to the religion itself, and suggested that one only use Buddhism as a raft to ... Views: 1566
H.B.I.T.S. is more widespread than originally thought, mainly because it goes unreported. The reason for this is that on the surface, it doesn't seem to be all that serious. But as a matter of record, H.B.I.T.S. could be called the silent killer.
One of the major symptoms of H.B.I.T.S. is a ... Views: 1628
There are two faces of religion; that which we profess, and that which we project. Our professed religion follows our scriptures and our beliefs and are what we declare to be our truths, our ideals. It's the talk we talk. Our projection of our religion is how we act, what we say, how we say it, ... Views: 988
These are three of the most common underhanded tactics used in debates.They come into play as an attempted deflection from the main argument that your opponent is usually losing and can no longer argue intelligently. If you watch out for them and keep bringing your opponent back to the original ... Views: 20771
If we at least had enough to live on and make expenses, that would be enough. And enough to pay off the house, which isn't worth much anymore. Oh, and maybe provide for our healthcare, which is going to get very expensive in the very near future, and we better pay it or they will take our house! ... Views: 1366
A True Story of Lust and Seduction - with a Twist!
Twenty-six hundred years ago, Subbha the Buddhist nun was walking through a mango grove when a lustful young man blocked her path.
Subbha the Nun: “What wrong have I done you that you stand in my way? It’s not proper my friend that a man ... Views: 5203
The way that we have been living is called the way of least resistance. This way involves emotionally and logically going after what we believe will make us happy. For the vast majority of us, this usually includes a career, a partner, then a house, cars, furniture, kids, college tuition, ... Views: 845
How about a fresh approach to religion? What if we observed life as it truly is? What if we tried to see the truth of life without preconceived ideas about life, without the filter of our past conditioning and entrenched beliefs?
Is there an approach to life that plainly, logically, and ... Views: 1863
Can life be pigeonholed into a viable model for success? Can a methodology or system be relied upon to give us the results or achievements that we desire? Can a formula for winning ever work with such an unpredictable thing such as life?
If we read all self help, psychological, philosophical ... Views: 1338
A machine does what it is programmed to do until it eventually breaks down. Until then, it repeats its limited, repetitive actions endlessly.
As human beings we are programmed as well, by our culture, our traditions, our education, but most importantly by our minds. There is usually very ... Views: 2163
In order to get good "court sense," a beginning racquetball player must put up with the difficulties of learning how the ball bounces; only then will they understand the ball's nature and become relaxed and proficient. The player must face the problems through practice, however. If they try to ... Views: 1330
What is it that we run from? What is it that takes up almost all of our waking moments? It must be very important, otherwise we wouldn't devote an entire lifetime trying to escape it.
The interesting, and at the same time depressing, thing is that all the running in the world won't distance ... Views: 2489
Dateline May 21, 2010.
Scientists Create First 'Synthetic' Cells - Researchers Imbue Cell With Engineered DNA.
- by MICHAEL SMITH MedPage Today Staff Writer.
"In a development that seems likely to stir a firestorm of controversy, researchers said Thursday that ... Views: 1942
Your plan C has replaced your plan B.
It's just not working out the way you had planned. Even when it does work out the way you plan, it still doesn't work out . . . somehow.
Asking yourself, "Is this all there is?"
This is a definite, clear signal that you've tried about everything that ... Views: 764
When we think about prayer, what comes to mind is some kind of request or solicitation of God . Maybe we are ill and ask to get better, or ask forgiveness, or maybe a little help with the lottery. These are the kinds of prayers that we mostly engage in.
We might also repeat a mantra, for ... Views: 2806
A direct experience of spiritual insight will change your life, a fact which is irrefutable and well documented. But spiritual searching, rather than spiritual insight - well, that's another story.
Most people who embark upon a spiritual quest aren't satisfied with answers that they are ... Views: 1408
The Buddha would have made a great CEO. He was all bottom line, and the bottom line was freedom, or enlightenment. If something didn't contribute to this directly, then he didn't teach it.
One day he was in a forest with his monks, and he said to them, "Which is more, monks, the few leaves ... Views: 1822
Who has time to count calories? Or shop for exotic, low calorie, super foods, (acai berries?) or sign up for all the latest fad diets? I certainly know that I don't.
I remember times in my life when dieting was not a problem. Playing football and burning up three or four thousand calories a ... Views: 7404
There are many problems in life, kind of like endless itches and glitches that need scratched and resolved. If we're poor, we have to struggle to support ourselves because there is . . . never enough money. If we're rich, then we have the typical problems of rich people - trying not only to ... Views: 885
We know when it's not working; it's like a slap in the face. We thought that it was working but then something happens to remind us that nothing has fundamentally changed at all, and we find ourselves back at square one after all these years.
We were smug for awhile, even bragging to friends ... Views: 1275
There's gotta be a millions of articles about relationships. Books, too. If you are thinking about writing a book, put "relationship" in the title and you will have agents beating down your door! Instead of "How to Fix a Toilet," title you book, "How to Have a Good Relationship With Your Toilet ... Views: 1344
These six major steps weave in and around each other, and there are many others, all revealing a transition between materiality consciousness and heightened consciousness, or between an outward emphasis (thinking, remembering, body and mind), and an inward emphasis (the replacing of thought and ... Views: 1380
Take a look at your life and see if it's not true that the pursuit of pleasure and happiness involves just about everything you do. From watching TV or playing on the internet, to working at a career in order to make money - so that you can spend it and be happy with the resulting pleasure or ... Views: 1489
The first thing you want to do is scream at your kids. That makes them afraid and teaches them to become pushy themselves, connecting verbal abuse with authority and influence. (Never use compassion or loving kindness - that will make girlie men out of them).
If you are dead, so to speak, ... Views: 1811
Do you feel at times that you are just going through the motions, living life unconsciously? Did you know that this feeling is actually close to spirituality, more so than being entirely and endlessly enthralled with life?
Now, there is a difference between living life unconsciously and ... Views: 2400
It's two-thirty a.m. I light a small candle, hang up my mosquito net, and put on my robes. The forest is quiet now in this backwater rural area of northeast Thailand. I have been meditating since 10:00 p.m. in my tiny hut.
The narrow, half-mile trail through the forest is about 930 steps, ... Views: 2787
By a narrow margin, both houses of congress agreed to cancel the Government of the United States. After years of struggle, President Polin has finally fulfilled her mother's dream; the total end of government control.
On the streets of L.A. can be heard the celebratory exclamations this ... Views: 1353
It's four p.m. I have been napping and doing walking meditation since the morning meal. My hut is deep in the forest, situated on the upper end of a massive, flat rock, with large, flat rocks on both sides and deep ravines separating them (havens for cobras). Surrounding everything is dense ... Views: 1189