Buddhism

In Chapter 5 of the Lotus Sutra Shakyamuni has just used the Parable of the Clay Pots to teach that there is ultimately only one vessel (common clay), but different clay pots made out of that same clay, some with a predisposition to seek nirvana via the attainment of Arhatship, others disposed to seek it […]

Absorb the implications of this quote from the Lotus Sutra, a text highly venerated by many Mahayana Buddhists:
There is no (real) Nirvana without all-knowingness; try to reach this (Chapter 5.74).
If you can’t achieve omniscience then you can’t experience nirvana. To say this is a tough ask is an understatement of an understatement. We might fairly […]

In Chapter 5 of the Lotus Sutra we find the following interchanged between a monk and Shakyamuni (”the Lord”): 
When the Lord had thus spoken, the venerable Maha-Kasyapa said to him: Lord, if there are not three vehicles, for what reason then is the designation of disciples (Sravakas), Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas kept up in the present times?
…the Lord […]

In the fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra (”On Plants”) Shakyamuni addresses the monk Maha-Kasyapa, along with other senior disciples, declaring himself to be the master of all laws, the Lord of all Truth. To illustrate the significance of this he tells them a parable:
Picture a great cloud full of water, ready to burst and […]

In the fourth chapter (”Disposition”) of the Lotus Sutra four aged monks address Shakyamuni and, in describing their lives, tell a parable that approximates in some respects to the biblical Parable of the Prodigal Son. They describe a man who deserts his father, living in a foreign land for 50 years. Meanwhile his father becomes […]

In Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra the monk Sariputra becomes personally persuaded that the Lotus Sutra itself, the second turning of the wheel of Dharma (Buddhist truth), is the key to attaining Nirvana. But he then becomes concerned for 1200 advanced monks. These monks had all successfully freed themselves from all false views (concerning […]

The Lotus Sutra is highly venerated by many practitioners of Mahayana Buddhism. In Chapter 3 Shakyamuni is presented as warning all of the dire consequences that will follow if they should scorn the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which emphasises that the only real way for a person to attain to Nirvana is by treading […]

In Chapter 3 (A Parable) of the Lotus Sutra the monk Sariputra addresses Shakyamuni Buddha:
“When I first heard the voice of the Lord, I had a great terror lest it might be Mara, the evil one, who on this occasion had adopted the disguise of Buddha. But when the unsurpassed Buddha-wisdom had been displayed in […]

In Chapter 2 (Skilfulness) of the Lotus Sutra the veneration of stupas and the making of images or idols is said to be so meritorious as to guarantee that those who do such things will be enlightened:
Shakyamuni continued, “Others also, who paid worship to the relics of the departed Ginas, erected many thousands of stupas made […]

The Sanskrit and Pali word yana means “vehicle.” Bearing a comparable sense to the Hindu word marga and Chinese Tao, it is used to describe the path or journey to enlightenment. In Buddhism there are three broad schools: (1) Mahayana, “The Great Vehicle”; (2) Hinayana, “The Small Vehicle” (as regarded by Mahayana Buddhists); and (2) Vajrayana, “The Vajra […]

In Chapter 2 (Skilfulness) of the Lotus Sutra, it is made plain that those who think they do not need the teaching of the Lotus Sutra (as communicated by Shakyamuni) are considered to be proud, to be chaff or trash. They have no appreciation as to how subtle and inscrutable is the knowledge that leads […]

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most venerated of Mahayana Buddhist texts. Here is a segment from Chapter 2, “Skilfulness”:  
The Lord then rose with recollection and consciousness from his meditation, and forthwith addressed the venerable Sariputra:

“The Buddha knowledge, Sariputra, is profound, difficult to understand, difficult to comprehend. It is difficult for all disciples […]

Bodhidharma, also known as Ta-mo in China and Daruma in Japan, is thought of as being the founder and the first patriarach of Cha’an Tsung (“inner light”) or what came to be known more familiarly as Zen Buddhism in Japan. There is little by way of substantial historical fact that is known about him. It […]

Jack Kornfield was one of the main leaders of vipassana meditation in the American Theravada Buddhist movement. He commented on his observations of Buddhist meditation:
“[I] also had an opportunity to observe the most successful group of meditators - including experienced students of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism - who had developed strong samadhi and deep insight […]

I was doinig some background reading on Zen Buddhism - legends about the supposed founder of Ch’an or Zen Buddhism, namely a monk from South India called Bodhidharma.
One legend has it that Bodhidharma spent nine years of his life staring at the wall of a cave near a Shaolin temple in China. One version of […]

Within Tibetan Buddhism there is a controversy concerning how the next Dalai Lama should be chosen. The incumbent, Tenzin Gyatso, has expressed his view that the next Dalai Lama should be elected in a democratic fashion.
In Tibetan Buddhist belief a Dalai Lama is reincarnated or reborn because he chooses to be reborn in order to […]

I was watching one of the Discovering Buddhism videos on How to Meditate. Rene Fuisi, a Swiss-born monk in the Tibetan tradition, was explaining how wonderful it is to develop the capacity to be the master of one’s own mind, to stop any emotion or thought as one wishes. He went on to give a […]

At the commencement of the Lotus Sutra Shakyamuni is treated as though he was the most supreme being in the universe - a universe made up not only of the universe as we know it, but also of countless alternative realities called Buddha Lands.
The Lotus Sutra begins locating Shakyamuni at Ragagriha or Rajagriha, that is, […]

In the Sutra on the Contemplation of Buddha Amitayus King Bimbisara’s chief consort is herself imprisoned by Bimbisara’s malicious usurping son. In a state of depression and despair she prays to the Buddha. Though well out of earshot he instantly hears her request to send Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda to her. Indeed, the Buddha himself also instantly […]

In the classic Pure Land Buddhist Text, Sutra on the Contemplation of Buddha Amitayus the heir-apparent to the throne in the city-state of Rajagriha, Prince Ajatasatru, imprisons his father King Bimbisara in a secret location.The king is denied any visitors or food, it being Ajatasatru’s intention that he starve to death. Bimbisara is motivated by […]

In a chanting book received from a Thai Buddhist temple there is a section entitled “The Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection”. Four of these concern suffering, especially emphasising that the chanter has not “gone beyond” suffering. The fifth subject is kamma (karma) and it is implied that if one is to “go beyond” and attain […]

In a chanting book received from a Thai Buddhist temple there is a section entitled “The Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection”. The first four of these concern suffering and the fifth, clearly related, concerns kamma (karma). The four concerning suffering are as follows:
I am of the nature to age (or decay),
I have not gone beyond […]

In a chanting book received from a Thai Buddhist temple is a section entitled Going for Refuge. The monk chants three times that he goes to the Buddha for refuge, to the Dhamma for refuge and to the Sangha for refuge. Then he chants:
Pay homage to the Buddha; this will bring great power.
Pay homage to […]

In a chanting book received from a Thai Buddhist temple there is a section of salutations to the triple gem, the three refuges: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The “Salutation to the Sangha” is translated from the Thai as follows”
Of good conduct is the Order of the Disciples of the Blessed One.
Of upright […]

In a chanting book used by monks in a Thai Buddhist temple is a section of salutation to the triple gems or three refuges. The Salutation to the Dhamma is translated as follows:
Well-expounded is the Dhamma by
the Blessed One, to be self-realised;
to be but approached to be seen;
capable of being entered upon; to be
attained by […]

In the chanting book I received from a Thai Buddhist temple the first section, “Pay Homage to the Triple Gem”, is followed by “Salutation to the Buddha”. The translation from the Thai reads as follows:
Such indeed is the Blessed One,
exalted, omniscient, endowed with
knowledge and virtues. Gone beyond,
knower of the worlds, a guide
imcomparable for the
training of individuals. […]

I took a group to a Buddhist temple on Saturday. I was kindly given a copy of the chanting sheets used by the monks and lay devotees, translated from the Thai. The first section is entitled “Pay Homage to the Triple Gem”. This is followed by salutations to each of these “gems”, also called the […]

When Buddhist conceptions of Christ are positive they are typically highly mystical. So, having just described the hallowed presence of the Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh continues,
When a sage is present and you sit near him or her, you feel peace and light. If you were to sit close to Jesus and look into His eyes […]

The Dalai Lama stretches to the limit the idea that everything has a cause, observing that the Buddhist Scriptures
do not assert an independent creator of the universe. Assertions of an independent self or an independent creator contradict the presentation that things arise merely in dependence on their causes (Joy of Living, 166; my boldfacing).
This Buddhist […]

Prolific and highly influential Buddhist scholar Thich Nhat Hanh illustrates one of the barriers that prevent Buddhists from believing Christ, namely the pre-conception that the Buddha is the ideal model and all others models must be assimilated to it. He assimilates Christ in this way so that Jesus ends up being but another expression of the […]

The Apostle Paul plainly states, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your  faith” and again, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). Nothing could be plainer. The bodily resurrection of Christ is absolutely foundational to […]

I am currently in the process of abridging the Buddhist Scripture Mahavagga (the second major section of the first basket of the Tripitaka). In this sutra the relationship between an apprentice monk and a senior monk is set out. Here is what it prescribes, though I have put it in bullet-point form to aid reading:
25.8-24. The Buddha […]

One of the three realities asserted by Buddhists is that of non-self. Buddhists maintain that it is not possible to locate a self in any of the components that make up what people call a person and nor does it make sense to think of the whole of the parts as being the self.
Buddhism, of course, […]

In God’s Advocates (2005:5-6) Rupert Shortt speaks of a friend who “feels that Christianity in the end entails some kind of dualism” with respect to the relationship of mind and body. Shortt’s friend maintained “that, as physical creatures, we are our mental process - no brain, no mind - and therefore that death means total […]

In the Brahmajala Sutta (Discouse on the Net of Perfect Wisdom, from the Tripitaka: Silakkhandha Vagga, Digha Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka) there is a portrayal of what makes the Buddha - ‘Samana/Shramana (wandering ascetic) Gotama - morally excellent and praiseworthy.
‘Samana Gotama takes only one meal a day, not taking food at night and fasting after mid-day.
‘Samana […]