Monasteries, Retreats, Traveling And Being Offline Abroad

UPDATE JULY 15, 2023: Back in Denmark. New gallery added below. And these word of prose by Graham Brown that seem a fitting share via a friend at Chithurst: Here, at the end of the world, all afternoon it’s soaked and poured. Grey clouds looming like a paradoxical blessing. We close our eyes in orderContinue reading “Monasteries, Retreats, Traveling And Being Offline Abroad”

Questions And Points Put To Leigh Brasington On “Psychic Powers” In The Suttas

March 23, 2023 Update: See below for Leigh’s responses via email. I may or may not give some future response to Leigh’s responses Honor and respect to Leigh Brasington, not only for his extensive teachings on the jhanas, but for all the thoughts, teachings and practices surrounding the Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2) during the FebruaryContinue reading “Questions And Points Put To Leigh Brasington On “Psychic Powers” In The Suttas”

The Noble Truth Of Dukkha: Buddhism And Beyond With Randi Green (Part 2)

“Now this, monks, is the Noble Truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, & despair are dukkha; association with the unbeloved is dukkha; separation from the loved is dukkha; not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha.” — SN 56.11 In part one Randi and I talked aboutContinue reading “The Noble Truth Of Dukkha: Buddhism And Beyond With Randi Green (Part 2)”

Trauma, Teachings And Textual Interpretations: Buddhism And Beyond With Randi Green (Part 1)

At the beginning of February 2023 Randi Green and I did a couple more recordings on somewhat Buddhist related topics in addition to our chat New Inner Domain Races and New Intervention Protocol. Besides the topics listed in the title this first one starts off addressing dukkha, but we really wait until the second chatContinue reading “Trauma, Teachings And Textual Interpretations: Buddhism And Beyond With Randi Green (Part 1)”

Translations And Musings On The Last Words Of The Buddha

Not due to its prevalence of distortion, but due to the number of misattributed Buddha quotes (to name one reason in particular) it seems prudent to take a closer look at perhaps one of the most important utterances of the historical Buddha: the Tathāgata’s last words passed down in Pali as: “vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā”Continue reading “Translations And Musings On The Last Words Of The Buddha”

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu Questions

[12/10/2022 UPDATE: This post was originally published 1/23/2022. I recently discovered that at that time I did not include the audio file here for the podcast so I had to change the blog post publishing date in order for WordPress to push this out as a new podcast.] Five short excerpts of some questions IContinue reading “Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu Questions”

Dharma Questions: Miscellany — Part 7

The Heart 1 of Prajna 3 Paramita 4 Sutra 2 Bodhisattva 5 Avalokiteshvara 6, while deeply immersed 7 in prajna paramita, clearly perceived the empty nature 8 of the five skandhas 9, and transcended all suffering. Shariputra 10! Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. So it is with feeling, conception, volition, and consciousness. Shariputra! All dharmas 11 are empty in character; neitherContinue reading “Dharma Questions: Miscellany — Part 7”

(Buddhist) Mudras

Wikipedia calls Mudras — or hand positions — symbolic or ritual gestures. For serious meditators I would suggest going beyond this and investigate the energetic properties and effects of such hand positioning, especially noticeable in meditation. We already know it’s instinctual to place a hand to the injured area when one gets physically hurt. Why?Continue reading “(Buddhist) Mudras”

Wisdom Snippets: (Do It Yourself Buddhadharma) Encouragements And Empowerments

For a moment put aside the notion party poopers Buddhists focus way too much on suffering, perhaps even more noticeably affectatious as soon as they get up from sitting around on meditation cushions. For now even shelf the more recent “socially engaged Buddhism” and turn toward some notions the historical Buddha put forth as empowermentContinue reading “Wisdom Snippets: (Do It Yourself Buddhadharma) Encouragements And Empowerments”

Dharma Questions: Abhidhamma (With Beth Upton)

[10/3/22 UPDATE: This post was originally published on 8/4/2022. Since then I decided to ask Beth Upton back to address some of these questions and had to change the blog post publishing date in order for WordPress to push this out as a new podcast. I told Beth beforehand I’d do an extra audio introContinue reading “Dharma Questions: Abhidhamma (With Beth Upton)”