What can I say? I’m 30. I don’t feel a day over 27 and I’m no wiser than I was at 25. Maybe it will sink in over the next few days. Maybe I’ve gained great wisdom, but equal parts humility, so it all balances out. Maybe I’m getting more and more full of it with each passing year and decade. As my friend Kristen wrote just weeks ago while reflecting on her 30th: “I’m writing and reflecting. Party!!!” I’ll... Read more
I’m still working through Bhikkhu Bodhi’s excellent series on the Majjhima Nikāya, so we’ll have more from there soon. But for now a little visual meditative pause. It has become a popular pastime around Montana to complain about the rain, and then to note that it’s good for staving off the coming wildfires. This happens every spring in Montana. We get a week, or perhaps just a few days of sunny weather in the upper 60s or warmer and then reality sets back in.... Read more
Again, drawing from Bhikkhu Bodhi’s excellent series on the Majjhima Nikaya, today we take a look at MN 57, Kukkuravatika Sutta: The Dog-duty Ascetic. This is the second sutta covered by Bhikkhu Bodhi under the heading of the Ethical Life (click for the page with audio). This sutta has drawn some attention by Buddhist ethicists in recent years, starting with Peter Harvey’s An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics (2000), and more recently in a 2005 article in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics by Martin Adam.... Read more
Volumes have been written over the past few decades on Buddhism and Feminism, much of it by feminists in the West pushing Buddhism to live up to its egalitarian values in opposition to its often chauvinistic institutions. See below for a short list of recommended books. The work of Buddhist feminists, which should be all of us, still has a long way to go. But anyone who thinks that this is a wholly new development has some catching up to do. The... Read more
My thanks to Adam (of Home Brew Dharma) for pointing me to NellaLou at Smiling Buddhist Cabaret who has a great article (or should I say novella) today that begins by noting: Nathan at Dangerous Harvests wrote a post “Is Convert Buddhism too Clubby and Exclusive?” based on a post titled what gets in the way? by Peter at living and dying with eyes wide open. The string of thought, as she mentions, flows around convert Buddhists trying to figure out what’s going on in their chosen places of... Read more
Or, a happier title might be “The Best Feeling in the World” (see below).The wonderful Bhikkhu Bodhi has produced a series of great interest to all who would like to dive deeply into the teachings of the Buddha, A Systematic Study of the Majjhima Nikaya. This morning, somewhat at random, I listened to (and read along with) MN 13: Mahādukkhakkhanda Sutta — The Greater Discourse on the Mass of Suffering (download mp3 here) (read AccesstoInsight translation here) (Pāli here at paragraph 163) The... Read more
Who knew? Well, these guys, apparently: “A college dropout, he traveled to India and returned, according to an article in the Telegraph, “in search of philosophical enlightenment.” His wedding in 1991 was officiated by Zen Buddhist monk Kobun Chino Otogawa… “Of all the different kinds of awareness, awareness of death and impermanence is best,” the Dalai Lama wrote in The Way to Freedom. In his Sanford University address, Jobs spoke of death as being a great motivator. “Remembering that I’ll be... Read more
Accesstoinsight, now on facebook, is soliciting ideas for improvement. This is a great opportunity to help improve perhaps the best website out there for the study of early Buddhism. One of the suggestions was an index of suttas for lay people and here’s what Bodom, over at the Dhamma Wheel discussion area came up with: DN 31: Sigalovada Sutta — To Sigala/The Layperson’s Code of Discipline http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka … .nara.html MN 14: Cula-dukkhakkhandha Sutta — The Lesser Mass of Stresshttp://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka … .than.html... Read more
The difficulty of spring and early summer in Montana is the abundance of beauty. What’s worse is that it comes at unexpected times. Clouds roll in, only to part for an amazing rainbow. Birds or bees in great numbers one day may completely disappear the next. Today, for instance, I began an hour-long run prepared for clouds and rain but instead was greeted by blue skies and sun overhead as the rain fell to the north, south, and west of... Read more
Stephen Batchelor’s Dharma Talks… and SO MUCH MORE. Check out this site and its mountain of dhamma-talks. Wow. What Can Ancient India Tell Us About Our World? – Bits from a new book on the Indian Emperor Asoka and his contribution to humanity. In it the author, Bruce Rich, examines “the lives and writings of Ashoka and Kautilya as archetypes, metaphors and sources of inspiration for a reflection on what many contemporary thinkers view as the overarching challenge of our... Read more
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