A common way of explaining karma is by using the idea of bija. A bija is a “karmic seed”. We can think of karmic seeds as planted in the ground of the mind. A seed can stay in the ground for a long time before the conditions arrive that enable it to
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Not everything is impermanent. In Buddhism we sometimes say nirvana, sometimes shunyata, we talk of No-birth and of the Deathless, and sometimes we say the unconditioned. These are all implications. When the passion for impermanent things is no longe
Anapanasati is a central teaching of Buddhism but it is commonly misunderstood. Literally the term means “breathe-in-breathe-out-mindfulness”. It is commonly taken to refer to a meditation exercise in which the attention is focussed upon the breathe
Read more…EGO OBSESSION
Buddhist psychology can be seen as a cure for addiction or obsession. Addiction is officially defined as a compulsive behaviour pattern in which one develops unpleasant symptoms if one does not get one’s fix. There are, however, any num
Read more…Richard Ollier has recently published an essay in the Journal of Global Buddhism "Dharmavidya’s Engagement with Hōnen: How a Contemporary British Pureland Buddhist Teacher Retrieves his Japanese Spiritual Heritage"*
It is a good academic article and,
Read more…Meditation is a natural expression of spiritual liberation. When we are swimming in grace, the heart lifts and sings. In following the Dharma one is filled with joy and gratitude that Buddha’s appear in the world. The traditional way to express this
Read more…Dharmavidya David Brazier à écrit en anglais le 26 avril 2018 (traduit par Annette et Vajrapala):
LE PLUS ANCIEN DUALISME
Il existe une idée, courante dans les milieux bouddhistes contemporains, selon laquelle, à moins de croire en la bonté humaine
Read more…The first beatitude of Jesus was "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." We might say, "theirs is the Pure Land of Buddha". But in the modern world, is being "poor of spirit" something that people seek? Don't we, rather
Read more…I am. I am what I am. A walnut tree grows walnuts. It does not grow tulips. The tulip plant is no less than the walnut tree. The walnut tree is no less than the tulip. Yet the tulip grows no nuts. I am living my life. You are living your life. That’s
Read more…I have recently read an essay about Theravada meditation. Of its type it is an excellent essay. It decribes samatha (calm meditation) and vipassana (insight meditation) and the relations between them, showing how in some schools samatha provides a fo
Read more…This is one of the commonest versions of the Vajrtasattva Dharani. It is the version used in the Amida Shu Chanting Book...
Om Vajrasattva samaya, manu palaya,
Vajrasattva teno patita, dridho me bhava,
Suto kayo me bhava, supokayo me bhava,
Anurak
THE IN BETWEEN
The word bardo refers to the state between lives. It is a gap or transition period. More generally, we experience many such periods, not merely after actual death but also after every ending before a new beginning has taken form. Mahay
Read more…Publicado por David Brazier el 8 de mayo de 2018 a las 10:14 en el grupo “Budismo”
Texto: Para aquellos que tienen afinidad kármica con el Buda Amitabha
COMENTARIO
Para quien
Este texto y el camino religioso que describe es "para aquellos que t
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Alternating Ages of Greed and Hate: A Little Bit of Buddhist Psychology
In Buddhist psychology we talk of delusion having a double valency. It either turns to greed or to hate. Greed is attractive and acquisitive. Hate is repulsive and rejecting.
The
Read more…Mental disquiet affects us all. It is, in fact, the greatest cause of human suffering. Of course, we do not think we are so disturbed -- after all, we are lucid, coherent, not raving. True; but we are deceiving ourselves by clinging to these sources
Read more…Shoko-bo Bencho (1162-1238) was a, perhaps the, leading disciple of Honen Shonin (1133-1212), the principal propagator of Pureland Buddhism in Japan. Nowadays it is common to give this honour to Shinran (1173-1263), but in the important contemporary
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Nir-vana means “no wind”
Here’s a poem…
Awful wind,
east, west,
north, south,
my little raft,
on rock,
is in time’s mouth.
Where flee?
How fight?
What pray? What tell?
Your dreadful whine!
I hide my lie
in hell.
Conceit to be,
to dine, to feast,
des
VERTALING VAN DE TEKST VAN DHARMAVIDYA
Dit is een van de meest voorkomende versies van de Vajrasattva Dharani. Het is de versie die wordt gebruikt in het liederenboek van de Amida school ...
Om Vajrasattva samaya, manu palaya,
Vajrasattva teno patit
In principle, there are two routes by which one can participate in enlightenment. One is the method of one's own effort. The other is the road of faith. Effort is hard work. It involves becoming highly alert, 24/7, keeping innumerable precepts, renou
Read more…Faith is a quality, like courage or generosity. It is not the same as belief which is a matter of conviction about certain matters. Belief can be a support to faith, though belief is always vulnerable since it depends upon conditions in a way that fa
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