All Discussions (133)

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CLARIFYING NEMBUTSU PRACTICE

QUESTION:  I’d like to be clear about what nembutsu practice is. It’s seems from what I can glean from your writing you are saying Amida Buddhism is the work of compassion in the world in the play of opposites. So practice begins with some kind of de

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MOTHER BUDDHA

QUESTION: Can we think of Amida as mother?

SHORT ANSWER: Yes

LONGER ANSWER: Buddhas can appear in whatever form is necessary to save sentient beings, so can certainly appear as mother. However, one has to be careful in designing one's own Buddha beca

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BUDDHA & DERRIDA

QUESTION: Derrida is famous for saying that "there is nothing without a context" and I wondered whether his thinking partly overlapped with dependent origination.

SHORT ANSWER: Definitely, but... not everything is impermanent.

LONG ANSWER: Buddha's t

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RELIGION OR PSYCHOLOGY

QUESTION: Is Buddhism a religion or a psychology?

SHORT ANSWER: Both and more, but religion firstly.

LONG ANSWER: Buddhism is first and foremost a religion, and as such it has given rise to culture and civilisation, including systems of education,

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SECONDARY FACULTIES

QUESTION: My understanding of pure land is that we are all bombu and therefore use the nambutsu as its easy for us to understand. To practice more seems like we going against this principle by use of meditation or the use of other intellectual means.

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AMIDA PURELAND & OTHER PRACTICES

QUESTION: I have been at an event this weekend led by a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. The teacher taught about the four immeasurables, loving kindness, compassion and tonglen meditation. Today she is teaching about lojong mind training. I found some o

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DUKKHA-DUKKHA & MORE DUKKHA

QUESTION: Does the common Theravada and Tibetan Mahayana teaching of three levels of suffering, briefly:

  • suffering of suffering (Pali dukkha-dukkha) -- obvious physical and mental pain and our emotional reactions to it
  • suffering of change (vipariṇām

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Gehoorzaamheid

Vraag: Wat zei de Boeddha over gehoorzaamheid?

Kort antwoord: Heb aandacht voor de Dharma

Langer antwoord: De definitie van een christelijke monnik is een persoon die een leven leidt van armoede, kuisheid en gehoorzaamheid. Armoede en kuisheid zijn o

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Obéissance

Question : Qu’a dit le Bouddha  sur l'obéissance ?

Réponse courte : Tenez compte du Dharma

Réponse plus longue : Un moine chrétien se définit par  une vie de pauvreté, de chasteté et d'obéissance. La pauvreté et la chasteté sont également des valeur

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