President Macron has said now that Europe needs its own military in order to protect itself against Russia, China and even the USA. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46162052 . I have been predicting this development for several years now. Europe
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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…It is certainly good news that Asia Bibi has been acquitted and is to be released, but very sad that she and her family will now have to flee the country and find refuge somewhere else in the world than her home land. You can read the story here http
Read more…I just want to say that if you can get together three or more people to start a local ITZI group anywhere in the world, I am happy to offer what I can via skype, Facebook or e-mail to support it.
Such groups can, amongst other things
- discuss Dharma
Read more…We call her Queen Vaidehi. Actually we do not know her name. At the time, twenty-five centuries ago, the word vaidehi probably meant a consort of the king, but she is now established as Queen Vaidehi. She was the mother of Ajatashattru. Ajatashattru
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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
Around his house, here and there,
women’s clothes she did not wear.
Did former lovers leave them here
“Probably,” he said, “my dear.”
“Should I be jealous, now?”
she asked, crinkling her lovely brow.
“Oh, jealousy is such a pain,”
he answered, casually, aga
What is happening to the USA? On normal conventional headline statistics it seems to be doing well. Unemployment is at a low, profits rolling in. Yet longevity - perhaps the best independent measure of the wellbeing of a population - is actually fall
Read more…We have just sent out the third Conference Newsletter. It contains a lovely contribution from Iris Dotan Katz - don't miss it - including the suggestion of setting up an on-going network between and beyond the conferences for people interested in dev
Read more…QUESTION: What is the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha?
SHORT ANSWER: Being in the presence of that Buddha.
LONGER ANSWER: A Buddha land or Buddha field (buddha-kshetra) can be thought of somewhat like the field around a magnet. A Buddha has influence. B
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
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
Read more…古之善為士者，微妙玄通，深不可識。
夫唯不可識，故強為之容：
豫兮若 冬涉川﹔
猶兮若畏四鄰﹔
儼兮其若客﹔
渙兮若冰之釋﹔
敦兮其若朴曠兮
其若谷﹔混兮其若濁。
孰能晦以理之徐明？
孰能濁以靜之徐清？
孰能安以 動之徐生？
保此道者不欲盈。
夫唯不盈，
故能蔽而新成。
Good people of old
penetrated subtle mysteries.
They were indecipherably deep.
The ordinary person cannot unders
Life could be a poem if it rhymed
or the metre was predictable instead
of random interference going on
amidst the buzzing of the insects in my head.
Life could be a song all full of joy
if its cadences were rising all on cue;
if the lyrics, though repeat
I have been reading extracts from a translation of The Travels of Bronteas. Brointeas is travelling with his slave Phylon in ancient Cyprus. He visits a number of cities and temples most of which are dedicated to Aphrodite. What emerges is a picture
Read more…14.
视之不见名曰夷。
听之不闻名曰希。
抟之不得名曰微。
此三者不可致诘，
故混而为一。
其上不皦, 其下不昧，
绳绳不可名，复归於无物。
是谓无状之状，无物之象，是谓惚恍。
迎之不见其首，随之不见其後。
执古之道以御今之有。
能知古始，是谓道纪。
Fairly Literal Translation
The look that does not see is called foreign
The listening that does not hear is called unusual
The t
Read more…QUESTION: In Jodo Shinshu it seems that an experience of shinjin acts as a kind of 'proof' or 'guarantee' that one has called out to Amida with faith and has been received and will be reborn into the Pureland (do correct me if I'm wrong). What is the
Read more…It seems that Taoism had a considerable effect upon Far Eastern Buddism. Thus, consider the fact that Dogen Zenji had his great awakening upon over-hearing the words “Let body and mind fall away,” spoken by his master to another practitioner. Where d
Read more…QUESTION: What is the best way of reading and interpreting a sutra?
SHORT ANSWER: One tries to understand the Dharma contained in it and let the images bring that Dharma to life deep within.
LONGER ANSWER: I think one of the points in the questioners
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