Summary of Faith & Practice Commentary
TEXT: the method of opening oneself to Amitabha's grace
COMMENTARY:
The Buddha has vowed to receive whoever turns to him in faith and calls his name. There are many ways of calling the name. Literally, we can sa
Read more…宠辱若惊，贵大患若身。
何谓宠辱若惊？
宠為下。
得之若惊
失之若惊
是谓宠辱若惊。
何谓贵大患若身？
吾所以有大患者，
為吾有身，
及吾无身，
吾有何患。
故贵以身為天下，
若可寄天下。
爱以身為天下，
若可托天下。
Favour and disgrace are overwhelming.
Treat them as if a great sufferings to yourself.
What are favour and disgrace except trouble and
Read more…Tectonic Changes
Looking at the world political scene it seems as though the dam has burst now. Trump pulling out of the Paris Accord, Merkel declaring that the US & UK are no longer dependable, news that the EU and China are moving ahead together -
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President Trump is critical of Germany for "trading unfairly" with the USA and using the EU to this end. This is surely correct. Germany runs up a huge surplus on trade by exporting more than it imports. It is able to do this because the euro, consid
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It is not long since many were predicting
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QUESTION: Just a little question that's been on my mind recently. The second noble truth. Dukkha Samudaya. It is thirst for self-recreation that is associated with greed. It lights upon whatever pleasures are to be found here and there. It is thirst
Donald Trump's much publicised overseas trip is, so far, a bit of a washout. We have learnt that he is for peace and against terrorism - well, yes. On the other hand, we have also seen that he is pro-Israel and pro-Saud in a rather un-nuanced way tha
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QUESTION: Can you explain the idea of "two truths"?
SHORT ANSWER: Truth is truth and all encompassing, but there is a relative and an absolute way of intuiting it.
LONGER ANSWER: I am inclined to say that this idea of two truths is a misnomer. It is n
My cooking is largely a matter of seeing what I have left in the fridge, safe and garden and putting it together one way of another. Here’s what I cooked this evening.
Ingredients
I aubergine, sliced
1 egg
2 or 3 cups of pasta - I’d got farfalle
3 t
The strawberries are ripening...
The strawberry patch...
Tomato plants...
And the first rose...
Deeper Processes
There can be very few instances in history in which breaking what were intended to be long term treaties with close allies and trading partners works out well. International relations, just as relations between individuals, depend up
Won't it soon be time to disband NATO? This question has been raised by a number of politicians recently, including Trump before he was elected. Since then he has come under immense pressure and in order to survive in his role has abandoned half the
Read more…Wikileaks and others have released a mountain of "secret" information onto the internet, yet the sky has not fallen in, world war three has not begun... Journalists have spent hours over these materials looking for juicy stories and there are very fe
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