Dharmavidya's Discussions (1009)

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Wood Pigs & Geese

This morning I worked in the forest. I felled a dead tree and gathered wood. Some of this will go for firewood and some will be buried in my next wood-heap garden bed (a small scale version of hugelkultur that I started doing last year and found to b

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PARAVRITTI (part 1): TURN BACK

DON'T DRIFT INTO DISASTER

This is the first of a series of short essays in which I shall comment on the term paravritti which plays an important role in many Buddhist texts. The word is very close in meaning to “enlightenment”, but with distinctive i

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REALLY WONDERFUL

PRAISE

In the Acchariya-abbhuta Sutta, the monks are discussing how wonderful the Buddha is when he comes into the hall, interrupting their chatter. He asks what they have been talking about and they tell him that they have been discussing his marvel

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POINT MIND AND THREE LOKAS

SIX VIJÑANA MIND MODEL
One of the ways to understand how conceptions of psychology have changed since the time of the Buddha is by looking at how the model of the mind has elaborated. In the earliest scriptures, the Buddha talks in terms of six vijñan

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ZEN IS

Zen is
“a special transmission outside the scriptures,
not founded upon words and letters.
pointing directly to the heart,
seeing true nature, become buddha

教外別傳   jiào wài bié zhuàn
不立文字   bú lì wén zìdo
直指人心   zhí zhĭ rén xīn
見性成佛   jiàn xìng chéng f

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SOME DISTINCTIVE AMIDA SHU POINTS


1. The correct attitude is to be willing to do whatever the Dharma requires, in whatever realm, in whatever aeon. Enlightenment means to see clearly what needs to be done. It is to walk the eightfold path and to know what that means. Yet, as bombu be

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ADDING UP THE BONES

A finger pointing at the sky.
Do you know the reason why?
Do you want to live or die?
Do you hear the people cry?
When they come to sing “Hallelujah!”,
riding in the voodoo Sin Street car,
waves come crashing on the harbour bar,
you’ll be swinging on the P

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AWARENESS OF STATES

Buddhism praises awareness, especially awareness of presently arisen states. There is a value in being aware of what is arising, being aware of what is persisting, what is fading away. Thus I might notice that a feeling of sadness is arising, or tha

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THE SECULAR AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL

I have just come back from the conference of Buddhist teachers in Europe. While I was there I heard much discussion about secularisation and how it is necessary to secularise the Dharma in order to make it palatable to modern people. Personally, I am

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SHUNYATA - EMPTINESS

QUESTION: What is shunyata?

SHORT ANSWER: Sunyata is the completion of learning

LONGER ANSWER: The important thing is to have the Dharma in your heart. How does this come about? There could be a million different ways. Perhaps something happens in li

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AMIDA SHU BUDDHISM


Amida Shu is a form of Pureland Buddhism. It derives from a tradition of Buddhist teaching that started in India, matured in China and flowered in Japan. In all probability to derives mostly from teachings that Buddha gave to lay people. There is, th

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THE THERAPEUTIC ELEMENT


When I originally learnt psychotherapy, psychoanalysis was the dominant force and its arch foe was behaviourism. Freud had claimed to offer the first scientific psychology. The behaviourists came along with what they claimed was really scientific. H

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THE WRONG EVIDENCE

There is a good deal of concern these days that psychotherapy should be “evidence based”. This has led to a neglect of, for instance, psychoanalysis. I cannot help thinking that this development is a mistake. When I think of the kind of psychotherapy

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INSIDE VIEW, OUTSIDE VIEW

Thinking about psychotherapy I notice that there is an important distinction to be made about two different viewpoints or perspectives. Similar comments can be made about spiritual practice and, no doubt, some other domains of human knowledge. I call

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COOL NOT COLD

THE GOAL

Most people have little or no idea about the goal of Buddhism. When I realised this, I published the book “Not Everything is Impermanent”. Most people said, “But I thought that Buddhism taught that everything is impermanent.” Only those who

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HOMILY TO THE DRAGONS: REFUGE


Dragons also take refuge in Amida Buddha. The dragons are proud of their role as defenders of the Dharma. They roar around on their motorbikes and scare off ghosts, demons and anyone who seems to represent a threat. However, all these threats only ex

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ONENESS AND DIFFERENCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

SHARING: SOME INITIAL POINTS

Recently I was involved in a discussion about “oneness”. Clearly, to some people in the Buddhist world, oneness is a big number. However, it is not always that clear what people mean by this idea and it may be that diffe

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HOMILY TO THE DRAGONS: KINDNESS


This morning my homily to the dragons was on kindness. After all, dragons must learn kindness too and they have their special contribution. The Dharma is not just about kind folk remaining kind nor just nice people being nice. Buddha nature will alw

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