Dharmavidya's Discussions (993)

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RITUAL & MESSAGE

QUESTION: A sangha member recently asked, 'if Honen's teachings are so simple, why are our services so complicated?' As the sangha member noticed, our services have lots of words, bells in the right places, and ritual. How does this fit with the simp

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May Eirene Reign Long

A question that is of perennial concern is that of whether world peace is possible and whether real peace is sustainable. Many utopians have advanced ideas about better ways of organising society or at least establishing limited alternative communiti

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MONDAY 15 Jan

Days here are full of life. This morning the nurse arrived to take a sample of my blood while we were all sitting round having breakfast. I'm looking forward to getting back the lab result because this will tell something about what difference it has

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SUNDAY 14 Feb ~ Happy Household

DAVID:

1148757934?profile=RESIZE_320x320Full House
Eleusis is full. Susthama, Damian and their two chilren, Selena and Dorian have joined us so the place is a-buzz with activity and little voices. Together we have done a certain amount of reorganisation of rooms and spaces. We are g

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SATURDAY 13 Feb - Friends & Nostalgia

This morning first thing was bright and clear and Elja got me to go out for a walk to collect some daffodils from the area of the Eirene shrine. Then we walked back and I was feeling OK so we went on to visit the Demeter and Artemis shrines as well,

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FRIDAY 12 Feb ~ Second Full Day at Home

I measure progress by what I can do. Today I do better than yesterday by  walking round the house twice, instead of once, and  find great satisfaction in doing a small task in the garden, cutting back a bramble that was encroaching on the mint bed -

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WEDNESDAY 27 Jan ~ Medical Report

In the morning I had a couple of turns of vertigo after slight effort and realised i must be worse. I went back to bed and slept all morning. Elja wanted to get me to a doctor. In due course, Annette arrived. She agreed and the two of them whisked me

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TUESDAY 26 Jan ~ Teaching & Singing

Seven Factors of Enlightenment
In the morning after breakfast we did a lesson on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment in relation to the opening of Summary of Faith and Practice, especially the phrase "letting go of sophistication and all forms of cleve

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SUNDAY 24 Jan ~

We got a day ahead of our usual routine by doing the washing this morning. After arriving home to a freezing cold house yesterday we were pleasantly greeted by sunshine this morning. Having been travelling we had quite an accumulation of washing to d

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FRIDAY 22 Jan ~ That Snow Buddha

Today we are visiting friends in the south of Netherlands. there is snow on the ground. When there is frozen snow the morning sunshine is brighter than usual. We took a short walk into town and on the way stopped to build a snowman. We were aiming to

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TUESDAY 19 Jan ~ A Day of Errands

It has been a day of errands. We had a problem with a computer and had to find a repair shop. In the end it was a matter of buying a new memory pack and having it installed. Computers are so much a part of our lives nowadays that it is difficult to r

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MONDAY 18 Jan ~ A Visit to Dr Kildare

We spent much of the day in a hospital in Germany. Elja had interviews and X-rays and made plans for her hip replacement operation which will now take place in the same hospital in February. She has been researching the pros and cons of different met

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MONDO

QUESTION: What is mondo?

SHORT ANSWER: Mondo is a ritual of formal question and answer between teacher and enquirer.

LONG ANSWER: Mondo is a word from old Japanese. Mon means "gate". Do means "way" or "path". Do in old Japanese is the same as Tao in

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BUDDHAS EXIST

QUESTION: ”Buddhism is the belief that beings do get enlightened.Arhants and Buddhas do exist."How can we truly know that? I don't know that I've ever met an Arhant or a Buddha. Am I even capable of knowing if I have?

SHORT ANSWER: Seeing is believin

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FAITH BEYOND DESPAIR

QUESTION: Dear Dharmavidya, I just read your essay on the first of the 12 Steps in Running Tide number 33. In it you say, "In Pure Land Buddhism we admit that we do not have the power to enlighten ourselves.In this there is a kind of despair and a ki

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