Category Books
Nekkhamma : Renunciation
Renunciation is a core concept in Buddhism as practiced in the Theravada tradition, and an idea that gets very little traction in the modern world. I suppose it wouldn’t be unfair to say that it probably wasn’t a particularly popular idea even in the time of the Buddha… but it seems that the culture was […]
Sīla : Virtue
The subject of morality, or virtue, comes up in all religious systems and even without. In Buddhism, the word “Sīla” refers to virtue in a very general form, whether the practitioner is one who holds to five, eight, or 227 precepts. The basic layperson’s five precepts, or pañca-sila, are effectively the minimum-standard in Buddhism. Sure, the Precept […]
Dāna : Generosity
Hello friends, As promised in my previous post, I’m going to write at least a brief article on each of the Ten Perfections. Today I will focus on the idea of Generosity, or Dāna in Pali. I think all of the world’s major religions share this theme, making it one on which followers of all creeds should be […]
Thirty-Two
Good morning, friends. Today marks 32 years I have existed in this world. I must admit that the continued march of time against me reminds me from time to time of the certainty of aging and death. I’m also reminded of the Pabbatopama Sutta (I didn’t remember the name, but it was easy to look up — […]
Like a Lump of Salt
The Buddha advised people against thinking too deeply about the precise workings of kamma (or karma, for those who prefer the sanskritized spelling), saying that it was imponderable, unconjecturable, and could bring about madness and vexation. Indeed, even if one wants to spend their days thinking about how their kamma has brought about this result […]
A Timeless Elephant Parable
Once in a while I come across something which is so oddly profound to me that I can’t help but share it. I’ve read this story before, what I’ll call the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant, but I came across it again recently and have learned a little more about it since. […]
With Sensual Pleasures as the Cause…
I find a little time every day to read some of the news and to think about the vastness of suffering that pervades much of the so-called “civilized” world. Occasionally, I have been asked about “Buddhism’s response” to all of the chaos, and I haven’t always known the best way to reply, but in my […]
The Fire Discourse
Hello again, dear friends. Today, my brief time reading has been focused on the Fire Discourse, or Adittapariyaya Sutta, in which the Buddha speaks of the flames of passion, aversion, and delusion. It really is a brief read, but carries with it much of what I envision being the most basic of teachings in Buddhism — […]
Cultivating No Sense of Mine-ness
From the Sutta Nipata (Attadandasutta): Burn up what’s before, and have nothing for after. If you don’t grasp at what’s in between, you will go about, calm. For whom, in name & form, in every way, there’s no sense of mine, and who doesn’t grieve over what is not: he, in the world, isn’t defeated, […]
Sharing Views Respectfully
Regular readers may recall that I do a lot of sutta reading, and a lot of that gets done at work when I’m on my breaks. I’ve had more than one occasion arise where fellow employees have asked what I’m reading, and very often I get the proverbial shoulder shrug when I reply that I’m reading the […]
Hickersonia 