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Putting aside what is not connected with the goal
The Cula-Malunkyovada is one of my favorite suttas. In it, Buddha is approached by a monk who demands that questions of the soul and afterlife be answered, or he will leave the holy life. As you can...
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My nature mantra
Sometimes my mental state calls for the repetition of a phrase. Not too often, but when a particularly disruptive mood strikes, nothing helps calms my mind like a mantra. My use of mantras is strictly...
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The Ten Perfections
I’ve been thinking about these today, trying to keep them in mind, trying to apply one or more of them to each situation I encounter, trying to perfect them in thoughts and actions, trying… this is...
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The sum of our parts
Listened to a dharma talk today about the five aggregates with Pascal Auclair. He calls them the five rivers, a good reminder that we’re a complex process made up of many other processes with nothing...
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Pali Canon as Teacher?
One of my Twitter friends, Mike D posted a link a while back to this FAQ on fundamentalbuddhism.com. It’s a response to the common question from those newly interested in practicing Buddhism: Do I need...
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Shunryu Suzuki’s Big Mind
In my years of Buddhist study, I’ve frequently come across the concept of duality and non-duality. I understood this idea only on a philosophical level until recently. I’ve been reading Zen Mind,...
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Refuge in the Dharma – Coming to terms with Reality and Renunciation
This post is about “Cutting Through Material Spiritualism” by Chogyam Trungpa, a dharma book being read by the #BuddhaBkClb group located on Twitter at #BuddhaBkClb and in this online forum. Most...
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Internally and Externally
In the Satipatthana Sutta (alternate translation with commentary), the terms “internally” and “externally” appear about two dozen times each. A typical use of these terms is as follows: In this way he...
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To face what is and not turn away…
I’ve been thinking about this quote from Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism: When we face things as they are, we give up the hope of something better. On one hand this rings of defeatism. If we...
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Subject to and Freedom from Suffering
In a recent edition of the Free Buddhist Audio Podcast, Vajratara gives a wonderful introductory talk on the stories around Buddha’s enlightenment and subsequent turning of the wheel of the dharma (The...
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