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Kill the Teacher

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:24:39 +0000

I often advise people who seem genuinely interested in Buddhism to find a dharma teacher. By this I don't mean that one must make a lifelong commitment to a guru (unless you want to, of course). Even if you only participate in an occasional short retreat led by a teacher, and practice solo most of the time, the short retreats can make a huge difference.

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The Fourth Noble Truth

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:10:05 +0000

I've been reviewing the Four Noble Truths, and we've reached the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the Eightfold Path. Bikkhu Bodhi said of the Path,

"We say that the path is the most important element in the Buddha's teaching because the path is what makes the Dhamma available to us as a living experience. Without the path the Dhamma would just be a shell, collection of doctrines without inner life. Without the path full deliverance from suffering would become a mere dream."

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Desire and Attachment

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:18:53 +0000

As we talk about releasing desires and cravings, it's important to keep in mind that it's attachment to desire that is the problem, more than desire itself. So let's review attachment.

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The Ending of Desire

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:19:01 +0000

The Third Noble Truth is about the cessation of dukkha (unease, stress, suffering). In his first sermon the Buddha said, "And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving."

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Liberation

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:45:13 +0000

In commentaries on the Third Noble Truth, words like liberation and emancipation come up frequently. This begs the question, who is being liberated from what?

Possible answers (assuming we're going with a subject and object here) -- the mind liberated from delusion; the being liberated from suffering. Somewhere there's a Zen teacher saying that liberation is liberated from liberation; or, at least, from all thought of a self being liberated and all concepts of liberation.

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Arising and Cessation

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:18:49 +0000

I've been reviewing the Second Noble Truth and want to share what the Theravadin scholar Walpola Rahula wrote about it in his book What the Buddha Taught. If you've got a copy of the Grove Press edition, you can find this on pages 30 to 32.

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More Background on Buddhist Violence in Burma

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:21:06 +0000

Via the Rev. Danny Fisher, see the Washington Post's portrait of Wirathu, a Buddhist monk being called the "Burmese bin Laden" because of his hate speec against Muslims. He is head of a movement in Burma that promotes Buddhist supremacy and segregation of non-Buddhist ethnic minorities, primarily Muslims.

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When Is Desire Not Desire?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:11:23 +0000

The Second Noble Truth explains the origins of dukkha, or unsatisfactoriness. And the usual rendering of the Second Truth into English is something like "suffering is caused by desire." This leaves us with the question, Does this mean all desire? Or are some desires (like a desire to realize enlightenment) okay?

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More on Violence in Burma

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:13:11 +0000

Here are a couple of articles offering perspective on the violence in Burma, which involves Buddhists monks and laypeople. Please note that I have no personal knowledge of what's happening in Burma, but these articles seem plausible.

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Dukkha and You

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:14:08 +0000

I've written before about the Ven. Ajahn Sumedho's booklet on the Four Noble Truths, which I'm finding very helpful. For example, according to the booklet, the Pali word dukkha -- which so often is translated as "suffering" -- actually means "incapable of satisfying" or "not able to bear or withstand anything." To me, to say "life is incapable of satisfying" is very different from "life is suffering."

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