Start your day with a fresh perspective
“Monks, these two are fools. Which two? The one who doesn’t see his transgression as a transgression, and the one who doesn’t rightfully pardon another who has confessed his transgression. These two are fools. “These two are wise people. Which two? The one who sees his transgression as a transgression, and the one who rightfully […]
“There are four places, Ananda, that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence. What are the four? “‘Here the Tathagata was born!’ [Lumbini] This, Ananda, is a place that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence. “‘Here the Tathagata became fully enlightened in unsurpassed, supreme […]
This edition of The Platform Sutra is another translation and close reading by Bill Porter, b.k.a. Red Pine. Clark Strand turned me onto his Heart Sutra. The Platform Sutra does not purport to be spoken by the Buddha, but rather is spoken by a buddha, Hui-neng, known as the Sixth patriarch of Zen or Chan Buddhism […]
The British scholar of Buddhism Richard Gombrich has a seemingly endless supply of insightful readings of texts that we as Buddhists assume we know through and through. Take Angulimala (please). The standard story is one of the most famous in all of Buddhism. A fierce robber and murderer named Angulimala cuts off the fingers of […]
The object of knowledge in dream is not seen when one awakes. Similarly the world disappears to him who is awakened from the darkness of ignorance. The creation of illusion is nothing but illusion. When everything is compound there is nothing which can be regarded as a real thing. Such is the nature of all […]
In the Tricycle office this morning we discussed karma and rebirth at our morning meeting and how, while opinions vary widely on the subjects, the concept is freely used and often with little understanding. Most of all karma (which literally means “action”) is thought to be responsible for fortune and misfortune in our lives, an […]
This weekend there was a little too much honesty or plainspokenness going on in my family and feelings were hurt and there are negative reverberations still coming down the rails. It was all avoidable, and it was all done with the best of intentions. I saw it coming and reverted to my usual, cowardly strategy […]