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MeditationMagazine | Special Section
Kuan Yin
Over the course of his travels in Asia, the Buddhist scholar John Blofeld (1913-1987) became an expert on Avalokiteshvara. During a sojourn in China in the mid-1930s, Blofeld encountered an old Chinese nun living in an…
CultureMagazine | Special Section
Ten Thousand Sutras (after Hakuin)
The body is the body of the Buddha.Like ice and water, the one is always in the other. In the middle of the lakewe long for a drink of water. Adrift in Samsarawe dream of blissful…
TeachingsMagazine | Special Section
The Kannon Sutra
Toward the end of his life, Zen Master Hakuin [1689 -1769] took an interest in aspects of life outside the monastery walls, including social and governmental concerns. In the passage that follows, excerpted from a letter…
TeachingsMagazine | Special Section
Chenrezi
The following passage outlines the method of visualizing Chenrezi, the Tibetan Avalokiteshvara. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) was one of the principal holders of the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. People these days, with their limited intellect,…
IdeasMagazine | Special Section
Avalokiteshvara In Tibet
According to an old Tibetan tradition, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara has a special relation with the people of Tibet. A bodhisattva is a warrior or hero of enlightenment, a being who is on the path to buddhahood.…
TeachingsMagazine | Special Section
The Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sutra, expounded by the Buddha at the end of his teaching career, was first written down in approximately 200 C.E. In the following excerpt, taken from Chapter 25, Shakyamuni Buddha explains to a member…
Avalokiteshvara
The Bodhisattava of Compassion
Features
Buddhist at the Edge of the Earth
Pico Iyer talks with Gretel Ehrlich
Apology of a Buddhist Soldier
Around the neck of every American soldier hangs a pair of “dog tags” on a metal chain. Their purpose is to identify the name, Social Security number, blood type, and religious denomination of the owner’s mortal…
Everything’s about the Heart
An Interview with Richard Gere
Twirling a Flower
We can attach to, resist, or even reject traditional Buddhist practices. But letting go and diving into practice can create lightness and joy.
Lotus in the Fire
An Interview with Gavin Harrison
Instructions to the Cook
A Zen Master's Lessons for Living a Life that Matters
Departments
MeditationMagazine | What Does Being A Buddhist Mean To You
What Does Being a Buddhist Mean to You? Spring 1996
Re: Dreams About Your Teacher
TeachingsMagazine | Brief Teachings
From Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand
Geshe Potowa said if you do not think about death, you will ignore this life. If you do not ignore this life, you will be influenced by the eight worldly concerns: being happy if you receive…
Transformations: Awakening to the Sacred in Ourselves
By Tracy Cochran and Jeff Zaleski
The Light of Discovery
By Toni Pucker
Destination Zero: Poems 1970-1995
By Sam Hamill
It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness
By Sylvia Boorstein
TeachingsMagazine | Dharma Talk
Shin Jin Mei
Faith in Mind
ObituariesMagazine | In Transition
Lex Hixon
The awakened mind has never come into being and so cannot disappear or be destroyed, nor can it be analyzed into component parts, nor described or manipulated in any way. The mind itself, abiding calmly as…
Alphabetum Tibetanum: The Beginnings of Tibetology in the Western World
By Antonio Agostino Giorgio
IdeasMagazine | From The Academy
A Sangha-less Sangha
One becomes a Buddhist by going for refuge in the “three gems”—in other words by saying, “I go for refuge to the Buddha, I go for refuge to the dharma, I go for refuge to the…
The Mysterious Madame B.
David Guy on Mme. H.P. Blavatsky
Life in the MUD
Imagine a world in which the inhabitants create their own physical environments and characters by writing them into existence. In this world, it is possible to converse, exchange gestures, express emotions, and even have sex. Such…
Letters to the Editor Spring 1996
On Monks, Models & Misnomers I read your collection of articles on monasticism with interest [Winter 1995]. I am glad that a forum exists to discuss such aspects of Buddhism from a wide variety of perspectives;…
Nothing to Lose
From a Buddhist view we are all ego addicts, in service of our own special interests. The good news is that liberation already resides within us, but to help prime the pump of awakening, we must…
IdeasMagazine | Uncommon Sense
Saying No to the War on Drugs
Nowhere is institutionalized American racism more obvious than in our judicial system. One in three black males between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight is on probation or parole, or is incarcerated. Nearly fifty percent of…
Spring Weeds
Spring comes to the coast of California in early February, like an over-eager dinner guest arriving an hour and a half before the appointed feast. We have barely recovered from bringing in the November harvest of…
In the News Spring 1996
PRETENDER TO THE THRONE In our last issue we reported on the outrage of Chinese officials when the Dalai Lama announced that a six-year old Tibetan boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, had been determined to be the reincarnation of…
After Ikkyu
for Jack Turner 1. Our minds buzz like beesbut not the bees’ minds.It’s just wings not heartthey say, moving to another flower. 2. The well pit is beneath where the pumpshed burnedyears ago with a living…