Many of us in America today are thinking about security, wondering how best to keep our families and our nation safe. Because so much of the danger in the world lately seems to be focused in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, we most often encounter Islamic, Jewish and Christian perspectives on affairs in these regions. Perhaps it would be helpful to hear from one of the other great world religions. What is the Buddhist view of how to achieve safety and security in the world’s trouble spots, in … [Read more...]
Andrew Olendzki
Whose Life Is This, Anyway?
I don’t know many people in this country who really believe in rebirth—do you? I often meet Buddhists of various sorts, and yet it seems that most, like myself, have inherited from their cultural upbringing the “one life to live” model of the human condition. It makes me wonder how much of Buddhism we are really capable of absorbing. When we see how much of who we are now is embedded in our habitual responses to specific conditions in a world we each create from our unique illusions, what … [Read more...]
The Non-Pursuit of Happiness
There are two fundamentally different approaches to the attainment of happiness. One is so deeply embedded in our civilization almost everything in our culture supports it; the other is a radically different view offered by the Buddha twenty five centuries ago. Which approach is likely to contribute most to our own happiness? My bets are on the Buddha. We should begin by offering a rudimentary definition of happiness, for which we might fruitfully turn to modern systems theory. Every … [Read more...]
The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness
Most practitioners of insight meditation are familiar with the four foundations of mindfulness, and know that the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (M 10; D 22), the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness is the cornerstone of the vipassanā [insight meditation] tradition. The first foundation, mindfulness of the body, has to do with bringing awareness, attention, or focus to breathing and to bodily sensations. The second foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of feeling, involves noticing the affect … [Read more...]
Crossing the Rohini (Therāgāthā 527-9)
These verses are said to have been uttered by Udāyin (nick-named Kāla Udayin or “Dark Udāyin“). He was the son of king Suddhodhana’ chief minister, and is said to have been the childood companion of prince Siddhartha. Soon after Gotama’s awakening, the king sent several messengers to ask his son to return home. Each one, upon hearing the Buddha's teaching, apparently joined his movement and gave up the king’s mission. Finally Suddhodhana sends Kaludayin, who agrees on condition that he can … [Read more...]
War and Peace
As Buddhists understand things, the outer world unfolding around us is largely a reflection of inner states. Yes, there might be some “stuff” out there from which the material life support systems are woven, but the rich world of human experience is a virtual world, constructed of mental states, feelings, perceptions and various forms of intention. First the bad news: the mess we are making of our planet is caused by our own greed, hatred and delusion. Aside from the existential afflictions … [Read more...]
The Steadfast Family Man (Anguttara Nikaya 5:40 & 3:48)
Most Buddhists have always been and continue to be laypersons and householders. These verses from the Numerical Collection of discourses paint a picture of a householder who is both refuge and support for an entire family unit or of a community. Of course these days such a person might just as soon be a woman as a man, or might even be an organization or a group. In either case it is the shelter provided by faith and virtue that enables the family to flourish. Its members are protected from the … [Read more...]
Buddha in the Forest (Samyutta Nikaya 7:18)
Understanding the Hindrances
Interconnected…Or Not?
When I look up the word “connected” in my dictionary, I find synonyms such as “bound,” “fastened,” and “attached.” Last I heard, these were not considered a good thing in Buddhism. So why do we hear so much about “interconnectedness” these days? Was the Buddha really teaching us that “all things are interconnected?” The explanation usually given is that this is what is meant by dependent origination. But is it? As sometimes happens, I think in using this term we are seizing upon a notion from … [Read more...]
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