Buddhism

Dhammapada Verse 184

Verses from the Dhammapada
The key to emptying the heart is not just patience, it’s patient endurance.

Happy Birthday Buddha!

An Easter Essay
The ‘miraculous birth’ is a symbol that appears in many religions, but in the case of the Buddha what it represents might not be what you think.

Dhammapada 327

Verses from the Dhammapada
Jenny Hall investigates what it meant when the Buddha said ‘"Be watchful and guard your thoughts"

Through the Keyhole

Stories from the Tradition
A disciple of the Buddha is set an impossible test to prove that he has attained the status of Arhat.

Dhammapada 225

Verses from the Dhammapada
How is aversion just another type of clinging?

Dhammapada 215

Verses of the Dhammapada 
Why do we fear change so much? Jenny Hall looks at what happens when we face that fear.

Dhammapada Verse 59

Verses from the Dhammapada
The pitch black of the darkness holds many secrets, some terrifying but others sublime. Jenny Hall explores what it really means to bring light to this darkness.

Verses from The Dhammapada 147

The Buddha said, ‘Look at the body, sickly racked with pain, which does not endure.’ Jenny Hall investigates... 

Verses from The Dhammapada 217

Jenny Hall examines the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II and her long reign as the Monarch of the United Kingdom.

A Vision of the Universe: Abhirati and the Tathagata Akshobhya

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
If looking for the Buddha nature is impossible then how do we find it?

Sermon on the Destructible and the Indestructible

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
In this episode, the Buddha explains how Bodhisattvas can live fully in the worlds of suffering and death, without suffering themselves.

The Dharma Door of Non-duality

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
Bodhisatva’s gather from all four corners of the universe to explain how to reach the ‘door of non-duality’ and how to step through it.

The Family of the Tathagatas

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
The Buddha committed murder in one of his previous lives. How could committing such a heinous act help deliver beings into full Buddhahood?

Sariputra Wants a Chair and Gets a Throne

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
In this episode the essence of what the Zen masters taught is revealed.

Vimalakirti Does Some Spring Cleaning

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
The magical powers of the Boddhisatva's are now on full display, but where do these miracles come from?
Series

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra

Stories Retold
The Zen Gateway re-tells this dream like sutra for the modern reader.

The Reluctance of Visitors | Part 2

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
All the Buddha’s disciples are too scared face Vimalakirti’s Dharma power, surely the future Buddha Maitreya will have what it takes to speak with the Boddhisatva. 

Verses from The Dhammapada 286

While doubt is seen as one of five hindrances to meditation, ‘the great ball of doubt’ is one of the three requirements for Zen training. What is this ball of doubt and how can we develop it?

The Reluctance of Visitors | Part 1

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
Having heard news of Vimalakirti’s illness, the Buddha sends his top men to find out what’s wrong with the Boddhisatva, but all the Arhats seem suspiciously reluctant to go.

Introducing the Man Himself: Vimalakīrti

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
Having sensed the presence of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva, businessman and lay practitioner Vimalakirti, sets in motion a crafty plan to teach the Dharma to all.

The Purification of the Buddha Field

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
If the Buddha field is the pure and luminous aspect of the mind, how can impurities exist within it? The Buddha explains in this episode of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra.

The Holy Scripture of Vimalakirti

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra
Our retelling of the Vimalakirti Nirdesa returns. In this episode, the Buddha shows an assembled crowd a vision of cosmic proportions.

Verses from The Dhammapada 406

While violence seems to be escalating throughout the world, the Buddha’s teachings show us that anger and desire can be transformed into the warmth of the Buddha nature.

The Map is not the Territory

The Buddha’s teachings are not the absolute truth about the nature of reality, nor is the path the Buddha laid out the actual path to this absolute truth.

Verses from the Dhammapada 360

Given that ’I’ (the ego) am the one who seeks to assert control over myself and ‘my’ environment, and ‘I’ (the ego) am the one who must be let go of, what did the Buddha mean when he says we must control the senses.

Verses from the Dhammapada 288

The Buddha taught that all things are impermanent, therefore if we rely on the people, things and circumstances that surround us, we will inevitably live in fear that these things will one day leave us. Jenny Hall examines what it means to take refuge in our own hearts.

Verses from The Dhammapada 98

Being in a state of gratitude can be the key to a fulfilling and joyous life. Genuine gratitude however cannot be faked and is something that genuinely arises from the heart. Jenny Hall examines how we can open the heart to experience gratitude in our daily lives.

Verses from The Dhammapada 35

If we are constantly distracted by past events, or looking for the next thing to satisfy our futures, we can never really savour the present moment in all its richness. When we enter the eternal ‘now,’ true peace is found.

Verses from The Dhammapada 83

Within happiness lies the seed of sorrow, pleasure being a fleeting experience. When we open ourselves up to sorrow however, the inherent joy of the heart naturally reveals itself. 

Verses from The Dhammapada 402

When pain or suffering arises it is natural to try and avoid it. To find the way out of suffering however the only way is through it.

Verses from The Dhammapada 285

Coming face to face with impermanence can leave us with feelings of sadness and dis-ease. If however, we can open ourselves up to these feelings, we give space for the buddha nature to reveal itself.

Dhammapada Verse 87

Verses from The Dhammapada
The Buddha asks us to follow the way of light. Jenny Hall explores what the Buddha meant by this and how we can walk this way.

Dhammapada Verse 375

Verses from The Dhammapada
Jenny Hall explores how 'my' expectations can skew the senses which leads to misunderstanding the nature of a situation.

Dhammapada Verse 131

Verses from the Dhammapada
The Buddhist precept not to kill may seem self explanitory, but we may be breaking this rule by the way we treat our inner space.

Losing Illusions: The Teachings of Rinzai Gigen

“If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha”. The writings of the Zen masters are full of stories and phrases like this. So what are we to make of such statements when so much praise and reverence is devoted to the Buddha? Michael O'Neil investigates.

A Miraculous Birth?

When faced with the religious, mysterious or symbolic, the natural inclination can be to attach meanings and explanations to them. In doing so however we may be closing ourselves to the mystery that is being conveyed. 

Verses from The Dhammapada 70

Many religions hand down ‘Laws’ to be obeyed. In Buddhism however the 'Law' is ever changing, and if we are to be abide by it we must become familiar with the delusion of ‘I’.

Verses from The Dhammapada 1

If the space in between thoughts can be opened up to, the transcendental can appear.

Verses from the Dhammapada 247

Although renunciation is an essential element of the Buddhist path, it is not the object of ‘my’ desire that is the problem but ‘my' desire to escape whatever is being experienced in this present moment.

Verses from the Dhammapada 306

Motivation for the deception of others may arise as a consequence of an attachment to a self-image. Jenny Hall explores how this attachment can lead to inauthentic ways of living.

Verses from the Dhammapada 58

The lotus growing in muddy water and then rising up to bloom in air has become the ideal symbol for rising above the defilements including the delusions of 'I' that bring unhappiness. However, this release arises by coming to terms with the nature of those ties that bind. 

Verses from The Dhammapada 290

The Buddha taught that it isn't the objects themselves that are the problem, it is our relationship to them. We endlessly crave and then become attached to what is intrinsically ephemeral. 

Verses from the Dhammapada 36

The training of the heart/mind is central to the practice of Buddhism and to the formula of The Four Noble Truths. Central to this training with the emotions.

The Way of Devotion: Ratnasambhava

The Five Wisdom Buddhas
The cultivation of equality is the 'jewel' wisdom taught by this Buddha. Associated with vedana skanda Ratnasambhava is neither driven by nor averse to pleasant and unpleasant feeling and thereby leads to the attainment of Arhatship.

Verses from the Dhammapada 272

Craving for a particular future can create anxiety and distress in the present. Jenny Hall explores this connection in the light of the teachings.

The Great Awakening!

From Miraculous Birth to the Buddha's Enlightenment
Our look at the mythic and symbolic meanings of the life of the Buddha ends with the three temptations from Mara and the Buddha's final awakening. A fitting tribute to Rohatsu Week. 

Sitting Under the Bodhi Tree

From Miraculous Birth to The Buddha's Enlightenment.
Our story moves into its final act when the Great Bodhisattva, having now abandoned the ascetic life, makes his seat under the Tree of Awakening. It is a time of great challenges where the power of the Buddha-Heart can be realised.

Retreat to the Forest & The Five Ascetics

From miraculous birth to The Buddha's Enlightenment
Having learned all he could from his spiritual teachers the Ascetic Gautama retreats to the forest. Here he realises the middle way which is not about relinquishing 'things' but the letting-go of attachment to things, a difference that the ascetic life can conflate.

Verses from the Dhammapada 251

“There is no fire like hatred, no rushing like craving.”
The Buddha taught the delusion of a separate self as the cause of human dissatisfaction. Being a delusion, and thus insubstantial, this lack gives rise to craving to fill the void. Hatred is 'my' attempt to protect myself from this truth.

Two Teachers, Two Lineages

From Miraculous Birth to the Buddha's Enlightenment
The pre-training of the Great Bodhisattva is an important lesson for practitioners not to to just make up a personal practice. The Wisdom of tradition is the cumulative experience of those who go before us and helps make the training a more 'rounded' experience.

Verses from the Dhammapada 131

He who injures or kills another who longs for happiness will not find it...
'Avoiding killing' is the 1st lay precept, mindfulness helps us in this by not turning a blind eye to ourselves and others. Understanding the life of even 'negative emotions' forms part of this precept too, as we can be too eager to 'get rid' of things 'I' don't like to...

The Great Renunciation

From Miraculous Birth to The Buddha's Enlightenment
A husband and father leaves in the dead of night, abandoning his family and his responsibilities. The Great Renunciation is a problematic part of the Buddha's life-story, it is only the Great Vow of Compassion that he took to return to share his discovery of the cause of suffering that gives it meaning. 

Four Fateful Trips Beyond the Palace

From Miraculous Birth to the Buddha's Enlightenment
The bubble of security bursts for Prince Gautama when he leaves the palace on four trips. Suffering is often the way into the spiritual life once we realise that we have been living in blind ignorance of the truth. This trauma can cast us into despair or set us upon a new path.

Life in the Palace - From Miraculous Birth to the Buddha's Enlightenment

Childhood - the 'age of innocence' - is a protected period where our identity is formed. But sooner or later this bubble is ruptured, an event that can arise due to the inner prompting of the Heart's own nature.
Series

From Miraculous Birth to the Buddha's Enlightenment

A symbolic exploration of the Buddha's life-story
These articles explore the symbolism of the mythic story of the founder of Buddhism to reveal mythic themes that reflect truths about the nature of the human condition.

The Way of Devotion: Maitreya

Maitreya is the Buddha who is to come prophesied by Shakyamuni Buddha to be the one who follows on from himself. He reminds us that in time all beings will attain Buddhahood!

Verses from the Dhammapada 5

The terrible acts of Angulimala provide the backdrop for the Buddha's lesson on choosing the path we take in life.
Series

Verses from the Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is one of the oldest collections of sayings of The Buddha. The collection of 423 verses appear in the Pali Canon and arise from specific stories during the teaching life of the Buddha.

The Five Wisdom Buddhas - Akshobhya

The final Meditation Buddha took a vow never to be angry until he reaches full Buddhahood. He is symbolised by the deep blue ocean that remains calm no matter what is happening on the surface.

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