Here we are going to talk about the Buddhist Mandala. We saw that the goal of Tantric practice is to understand emptiness by achieving a union of opposites. This union was expressed by a series of symbolic pairs. These pairs apply to the personality, to ritual action and also to the cosmos as a whole. Here we are going to talk about a system of Tantric symbolism that is based not in the number two
Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection and Minister for Workplace Relations, Lisa Singh, today welcomed delegates to Hobart for the 5th World Buddhist Sangha Youth General Conference. “With more than 42 countries represented at the conference, it is very appropriate that this year’s conference is titled: Buddhism Beyond Boundaries,” Ms Singh said. “This is the first time a World
What are the beliefs of Buddhism? This is one of the most common questions people make about Buddhism, or any religion for that matter. In this case, this is not an easy question to answer. Buddhism is a really complex tradition and involves many layers and different schools. To try to understand what Buddhism is all about, we can talk first about the beliefs that are shared by all or most of the
Title: Siamese WarriorLocation: Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Temple, Penang, MalaysiaDate: 22 November 2008, 11.02amCamera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/9.0, ISO Equiv.: 100 A warrior armed with a weapon to 'protect' the temple.Title: The GuardianLocation: Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Temple, Penang, MalaysiaDate: 22 November 2008, 11.02amCamera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/9.0, ISO Equiv.: 100A fierce loo
Title: 'The Golden Girl'Location: Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Temple, Penang, MalaysiaDate: 22 November 2008, 10.43amCamera: Nikon D60 with Aperture: f/10.0, ISO Equiv.: 100 A statue with pieces of gold papers. I am not really sure why devotees pasted golden papers on God idols.Title: Look at my faceLocation: Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Temple, Penang, MalaysiaDate: 22 November 2008, 10.44amCamera: Ni
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
Yiwei has written has nice blog entry about the grand opening of the Gandhara exhibition in the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn on Thursday, November 20, 2008. I was not able to participate since I have been in Tallinn.
My new "mini-book" Buddhism for the Non-Buddhist Layman is now available. Thise-book is a quick and to the point introduction to Buddhism. With its 30 pages, it covers the fundamental tenets of Buddhism in a way anyone could understand. It is ideal for those people interested in Buddhism and who don't know where to start. I really recommend you as a starting point.The book is divided in three chap
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
Like any deeply revered religious prophet worthy of his robes, Nepal's "Buddha Boy" has returned from the wilderness to spread enlightenment to the masses. The long-lost mystic in question is Ram Bahadur Bamjan, who many believe is a true-to-life reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in about 560 BC and later became revered as Lord Buddha, the Enlightened One.In Hindu-majority Nepal, H
Public Invited to Tallmadge to Watch Ancient RitualsTALLMADGE: The chanting, singing and bell-ringing inside Unity Chapel of Light this week are meant to inspire peace and compassion.
''We want to share some of the fundamental teachings of Buddhism and give people a chance to experience our culture and religion,'' said Geshe Gankar Tulka Rinpoche, through a translator. ''We are not promoting
If a man can find a suitable and understanding wife and a woman can find a suitable and understanding husband,both are fortunate indeed.- The Buddha.A good marriage should grow and develop gradually from understanding and not impulse, from true loyalty and not just sheer indulgence.A marriage is a partnership of equality, gentleness, generosity, calm and dedication.Each is complementary to the oth
Problem Solving Strategy - Buddhist There is no limit to this getting out of selfishness. All the great systems of ethics preach absolute unselfishness as the goal. Supposing this absolute unselfishness can be reached by a man, what becomes of him? He [...]
1963. Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist priest in Southern Vietnam , burns himself to death protesting the government's torture policy against priests. Thich Quang Dug never made a sound or moved while he was burning.
Against the Stream is more than just another blog about Buddhism. It is a manifesto and field guide for the front lines of the revolution. It is the culmination of almost two decades of meditative dissonance from the next generation of Buddhists in the West. It is a call to awakening for the sleeping masses.
Wake up: the revolution has already begun; it started 2,500 years ago, when Sid (
Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkithabidhana Thera and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake will lead the Sri Lankan delegation to the Fifth World Buddhist Summit to be held from October 31 to November 10,in Kobe City, Japan.
The summit, attended by delegates from 33 countries will be held at the Royal Grand Hall of Buddhism in Kobe City. The organization
Indiana Buddhist Temple in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA held its 5th annual Katina ceremony on October 25th with the participation of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities. The guests were welcomed by the incumbent monks, Ven. Thalangama Devananda, Ven. Babarende Sumeda and Ven, Neluwe Seelawimala. The event began at 10:30 a.m. under the guidance of Ven. Talangama Devananda, the chief incumbent a
Stress Test - Buddhist Monastery Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it. It is more paying from the point of view of health also. Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but [...]
After my introduction to the concept of emptiness I hope you feel intrigued and curious about it. I suspect that you maybe are a little bit intimidated after that long discussion of the concept that I published. It’s not common in the religious traditions of the world to hear that everything is possible precisely because everything is unreal.Here, I’m going to push the study of emptiness a ste
I hope you now feel intrigued and curious about the concept of emptiness. I suspect that you maybe are a little bit intimidated after that long discussion of the concept that I published. It’s not common in the religious traditions of the world to hear that everything is possible precisely because everything is unreal. This way of speaking is meant to make you think in new ways. I think that thi
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
the other day i was with nazi trainer. we're not working out together anymore--now he works on the various parts of me that are strained/tight/hurting. apparently there is such a thing as working out too much. so he's taken it upon himself to *fix* me. oh, also he thinks the name 'nazi trainer' no longer applies and would like a new nickname. after a couple of sessions with him working on my vario
In the past articles we said that the Mahayana vision of the universe expanded dramatically. I wasn’t just a group of monks imitating the ideal of Siddharta Gautama, but began to imagine themselves as actors on a drama that was really cosmic in scope. The Mahayana begins to imagine a universe that is not populated just by human boddhisattvas, people like you and me, but also by celestial boddhis
Stress Reduction - Buddhist Studies Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as [...]
Aung San Suu Kyi is another striking example of the intersection between religious and political values in the Theravada Buddhist countries of South East Asia. Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945, as the daughter of Burma’s national hero: General Aung San. He was the leader of the Burma’s liberation movement in World War II, who was assassinated in 1947, just after the end of the Second World Wa
If I ask many of you how you came in contact with Buddhism and how you began to develop some kind of impression about the tradition, I suspect that for many of you, the first contact with this tradition has been through Buddhist art.Many times I see little images of the Buddha in the offices of people who are not particularly religious. Sometimes the fat little images you see in China. Sometimes t
How are you going to worship at a Buddhist Shrine? The Indian word for worship is Puja. In many respects, Buddhist worship is very similar to the worship you would find in the Hindu tradition. You make offerings to the image: fruit, flowers, incense, sometimes a candle. In South East Asia, one of the most important things you can do for an image, is to stake in just a little bit of gold leaf and a
If we look back historically at the very earliest representations of the Buddha, we find not statues or images of the Buddha, but Shrines. Holy places that are connected with the presence of the Buddha. The earliest of these Shrines contained relics of the Buddha’s cremation. Later ones were associated with events or objects that were connected with the Buddha’s life.Places of WorshipIn the ea
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
Stress Reduction - Buddhist Studies Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as [...]
Problem Solving Strategy - Buddhist There is no limit to this getting out of selfishness. All the great systems of ethics preach absolute unselfishness as the goal. Supposing this absolute unselfishness can be reached by a man, what becomes of him? He [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
Stress Test - Buddhist Monastery Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it. It is more paying from the point of view of health also. Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but [...]
Stress Test - Buddhist Beliefs If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
That an individual has to go to court to ask for permission to leave Islam - goes against all the western Islamic rhetoric - which claims that there is no compulsion - to either remain or to join Islam. Just more of the double-speak we are hearing from those supporters of Islam - where again it is clear that what is being said - does not match up with what is being done across the Islamic world. M
Nearly 100 caparisoned elephants, dancers and torchbearers walked down the streets of this central city decorated with colourful lights and flags as the annual Buddhist festival of Kandy Perahera (pageant) was celebrated with great enthusiasm.
The colourful parade began Saturday night from the sacred Buddhist shrine of Dalada Maligawa, showcasing the temple custodians known as Nilames, [...]
Buddhist funeral ceremonies are a standard in East Asian countries. The traditions and services at these funerals vary by culture. However, they do share some common traits.
The funeral service usually includes a wake. This may or may not take place at the home of the deceased. As per most Western style funerals, sympathy flowers are [...]
Songs for TibetI was supposed to either review NAS or Third day but i chanced upon this week's new releases on itunes and immediately gravitated toward "Songs for Tibet". The likes of Imogen Heap, John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Joan Armatrading etc doing an acoustic/stripped down version of songs for a charity album really popped out at me. Was it a convenient repack of old songs or was it something a
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
The Buddhist Channel directs our attention to the following lecture.Lewis Lancaster, who was the first Ph.D student to recieve a degree in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Lancaster's lecture, "Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology", was given in
Problem Solving Strategy - Buddhist There is no limit to this getting out of selfishness. All the great systems of ethics preach absolute unselfishness as the goal. Supposing this absolute unselfishness can be reached by a man, what becomes of him? He [...]
After a while, they all start to look the same--but I'm not complaining!The Buddhist Fist, directed by Yuen Wo Ping. Starring Shun-Yee Yuen, Sui-Ming Tsui, and Lung Chan. Peace Film Productions, 1979. Runtime 90 minutes. Unrated.Just to be perfectly clear, the only thing I won't forgive in a Kung fu movie is bad Kung fu (curse you, House of Flying Daggers!). I don't come to these films to see deep
Today marks the beginning of Buddhist lent in Thailand. Buddhist Lent starts on the first day of the waning moon of the 8th lunar month (July) and ends on the 15th day of the 11th lunar month (October). Also known as the rains retreat or Khao Phansa in Thai.
it’s a time when all Buddhist monks [...]
With long blond hair, steel-blue eyes, and a traditional Japanese yukata robe, Patrizio Pellouchoud blends right in.
Moving his arms rhythmically with more than 100 others, he celebrated the Buddhist holiday of Obon through folk dance, which he called a spiritual "way of looking back to look forward."
"It's fun, because nobody's telling you you're making a wrong move" he said.
Fifty years ago,
Buddhists and non-Buddhists, believers and those who were a bit skeptical gathered at the Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center in Campbell over the holiday weekend to get a glimpse and maybe a blessing from the sacred relics.
The tour heads to San Jose this weekend, starting with opening ceremonies Friday night.
The collection of more than 1,000 relics, found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist
Stress Test - Zen Buddhist Unity in variety is the plan of creation. However men and women may vary individually, there is unity in the background. The different individual characters and classes of men and women are natural variations in creation. [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
The curator of a museum in central Indonesia was sentenced Monday to 18 months in jail for helping steal six ancient Buddhist statues and replacing them with replicas to cover up the crime, a judge said.Suhadi Darmodipuro, who was among four people arrested for the 2006 theft at the Radya Pustaka Museum, said he regretted his involvement in the scam and would not appeal.Presiding Judge Ganjar Susi
Stress Reduction - Buddhist Studies Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as [...]
Harvard University's Buddhist chaplain, Lama Migmar Tseten, was 3 years old in 1956, when he fled hi s bi rthplace in Gy antse, th e central region of Tibet, and crossed the Himalayas by foot with 100,000 Tibetans, led by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
The Chinese invaded Tibet in 1951, killing more than 1 million Tibetans.
The Chinese occupation of Tibet, which still occurs today, is what
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
(Today's post is also available as an audio post. To listen to Karl read this post live, click here.) Today, I'd like to share with you the most basic teaching in Buddhism. That teaching is... "Everything is change." Every single thing is in a state of flux. A state of never-ending change. Everything is created - and everything will ultimately wear out and be
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Reduction - Buddhist Studies Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Tiger Hill is a thirty minute jeep ride south of Darjeeling, at a higher altitude of about 2,600 meters. It is a popular place to watch the sun rise over the Indian Himalaya, and specifically, Mt. Kanchenjunga. As it was the pre-monsoon season, clear views of the mountains were hard to come [...]
Stress Reduction - Buddhist Studies Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as [...]
Stress Test - Buddhist Beliefs If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
Stress Test - Buddhist Monastery Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it. It is more paying from the point of view of health also. Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
We imagine that waking-life is real and that dream-life is unreal,
but there does not seem to be any evidence for this belief.
Chuang Tzu, in the third century B.C., put it in an amusing way;
having dreamed that he was a butterfly flitting from flower to flower,
he stated that he was now wondering whether he was then [...]
Regarding the Question of Survival after death human thinking has in general followed one of two philosophical currants. Annihilationism and externalism (In Buddhism Uccheda - Vada and sassata-vada respectively)
The first holds that after death or desolition of the physical body the personality ceases to exist: It is equivalent to Materialism. The second maintains that the individual personality
Stress Management - Buddhist Art This intensification of the influence of action cannot be explained on any other ground than that we can act and react upon each other. To take an illustration from physical science, when I am doing a certain [...]
Stress Test - Buddhist Beliefs If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the [...]
Stress Management - Buddhist Holidays Much of the oppression of powerful nations on weaker ones is caused by this prejudice. It dries up their fellow - feeling for fellow men. That very man who asked me why I did not dress as [...]
From: The Role of Social Science in Nepal by Dev Raj Dahal Spiritual blindness of Nepalese social scientists has thus opened multiple gaps between their worldview and those of the citizens on various frontiers--theoretical knowledge and practical experience, technical understanding and composite knowledge and secularity of social science and the vitality of the Hindu-Buddhist scriptu
Stress Test - Zen Buddhist Unity in variety is the plan of creation. However men and women may vary individually, there is unity in the background. The different individual characters and classes of men and women are natural variations in creation. [...]
The Bangkok Songkran Festival 2008 between April 12 - 15 is being heavily promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Time-honoured Buddhist customs and ancient Buddhist merit-making traditions, such as the bathing ritual in which lustral water is sprinkled over Buddha images and the building of sand stupas that are decorated with colourful flags and flowers, can be seen at the nine royal Buddh
Pictured below are a pair of Thai monks in saffron robes taking photographs of each other at the Royal Plaza, Bangkok near the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall. In this information age, even monks carry digital cameras for capturing memorable moments of monkhood. Since my camera "Fujifilm FinePix S6500" was in the camera bag, I just had enough time to snap this picture using my mobile phone camera.Bot
560 TIBETAN BUDDHIST WOMEN WERE ARRESTED IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL, BECAUSE THEY ARE PROTESTING TO FREE TIBET, AND NEPAL RECOGNIZES TIBET AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF CHINA.THERE IS A SWIRLING OF TURMOIL ROILING THE FEW BUDDHIST NATIONS. SUCH TURMOIL IS INDICATIVE...
560 TIBETAN BUDDHIST WOMEN WERE ARRESTED IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL, BECAUSE THEY ARE PROTESTING TO FREE TIBET, AND NEPAL RECOGNIZES TIBET AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF CHINA.THERE IS A SWIRLING OF TURMOIL ROILING THE FEW BUDDHIST NATIONS. SUCH TURMOIL IS INDICATIVE...
Stress Management - Buddhist Prayer Chastity is the first virtue in man or woman, and the man who, however he may have strayed away, cannot be brought to the right path by a gentle and loving and chaste wife is indeed [...]
