Home » Excerpts
Excerpts
There Is No Need To Be Depressed
Sep. 13 | The Buddha’s first teaching was a message with the greatest hope – telling us that all beings have Buddha-nature. – Shilashanti There is Buddha-nature in every sentient being‘s mind, no matter how many negative actions living beings...
Pure Land Teachings Within Earliest Found Buddhist Scriptures (Before The Pāli Canon Formed)
Sep. 5 | We have the impression [through the earliest found sūtras]… that [the] Mahāyāna [tradition] was NOT distinct from [so-called] ‘mainstream’ Buddhism at this period [when these sūtras were being recorded], as it became [institutionalised...
The Buddha When Just A Gardener Sage
Aug. 29 | Cherry blossoms Scatter at the peak of their beauty – It is much harder for us To fall away from our own Attachment to the world. – Rengetsu The Bodhisattva, a gardener, decides to leave home to fully practice the Way when he sees his old spade...
The Three Bodies Of Buddhas
Aug. 22 | Everything the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do and not do are expressions of perfect compassion for all. – Shilashanti The Buddhas are described as having three bodies (Trikāya 三身) or aspects of existence, though they are in ultimate reality one in...
Repair & Repurpose Before Rebuying
Aug. 15 | Learn to do more with less before wanting more and more. – Shilashanti One of the principles of a Buddhist lifestyle is to take care of things and repair them. The unsui monks of Eihei Temple designate days that contain the numbers ‘4’...
Don’t Put It Off Till Tomorrow
Aug. 8 | To live each day fully, is to live each life fully. – Shilashanti ‘Zengosaidan’ is a Zen expression meaning that we must put all our efforts into each day so that we have no regrets, and that we must not grieve for the past or worry about...
How Sariputra Spoke The Dharma
Aug. 1 | In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing and agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. – Sakyamuni Buddha (Abhaya Sutta) Of all the Buddha’s disciples,...
The Obstacle Is The Way
Jul. 26 | The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. – Marcus Aurelius (Meditations) There is an old Zen story about a king whose people had grown soft and entitled. Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, he hoped to teach...
How To Better Interest Others In The Dharma
Jul. 18 | Four Bases Of Sympathy: [1] Generously giving gifts [2] Speaking kind words [3] Doing kind deeds [4] Being equal in treatment Hatthaka [the lay Buddhist] was famous… for his ability to attract people to the Dharma. Once he brought five hundred...
The Buddha’s Leading Lay Disciple’s Dialogue With Mahavira
Jul. 11 | In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, unendearing and disagreeable to others, he does not say them. – Sakyamuni Buddha (Abhaya Sutta) [Citta was the model Buddhist layman whose learning and behaviour the...
The Hitter And The Hit
Jul. 4 | Practise to be as deliberate as you can now, so that you can be as free as you can later. – Shilashanti In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but one reality… Zen is the ‘everyday mind’;...
The Power Of Even One Word
Jun. 27 | Words are empowered as much by their speakers as by their listeners. – Shilashanti Once a monk was called to heal a sick child with a few words of paritta [protection] chanting. A skeptic in the crowd observed it all and expressed doubts about such...
Five Good Qualities Of Suffering
Jun. 20 | Furthermore, the good qualities of suffering are that you Dispel arrogance with disenchantment, Develop compassion for the beings of cyclic existence, Carefully avoid sin [or misgivings], and delight in virtue. – Shantideva Bodhisattva (Engaging In...
We Should Repay The Kindness Of All Mother Sentient Beings
Jun. 6 | They are kinsmen stranded in Samsara’s ocean Who seem to have fallen into the abyss; When due to birth, death and rebirth You don’t recognise them and reject them, Freeing only yourself: there is no greater shame. – Chandragomin (Letter...
