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Should You Eat Animals?
Mar. 20 | [W]e are supposed to be the refuge and protector of all infinite beings. The beings with unfortunate karma that we are supposed to be protecting are instead being killed without the slightest compassion, and their boiled flesh and blood are being presented...
Samantabhadra & Manjusri Bodhisattvas’ Greatest Dedication Of Merits
Mar. 14 | Those who make this heartfelt aspiration for the Bodhisattva way Will be free of all lower rebirths, Free of harmful companions, And will quickly see Amitabha, Infinite Light. – Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (The King Of Prayers) In order to train just...
Both The Haves & Have-Nots Suffer
Mar. 6 | Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. – Mark Manson One of the realizations [of the Buddha] was this: that life itself is a form of suffering [as it includes ageing, sickness, death, and all kinds of mental suffering...
Four Kinds Of Unskilful & Skilful Speech
Feb. 27 | Good bodily conduct, good verbal conduct, good mental conduct. A person endowed with these three things is to be recognized as a wise person. – The Buddha (Lakkhana Sutta) Unskillful Verbal Action [The Buddha]: “And how is one made impure in four...Uncover Your Forgotten But Never Lost Treasure
Feb. 20 | If a Bodhisattva intently ponders The profound Tathāgata store Possessed by all sentient beings, He will quickly attain the unsurpassed Bodhi [i.e. Buddhahood]. – Śākyamuni Buddha (Mahāvaipulya Sūtra Of The Tathāgata Store) … [A]s...
Make Your Bed
Feb. 12 | Make up your mind, to better your mind, to better mind your words and deeds, to better your life. – Shilashanti Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room,...
Always Listen To Continually Learn
Jan. 29 | Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama [A]fter Sulak [Sivaraksa] saw a photograph in which the Dalai Lama was drinking Coca-Cola, [h]e mentioned his disapproval when he met with the Tibetan leader in Dharamsala....
Ancient Symbiotic Relationship Of Monastics & Laity
Jan. 23 | Receive needs humbly and gratefully. Offer needs humbly and gratefully. – Shilashanti Before the Dalai Lama departed from Thailand, he told his secretaries that he wanted to go out in the morning on alms round. It is common to see orderly queues of...
The Great Value Of Spiritual Friendship
Jan. 16 | Radical transformation of society requires personal and spiritual change first or at least simultaneously. – Sulak Sivaraksa A topic that Sulak [Sivaraksa] weaves into nearly every talk, essay, book, or discussion is spiritual friendship, which he regards...
You Stop Too
Jan. 8 | Spiritual practice starts by stopping the unskilful, before starting the skilful, and perfecting it. – Shilashanti A famous bandit, a murderer named Angulimala, had been sighted in the neighbourhood… Against all advice, the Buddha set out for...
Be More Mindful Of The Ocean Not Its Waves
Jan. 1 | What to be dissolved is not the self, but the sense of self, by realising it is not there in the first place. – Shilashanti Suzuki Roshi… had a very helpful way of describing the relief that comes from getting over yourself. He used the expression...
How The Buddha Turned Arrows Into Flowers
Dec. 26 | Cultivation is more transformation of the unskilful than its eradication. – Shilashanti In the hours preceding his final enlightenment, when he is doing battle with his ego, the Buddha’s tormentors shoot volleys of arrows at him. Some people interpret...
Just Your Thinking So Does Not Make It So
Dec. 19 | Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all. – Buddhist Saying While Right Speech conventionally means abstaining from lying, gossip, vain talk, and...
A Monk’s Friendly Goodwill To A Snake
Dec. 12 | I have good will for footless/ two/ four/ many-footed beings… May footless/ two/ four/ many-footed beings do me no harm. May all creatures… meet with good fortune. May none of them come to any evil. – Ahina Sutta Ajaan Fuang, my meditation...
