A Five Element Meditation Instruction

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Pure Land Buddhism: Theory and Practice

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Introduction It is easy to critique Pure Land Buddhism in its current modus operandi. I do it myself. It’s an easy target because of its façade of superstition and magic, religious overtones and seemingly exotic teachings with its dependence on the “one true Buddha”. They really don’t say, “one true Buddha”, I sort of made that up myself. And it does seem sort of odd to walk into a Buddhist temple to find a very Protestant Christian looking and sounding service. But not all Pure Land schools operate the same way. Some are very “protestant like” and others are very traditional. It depends on which school is hosting the service.       Recently while presenting a talk on the Buddhist Doctrine of Mind at the Jung Center of Chicago a member of the audience came to me and said she had been studying Buddhism for 10 years and just could not understand the Pure Land Buddhists because they thought they could be saved by simply chanting “Amitabha Buddha” over and over aga...
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The Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

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"As I explore the wilderness of my own body, I see I Am made of blood and bones, sunlight and water, pesticide and redwood humus, the fear and dreams of generations of ancestors, particles of exploded stars” I don’t now who actually said this but the quote is found on Pinterest in a dozen or so places. It is a wonderful “mantra” to use when reminding ourselves that our body is not who we are. Not are we our mind.   According to the Buddha, self is not truth. He declared," Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not. Self is the fleeting error of samsara; it is individual separateness and that egotism which begets envy and hatred." He defined self as "that yearning which seeks pleasure and lusts after vanity where as Truth is the correct comprehension of things, which is the permanent and everlasting, the real in all existence and the bliss of righteousness." The very existence of self is an illusion,. It is the Self, which through...
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Harsh Truths You Need to Accept To Live a Happy Life

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Mahavairochana The Dhammapada tells us that. All beings seek happiness and fear pain and death. This seems obvious on the face of it, but we act as if it weren’t true. We look for happiness in things that will ultimately cause us pain. It’s not because we are lack intelligence (maybe) but because we want instant results and shy away from the hard work of looking at what we are doing. Of course, what we are doing depends mainly on what we are thinking. Our standard mode of thinking is called “not seeing” in Sanskrit, avidya, which we normally translate as “ignorance.” To say that we are ignorant doesn’t mean we are stupid, it just means that we are ignoring something that we need to be paying attention to if we want to live happier and more fulfilling lives.  There are twelve things we usually ignore. They are obvious if we understand the Arya Sacca . Usually, translated as “the Four Noble Truths”, another poor translation, it also means something closer to “The Truth of the Noble O...
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