Like the bright light in a dark room, the Three Jewels is a compass for people on a crossroad, a compassionate ship in the sea of sufferings, a timely rain for a burning house, a treasure for the poor, a good medicine for the sick. One who takes refuge to the Three Jewels is like […]
Confessional Artists: The Spiritual Vocation of Creative Professionals
Bodhi Obfuscatus (Space Baby). By Michael Joo. From davidsenouf.com Since my schooldays I’ve been interested in exploring the discourse around “confessional” professions. In popular culture, it’s still assumed that one can trace a straight line from a business degree to a job in a bank, or from a law degree to a practicing barrister’s office. […]
Master Huijing’s Dharma Words about Departure and Reincarnation
Art by ryky.deviantart.com Common people in the world want to pursue wealth, complete high education, and seek for boundless knowledge. However, no matter how high his academic qualification and how knowledgeable he is, the Buddha will call him a fool if he does not believe in retributions resulted from good and evil karma, and is […]
Getting the most out of summer
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay. – Robert Frost Once you realise this floating life as the perfect mirage of change, […]
Reading Chinese Buddhist Texts and Honouring Different Traditions
Leshan Buddha. From chinaclickgo.com I have recently co-authored a reader in Chinese Buddhist texts (Lock and Linebarger 2018) . The reader is intended for students who have basic literacy in Chinese but need a lot of help in reading and understanding the difficult language in which most Chinese Buddhist texts are written. I would of […]
The Sakya Family and Vocation: Ratna Vajra Rinpoche’s Life of Joy and Responsibility
The responsibilities of Ratna Vajra Rinpoche are considerable, but the House of Sakya bears its historical responsibilities with joy
The Primordial, Noble Life with Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche
Lower Palyul Monastery, Tibet. From wikipedia.org The story of the Palyul Dzogchen lineage begins, institutionally, at Palyul Monastery, one of the six “mother monasteries” of the Nyingma school. The house of Nyingma is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism that dates back to Padmasambhava in 8th century Tibet. Palyul Dzogchen has held an esteemed place in […]
Spiritual Colossi: Buddhism and Christianity in China and America
As the United States launches its long-awaited trade war against China, I wonder whether something subtler, but just as significant, is bubbling under the already tumultuous surface. I pondered for a short while whether this observation held any water. After all, indirect pressures or persuasions, rather than outright pronunciations and their enforcement, characterize the influence […]
The Union of Daka and Dakini
Maithuna figures and Tantric deities in union. Drawing by the author In Vajrayana Buddhism, the male equivalent of a dakini, a female emanation of wisdom (Tib. khandroma), is known as daka in Sanskrit and pawo in Tibetan. Pawo literally means “hero” and it is accepted as the tantric equivalent of a bodhisattva. In tantric practice, daka embodies the process […]
A Mind With Space in It Is a Lively Mind
Master Jingzong; English translation by Foyuan, edited by Jingxing In life, the first thing we have to do is to take good care of ourselves. If we don’t do so, who will? During all these years as a monk and an Amitabha-reciter, I have always felt that someone was looking after me. This is the “I” […]