Buddha Weekly's Latest Features
Buddhism vs Hollywood — Are “Buddhist” demons, vampires, zombies, and hungry ghosts scarier than Hollywood monsters?
Let’s face it — the movie-monsters of Hollywood are the cry-babies of the supernatural world. Werewolves? Phooey — try a giant Oni demon on for size. Vampires — well, okay, Buddhism has those too, except they are also black magicians. Ghosts? You won’t want to meet a Jikininki — he’ll eat your...
Teaching video: Chod teaching and full drumming and chanting ritual with scenes of 108 Springs retreat in Mongolia
H.E. Zasep Rinpoche introduces Five Dakini Chod practice with a full teaching, followed by a demonstration, in full, of a Chod Vajrayana Buddhist practice with drumming and chanting. Includes stunning video and stills shot over 108 days in Mongolia during a 108 Springs Chod Retreat — where Rinpoche and students had to...
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche “has gone to dance with the Dakinis”; a teacher “rarer than a star in the midday summer sky” has passed
The great master Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche passed away today (Oct 7, 2019, born April 3, 1924) at 95 years of age (96 years in the Tibetan method of calculating.) “Notice is that Khenpo Rinpoche has gone to dance with the dakinis as of 3:35 today,” wrote Amrita Nadi. “May they know the...
The secular Buddhist approach to managing money wisely — as taught in Sutra
“We need to have some kind of system for measuring how we consume, produce, and share. So there will always be money in any complex society. And any human who wants to pay the rent has to learn the rules of budgeting,” says Ethan Nichtern, a renowned Buddhist teacher. His words remind...
Why it can be a struggle to practice meditation regularly — and tips for overcoming the obstacles
You've probably heard about the many benefits of meditation, which drives many people to set the intention to meditate. But intending and doing are two different things. Meditation is almost always a struggle when you’re first developing your practice. So if you’re struggling to meditate, know that you’re not alone. And you...
Why 35 Confessional Buddhas practice and “The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls” is a critical purifying practice for Buddhists
The 35 Confessional Buddhas practice is the ultimate sutra-based purification practice. Ven. Thubten Chodron explains: “Why do we need to purify? Because our mind is full of rubbish." Even though The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas — to use the full title in English — is often one of...
“The Mind of One Buddha is the Mind of All Buddhas”; How “Jewel Collection Refuge” Can Help You Manage Your Commitments to Multiple Practices and Yidams
"The mind of one Buddha is the mind of all Buddhas," said learned teacher Gelek Rimpoche, in a commentary on Vajrayogini. [1] "The mind of all Buddhas is the mind of a Buddha. It is like a huge space-like pool of total knowledge, total enlightenment." In his commentary, Gelek Rimpoche* explained that "The Buddha...
Where is nirvana and emptiness: in the realm of radiance bright, invisible, eternal light, and infinite a state of mind: Buddha answers what the gods could not: Kevaddha’s story
In Pali sutta there is the wonderful story of Kevaddha, a Braham priest, who longed for "peace of heart and was anxious to reach Nirvana." Because he could not understand how it was possible in the "flesh" to attain such tranquility, he made it his mission to answer this riddle of Nirvana....
Yamaka Sutta: clarifying that death is not extinction — “That which is stressful has ceased and gone to its end.”
One of the five topics Buddha refused to discuss was "Does Buddha exist after death?" Why didn't he answer this question on death and life after death that "stresses" so many beings? In the Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta (MN 63), Buddha says: And why are they undeclared by me? Because they are not connected...
A theoretical physicist asks: does a Neural Net have Buddha Nature? The science of AI “sentience” and what it can tell us about our Buddha Nature and minds
"One surprising source of insight into the question of why our minds work the way they do comes from the attempt to replicate them – the study of artificial intelligence." — Jochen Szangolies, PhD Editor: Jochen Szangolies, PhD — who works on quantum contextuality and mechanics — wrestles brilliantly with the concept...
Vatthupama Sutta — when the mind is defiled, an unhappy destination… when the mind is undefiled, a happy destination
Vatthupama Sutta The Simile of the Cloth 1. Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monks thus: "Monks." -- "Venerable sir," they replied. The Blessed One said this: 2. "Monks, suppose a cloth were stained and dirty, and...
What is Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryavatara? Interview Geshe Sherab: “Patience and Bodhicitta mind with elaborate reasoning and impeccable logic”
Scholar and teacher Geshe Serab, in an interview with Buddha Weekly, explains why Śāntideva's masterpiece Bodhicaryavatara — the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life — is a timeless and vastly important text for Mahayana Buddhists. Written around 700 AD in Sanskrit verse by the great Mahasiddha Śāntideva, it has become one...
