A Worldly Life with Joy in the Way (Translation by Đạo Sinh)

1.
Though settling in the city,
The way of life I follow is of forest and mountain,
The ten thousand actions calmed and my being at ease.
Already for half a day I have let go of mind and body.
The sources of thirst and desire cease,
No reflection on lovely pearls or precious jades.
Both praises and blames are silenced, too;

The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore (Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh)

Avalokiteshvara
while practicing deeply with
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being.

“Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.

This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.

Reduction to the Nothingness (by Ven. Tue Sy)

I. REDUCTION OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD

After a hundred years had been elapsing, since the Western’s beginning their studies of Buddhism up to the first part of this century, regardless of the method that claims to be scientific and accurate, they still showed much confused and disappointed when encountering an object of investigation that appears to escape more than a definition. Whether they tried to express all their enthusiasm toward it as did Stcherbatsky or intended to retain the rigorously objective behavior of a scholar, their conclusion was all the same with somehow intense sorrow.

Association with the Wise (by Bhikkhu Bodhi)

The Maha-mangala Sutta, the Great Discourse on Blessings, is one of the most popular Buddhist suttas, included in all the standard repertories of Pali devotional chants. The sutta begins when a deity of stunning beauty, having descended to earth in the stillness of the night, approaches the Blessed One in the Jeta Grove and asks about the way to the highest blessings. In the very first stanza of his reply the Buddha states that the highest blessing comes from avoiding fools and associating with the wise (asevana ca balanam, panditanan ca sevana).

The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (by Piyadassi Thera)

Ảnh: MKT

The Tipitaka, the Buddhist canon, is replete with references to the factors of enlightenment expounded by the Enlightened One on different occasions under different circumstances. In the Book of the Kindred Sayings, V (Samyutta Nikaya, Maha Vagga) we find a special section under the title Bojjhanga Samyutta wherein the Buddha discourses on the bojjhangas in diverse ways. In this section we read a series of three discourses or sermons recited by Buddhists since the time of the Buddha as a protection (paritta or pirit) against pain, disease, and adversity.

The Song of the Realization of the Way (By Zen Master Trần Nhân Tông)

It is altogether disastrous

To be born with a human body.

Whoever understands this truth

Is called the Awakened.

Constantly meditating on this,

I have ceased clinging to the body.

With satisfaction in mind,

I can laugh uproariously.

Daily Thoughts For Daily Needs (Helen Steiner Rice)

If we put our problems in God’s hands

There is nothing we need understand

It is enough to just believe

That what we need we will receive.

           

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain 

Teardrops and laughters, pleasure and pain

The Way of the Lotus (Prof. W.S. Karunaratne)

The lotus symbolizes the Buddhist way of life. It is born in the depths of the impure mud. It grows through the unclean waters of the pond. It blossoms forth in all its multi petalled purity and glory on the surface of the pond. In spite of its unclean origin and surrounding its beauty pleases the eye, and its purity chastens the mind and spirit of the onlooker.

Buddhist Therapy (Ruth Walshe)

Living in the 20^th century, the word therapy is quite familiar to us, especially in connection with occupational therapy. Now, let us reflect for a moment, why so many people find occupational therapy so helpful—particularly in mental distress? Is it because it takes our mind off our worry?

According to Buddhism, however, occupational therapy is not a satisfactory solution to our problems.

Compassion and the Individual (Tenzin Gyatso; The Fourteenth Dalai Lama)

The purpose of life
 ONE GREAT QUESTION underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life?  I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them.
I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.  From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering.  Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this.

Our Mind Is Our Best Friend (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

In our lives we often distinguish people as enemies and friends. We consider as enemies those people who are benton harming us, on doing some damage to us or to our loved ones. And we consider as friends those people who wish to benefit us, to provide for our welfare and the well-being of those close to us. Now let us consider what kind of harm an enemy can do to us.

Aims of Buddhist Education (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

Ideally, education is the principal tool of human growth, essential for transforming the unlettered child into a mature and responsible adult. Yet everywhere today, both in the developed world and the developing world, we can see that formal education is in serious trouble. Classroom instruction has become so routinized and pat that children often consider school an exercise in patience rather than an adventure in learning.

Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

I. Competing Buddhist Ideals

The arahant ideal and the bodhisattva ideal are often considered the respective guiding ideals of Theravāda Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism. This assumption is not entirely correct, for the Theravāda tradition has absorbed the bodhisattva ideal into its framework and thus recognizes the validity of both arahantship and Buddhahood as objects of aspiration. It would therefore be more accurate to say that the arahant ideal and the bodhisattva ideal are the respective guiding ideals of Early Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism.

Accessing Jhana (Ajahn Brahmavamso)

It is important to talk about the jhànas because it links up from the 2nd stage of the meditation which I was talking about earlier. In the 2nd stage one has full awareness on the breath. That is full continuous awareness from the very beginning of the in-breath until it's end. The very clear continuous awareness of the out-breath from the beginning until it's end. And then the next in-breath and the next out-breath.

The Buddhist Way (Ven. Vinayarakkhita)

If we can avoid the greedy way

and live a life the charity way.

If we can avoid the hatred way

and live a life the loving way

If we can avoid the deluded way

and live a life the mindful way

Then know that we are living

our lives the Buddhist way.

Sri Lanka & Buddhism (Venerable Bhikkhu Vinayarakkhita)

 

In this new millennium it seems as if Sri Lanka and Buddhism have become synonyms. Why? Because in the history of Buddhism it was here in Sri Lanka that the Tripitaka was for the first time written down on palm leaves in 100 BC. Again it was here that the cutting of the original Bo-tree from Bodh Gaya was transplanted in the land of Sri Lanka in 240 BC, which is till the present day well protected and well venerated. It was here in 425 AD that Venerable Buddhagosha translated the Tripitaka commentaries from sinhela to pali, which is now available to the whole world.