bhaddiya theragatha 863-4 Bhaddiya was a great Sakya chieftain, the son of the matriarch Kali-Godha whom the Buddha identifies as the most high-born person in his circle. He was good friends with Anuruddha, the Buddhas cousin (and Ānanda’s brother), who persuaded him to go forth with him into the homeless life under the Buddha’s instruction. Both friends, like Siddhartha, enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and had to make some adjustments to the renunciate life of a wandering … [Read more...]
Killing Me Softly with Dharma
Kristy Arbon
About ten years ago I gave up the notion of ever being a successful manager. I vowed to never again work in a place where my job was to guide and support others. The suffering experienced in that position was too much to bear, and I gave up trying to work out how to manage it. Last year I started work as the Center Manager at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Why did I change my mind? What happened? What part did my Buddhist practice play? Let’s go back those ten years. The corporate … [Read more...]
Shin Buddhism
Mark Unno
Taitetsu and Mark Unno are father and son, both distinguished scholars and authors. They have taught a course on Shin Buddhism together for several years now at BCBS. This article is based on the most recent of those courses and on other writing they’ve done on the subject. Tai: When I was a 21-year-old senior at the University of California, Berkeley—many years ago—I had the opportunity to hear the famous Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki give a talk. Afterwards he invited anyone who wanted to ask … [Read more...]
The Good Sal Tree: Bhadda-Sala Jataka, No. 465
Margo McLoughlin
Long ago, on the banks of the Ganges, in the holy city of Benares, there was a king named Brahmadatta. He was a good king and he ruled his kingdom well. He ruled it so well, in fact, that he had nothing much to do. There were no wars and trade prospered. Generosity and kindness flourished, all from the example of the king. Now there were many other small kingdoms in the land of the Rose Apple (Jambudipe)—the great land we now call India—and most were plagued with problems of one sort or … [Read more...]
Working with Perception
Ajahn Sucitto
What is perception? It’s the most immediate derived sense of an object: It’s a flower, it’s a car, it’s a person. There’s a mild impact, contact, a sense of, ah—something strikes the eye. There’s an immediate flurrying or movement around what that is. This becomes more apparent when you meditate and slow the mind down, so that you find some space between the rush of ideas and moods. Then as you’re abiding in a fairly spacious state you feel how things strike you. It could be pleasant, like a … [Read more...]
A Simple Turning in Place: Forty Years in the Dharma
Joseph Goldstein
At a program held at the study center in September 2008, Joseph Goldstein was asked to reflect upon his long experience with meditation and the Dharma. These words have been extracted from that presentation. My first real inquiry into any kind of spiritual dimension happened when I was a freshman in college. I became obsessed, as only a college freshman can, with the effort to figure out whether or not God existed. My mind was filled with it, day and night. It felt like my whole life depended … [Read more...]
Here and Now
Andrew Olendzki
You don’t have to have read a lot of Buddhist texts to know that consciousness comes streaming through six doors, each one framed by one of six cognizing organs and opening onto one of six cognized objects. Just take a moment to explore the field of experience, and you will see that you know things in six different ways. One sphere of knowing is visual, another is auditory. Seeing and hearing are two different activities, each using separate parts of the body and distinct processing centers in … [Read more...]