After first seeing Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in Bodh-Gaya in the winter of 1984/5, I felt that I had to take refuge with him. However, there were so many people in Bodh-Gaya that year that I decided to follow him to Nepal to his Monastery in Boudhanath in order to make my request. Taking refuge with …
I remember being asked by classmates and friends during my final year of university whether I’d become a monk after graduation. A year earlier, in 2008, I’d been initiated into the Buddhist community as a lay practitioner. My reply to my friends back then was the same reply I’d give now: the lay Buddhist vocation …
Read more “Re-envisioning the Lay Practitioner’s Vocation in Contemporary Buddhism”
Nature & Health in the Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)The definition of nature which applies to this study is based on the sayings from TYECIM: Su Wen Yin- Yang Li Hu Lun. The translation of the sayings is: living beings are the result of total nature and the development in nature has lead to …
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Rongzom Zangpo, the brilliant Dzogchen Master of the 11th Century ce Tibet taught that All Human beings are the profound field of awakening. In the language of Phenomenology, this means that all human beings are the profound field of Being. In this paper, we will phenomenologically explore the profound human experience of awakening to Being. We …
In this talk, Dr Mattia Salvini argues that the Sanskrit language itself, the chanting of Buddhist texts, and the chanting of Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, may offer unexpectedly useful keys to the contemporary absorption of Buddhist thought. The simple act of repeatedly chanting a Buddhist text could be the best meeting point of modern scholars (whether Buddhist …
Read more ““Buddhist Studies and Buddhist Practice: The Role(s) of Sanskrit Chanting””
The very notion of gender equality entails the belief that injustice is associated with the concept’s very definition. It is imperative that we reflect deeply on this association. Injustice arises as an inability of society to accept an obvious fact that, naturally, men and women should be equal. The realization that sustainable development is not …
Read more “Gender Equality and Female Empowerment: A Dharmic Responsibility”
Be present here and now, the gesture is your answer to the world. Next gesture gives a language to your action. May you be aware or not, you are the source of dance since your mother gave you this body of breath. You are performing a specific “network” each day. To dance is simple truth, …
“The destruction of nature and wildlife populations is a result of ignorance,greed and lack of respect for the earth’s living things. Our actions affect others. We human beings are the only species with the power to destroy the natural world as we know it. Yet, if we have such a capacity for destruction, so, too, do we have the capacity …
I started this new year with a visit to the new Nalanda University construction place to see how’s the work is going on.I cannot express in words what I felt! the place is surrounded by five mountains and the weather and atmosphere is perfect for Dhamma study and meditation practice.The wonderful thing is that it …
“When in doubt,It is better to err on the side of kindness…” The immediate reaction of many upon seeing the cartoon above might be, ‘oh, here we go again, another moralistic lecture…’Potent images in the press and media of violence and hatred flood cyberspace. In a world where the senses are overwhelmed by ‘bad news’ …