Samadhi Cushions and Store: Meditation cushions and benches made here in Vermont. A nonprofit carrying incense, gongs, books, cds, and other meditation supplies.
Theravada |
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Buddhawatch
Atop Corocovado mountain, in Rio de Janeiro's Sao Cristovão district, stands the famous open-armed Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), welcoming visitors to the "Marvelous City." Not quite so high but perhaps no less impressive (in spirit, at least) is Wat Phra That Khao Noi, a temple in northern Thailand, with its towering Buddha keeping watch over the Nan valley. More » -
Sri Lanka's "blend of faiths" a cause for hope
In the September issue of the Atlantic, Robert Kaplan writes that any hope for a lasting peace in Sri Lanka will depend on its ability to reconnect to the "blend of faiths" that lay at the very foundation of the ancient Kingdom of Kandy, from which the famous city in the island's heartland takes its name: [E]ven if the artistic grandeur of Kandy has helped form the emotional source of Buddhist nationalism, which has proved itself as bloody as other religious nationalisms, Kandy’s religious monuments also offer a much deeper lesson: the affinity—rather than the hostility—between Buddhism and Hinduism. Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka from India as part of the missionary activity of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the third century B.C. More » -
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Daily Dharma, July 23rd, 2009 - Meet Life Where It Is
You can face anything properly, elegantly, when you meet life where it is, in the moment. When conditions are fresh and joyous, we can delight in that changing image. When the karma and goodness sustaining life is exhausted, we can look death right in its face. We live life wisely and compassionately in the beginning, middle, and end. –Ajahn Sumano Bhikkhu, from Meeting the Monkey Halfway (Weiser) Sign up for the Daily Dharma or Tricycle Community Newsletter More » -
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Ordination as Equals
Victoria Rue asks, "Can Thai Theravada nuns and Roman Catholic women priests shatter the clerical glass ceiling?" Dressed in saffron robes, Venerable Dhammananda turned to me with scissors in her hands and asked, “And now your turn, Victoria?” Thailand’s first ordained Theravada bhikkhuni (nun) of the 21st century smiled. Her eyes welcomed me through round eyeglasses framed by a perfectly round shaven head. With this urging, I stepped to the side of the seated woman whose hair Dhammananda was cutting. For several days I’d seen Jiep about the monastery, or wat, dressed in the white clothes of a volunteer. She was young, maybe 22, with shoulder-length black hair. She’d been raised in this monastery since the age of 12, when her parents, having little money, brought her there to live and be educated. More » -
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The Big Sit, Day 8 — Don't jump out the window
Four of us sat together in the office today. Managing Editor Alex Kaloyanides was master of ceremonies as usual. I had a hard sit -- I was anxious and hungry and I was impatient for the bell to ring. But then surprisingly toward the end there was, maybe, a small hole in the clouds and the sun came through and so when the bell did ring I felt good and took my time standing up. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu said in our Meditator's Toolbox (Spring 2007): When you end your meditation, be very careful with how you open your eyes. Try to maintain your center inside rather than letting it flow outside. Then, maintaining your center, get up from the cushion and keep the center inside as long as you can. More » -
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What is Mindfulness?
A very good post over at One City where gzza compares two views of mindfulness, one from Thanissaro Bhikkhu and one from Henepola Gunaratana: In “Mindfulness Defined” (available free here), Thanissaro Bhikkhu writes: “The Buddha discovered that the way you attend to things is determined by what you see as important—the questions you bring to the practice, the problems you want the practice to solve. No act of attention is ever bare. If there were no problems in life you could open yourself up choicelessly to whatever came along. But the fact is there is a big problem smack dab in the middle of everything you do: the suffering that comes from acting in ignorance. This is why the Buddha doesn’t tell you to view each moment with a beginner’s eyes. More »
