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    As the Wheel Turns Paid Member

    According to his autobiography“Take It Like a Man,”Boy George has finally come out of the closet as - a Buddhist. On the celluloid trail:“Seven Days in Tibet,”starring Brad Pitt, directed by Jean Jacques-Annaud; and“Kundun,”developed by screenwriter Melissa Mathison and director Martin Scorsese. Dharma brothers: at North Carolina’s Wingate University, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was introduced by his old friend, anti-communist crusader Sen. Jesse Helms (Rep., N. C.). Naropa Institute’s Andrew… More »
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    On translation: Nirvana Paid Member

    By Thanissaro Bhikkhu
    We all know what happens when a fire goes out. The flames die down and the fire is gone for good. So when we first learn that the name for the goal of Buddhist practice, nibbana (nirvana), literally means the extinguishing of a fire, it’s hard to imagine a deadlier image for a spiritual goal: utter annihilation. It turns out though that this reading of the concept is a mistake in translation, not so much of a word as an image. What did an extinguished fire represent to the Indians of the Buddha’s day? Anything but annihilation. More »
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    Meeting the Buddha: On Pilgrimage in Buddhist India Paid Member

    The following are excerpts from“Meeting the Buddha: On Pilgrimage in Buddhist India,”a selection of writings by pilgrims from ancient times to the present, to be published in November by Tricycle Books (an imprint of Putnam/Riverhead). Here we have selected pieces from the sections on the pilgrimage itself and on Bodh Gaya. In a discussion with his attendant Ananda, the Buddha delineates the basis for the eight holy sites in India.“Tathagata”refers to the… More »
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    Science of Enlightenment Paid Member

    By Joseph Loizzo
    Mindfulness is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the state or quality of being mindful; attention; regard; memory; intention; purpose,” but it is not listed in Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. Its recent usage as a technical term in the area of Buddhist meditation, however, has breathed new life into this archaic noun. Mindfulness is fast becoming a household word as well as a key term in medicine, psychotherapy, and neuroscience. More »
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    Life of the Buddha: The Buddha-charita Part 2 Paid Member

    This installment is the second in a series of excerpts from“The Buddha-charita or Life of Buddha,”the first complete biography of Shakyamuni Buddha, written by the poet Ashvaghosha, probably in the first century C.E. The“Buddha-charita”is made up of twenty-eight songs recounting events in the Buddha’s life up to the time of his great awakening. The previous installment described Shakyamuni’s family and the events that surrounded his birth. In this episode we hear… More »
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    ON GARDENING: The Birds of the Muses Paid Member

    THE BEES were living in the walls long before I heard them. It was Indian summer a few years ago when I discovered a small cleft along the seamline where our brick chimney pressed against the outer wall of the house. High overhead, scores of pollen-laden honeybees whizzed with industrious delight through this narrow fissure into the inner core of our home. As a meditator and gardener I have an immense respect for bees, grounded� More »