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  • Tricycle Community 7 comments

    Wash Your Bowl Paid Member

    By Lin Jensen
    IT'S SUCH A SIMPLE exchange that it might have gone unnoticed: A monk said to Chao Chou, "I have just entered this monastery. Please teach me."Chao Chou said, "Have you eaten your rice gruel?"The monk said, "Yes, I have."Chao Chou said, "Wash your bowl."The monk understood. More »
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    Incomparable You Paid Member

    By Ch'an Master Sheng Yen
    Not seeing fine or coarse, How can there be any bias? "FINE OR COARSE" refers to the deepness or shallowness of practice. I have often cautioned you against comparing your practice with that of others or your own self at different times. Such comparisons are only subjective. Today someone burst out crying in the meditation hall. One person may have thought, "Oh, she's not doing so well." Another, "I think she's becoming enlightened!" Or else, "Maybe she's going crazy." None of these thoughts may represent the true situation. Whether she felt pain or sorrow, became enlightened, or went crazy, it's her business. It has nothing to do with anyone else. Making comparisons inevitably means judging others. More »
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    Complete Abandon Paid Member

    By Khandro Rinpoche
    What are the "ten harmful activities" that Geshe Sonam Rinchen referred to in his article "Like a Pig in . . ." in the Winter 2006 issue? –Happy Joanna Lawrence Greenville, South Carolina THERE ARE TEN actions that we must become completely aware of and completely abandon in our lives. They are divided into three unvirtuous actions of the body: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; four unvirtutous actions of speech: lying, slander, harsh speech, and idle chatter; and three unvirtuous actions of mind: covetousness, wishing harm on others, and wrong view. More »
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    Thoughts on my teacher: No Hair in Your Mind Paid Member

    By Reverend Chan Tu
    WHEN MY TEACHER, Most Venerable Dr. Thich Man Giac, would say "In my mind," he would always point to his heart. Initially, I thought it was cute; it took me a while to understand just how integral his heart and his mind were for him. It was not "cute"; it was just natural, accurate. Everything he did was based on his compassionate heart (or should I say mind?). More »
  • Tricycle Community 21 comments

    A City of Dreams Paid Member

    By Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
    This precious human body, supreme instrument though it is for the attainment of enlightenment, is itself a transient phenomenon. No one knows when, or how, death will come. Bubbles form on the surface of the water, but the next instant they are gone, they do not stay. It is just the same with this precious human body we have managed to find. We take all the time in the world before engaging in the practice, but who knows when this life of ours will simply cease to be? And once our precious human body is lost, our mindstream, continuing its existence, will take birth perhaps among the animals, or in one of the hells or god realms where spiritual development is impossible. More »
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    Thoughts on my teacher: No Hair in Your Mind Paid Member

    REVEREND CHAN TU on her relationship with the late most VENERABLE DR. THICH MAN GIAC, Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnamese United Buddhist Churches of America, who passed away October 13, 2006, at the age of 77 More »