The New Kadampa Tradition is an international association of Mahayana Buddhist meditation centers that follow the Kadampa Buddhist tradition founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
Koans |
The Zen practice of contemplating a question or statement, the answer to which transcends dualistic thinking |
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The Art of Being Wrong
There’s a scene in the fine and dark TV series Breaking Bad in which a villainous drug dealer, half-dead and half-blinded by a poisonous gas, stumbles down a suburban street and runs into one of his adversaries. The dealer can see just enough to recognize who it is, but he can’t see enough to realize, when he lurches off in a panic, that he’s heading straight for a large cottonwood tree. He slams into the trunk and knocks himself out cold. In the midst of that scene of tense dramatic confrontation, the resolution—a moment of classic slapstick reversal—is unavoidably funny. More » -
It Was Worth It
Case Seisen Fletcher was angered upon reading the Buddha’s statement that his allowing women to ordain would put Buddhism back 500 years. She went to Maezumi Roshi to ask him about it. After a few moments he said: “Well, it was worth it.”Commentary Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931–1995) studied in and transmitted three teaching streams: the Soto Zen lineage of his father, the Rinzai Zen lineage of Koryu Osaka Roshi, and the Harada- Yasutani blend of Soto and Rinzai in which koan training is emphasized. He founded the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1967 and had many disciples. He ordained Seisen Fletcher, who received dharma transmission from Tetsugen Glassman (a successor to Maezumi Roshi) in 1998. More » -
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Green Koans Case 61: The Naked Dharma
CASE #61: The Naked DharmaShardza Tashi Gyaltsen taught: More » -
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Green Koans Case 57: Shakyamuni’s Ignorant Man
CASE #57: Shakyamuni’s Ignorant ManIn the Dhammapada, Shakyamuni Buddha says:The ignorant man is an ox.He grows in size, not in wisdom.BACKGROUND:Dhammapada One of the best known texts in the Theravada canon, and embraced by a plurality of Buddhist sects in all traditions, the Dhammapada is said to contain the authentic words of Shakyamuni. Usually translated as Sayings of the Buddha, Dhammapada literally means Dharma Footsteps or Dharma Verses, the word pada suggesting both meanings, since the sayings are rendered in verse. Note that the Dhammapada, which concerns itself primarily with the individual human being, becomes an ecological text the moment we interpret its teachings on wisdom and folly as applying to the species as well. More » -
Green Koan Case 53: Shakyamuni’s World on Fire
CASE #53: Shakyamuni’s World on FireShayamuni Buddha taught: “The world is always burning, burning with the fires of greed, anger and foolishness; one should flee from such dangers as soon as possible.”BACKGROUND:The world is always burning The passage, which appears in the book The Teachings of Buddha, translated into many languages and distributed free of charge around the world by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (The Society for Buddhist Understanding), is an amalgam of statements made by Shakyamuni in diverse sutras. More »
