May all beings be happy and free from suffering!
Category: Buddhism
Exploring the philosophy (and practice) of Early and Later Buddhism.
Upali: Attachment to ‘Sila’ is not Enlightenment
Occasionally, the Ch’an Records indicate that monastics on occasion learned from enlightened members of the lay community. Never take on airs and graces, because a vagrant living under a bridge might well be another Vimalakirti.
Potaliya Sutta – Why Householders are Not Monks
Indeed, in the Vinaya Discipline, a member of the Sangha is defined as someone who has left the life of a householder and taken the all the monastic vows as decreed within the Vinaya Discipline. The breaking of these vows either attracts reforming behaviour, or expulsion from the order. However, the Vinaya Discipline also defines a ‘member of the Sangha’ as someone who has ‘realised emptiness’ irrespective as to whether they have renounced the lay-life.
Nazi German SS Tibet Expedition (1938-39)
Later, the 14th Dalai Lama became very a close friend with the exiled Nazi War Criminal Heinrich Harrer, who in return for an amnesty from the Western allies for his war crimes (as a member of the Nazi Party and personal friend of Adolf Hitler), assisted the CIA to concoct a story about Tibet being ‘invaded’ by China. Brad Pitt even played Harrer in a Hollywood film – eulogising the life of this Nazi.
Flawed Understanding of Ch’an Methods in the West
This is a nonsense statement premised upon the confusion between traditional Chinese Ch’an Buddhism and the very different modern Japanese Zen, and the ignorant conflation of the hua tou technique with the gongan method.
Ch’an Master Han Shan Deqing [憨山德清] (1546-1623): Pureland & Ch’an Practice
It is amazing to consider that Ch’an Master Han Shan still sits-upright in modern China – hundreds of years after his passing whilst sat in meditation. What an example to set for us all…
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 