Ch’an Mind is like a Clear Mountain Spring; Tea Contains the Ten Thousand Things Original Chinese Language Article: Bao Guang Temple (宝光寺) (Translated by Adrian
Tag: buddha
The Ch’an Master Visits to Worship
The Ch’an Master Visits to Worship Green Onions and Ginger in the Garden The ancient temple – with its gurgling water – is free and
The Buddha Teaches How to Achieve a Successful Livelihood and a Tranquil Household – Without Abandoning Ancestral Worship
Original Article: Golden Lotus Rain (金色莲华雨露) Blog (Translated by Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD) Translator’s Note: Buddhism has had to integrate into an essentially Confucian culture in
The Patriarch’s Ch’an Can Not Be Bought
Daoxin stared at this young Dharma-vessel. Later the boy became his student and eventually inherited the Dharma and became the Fifth Ch’an Patriarch – Hongren. Hongren would eventually choose an illiterate man for his successor, who would become the Sixth Patriarch of Ch’an – Hiuneng. This is a significant statement to humanity, because Hongren had many students who were affluent and well educated.
Leave No Stone Unturned
The only reason we take suffering over inspirational thought is because we have been trained to do so by those who would capitalise on our self-imposed limitations.
Marx & Buddha: The Middle Way
Theistic religion was once suitable to the emerging intellect of humanity, but is no longer suitable for an advancing species. Modern humanity benefits from science, technology, medicine and the internet, and no amount of praying will save the life of a relative, or produce space travel, or the latest breakthrough in the fight against human disease. The Buddha denied the validity of theistic belief and advocated mental development and discipline (behavioural modification) as a means of over-coming alienation. The Buddha taught non-identification with thought (i.e. non-attachment), and can not be considered ‘idealistic’, and he criticised certain types of materialist thinking prevalent in his day, and can not be called a ‘materialist’. Karl Marx advocated the study of the physical circumstances humanity finds itself within, (i.e. historical materialism), but as he fully acknowledges the existence and functioning of human consciousness, he can not be termed a gross materialist. Marx wrote often about human consciousness, and stated that when consciousness is inverted, (i.e. deluded), it can not perceive things as they actually are, and falls into the error of religiosity. However, as Marx denied the validity of philosophies that limit the interpretation of the world to a set of thoughts, or thought constructs, (i.e. attachment to thought), he can not be called an ‘idealist’, or ‘ideologue’.
