Dharma Wheel

Last year, Jay Garfield and the Sravasti Abbey recorded a lecture series on Yogacara's understanding of emptiness. You can easily find it on Youtube . I cannot think of a more accessible yet informative and philosophically interesting introduction than this. Also, since both parties come from the Ge...

It was a nice introductory lecture on the Tiantai thought; sadly, there was no more time for Dr. Shen to elaborate on certain points.

Also, the lecture has been recorded. I am not sure if the organizers will share the recording with the public.

This is an excellent series! Thank you for sharing.

Traditionally, any time before the dawn counts as part of the previous day. The Chinese vinaya tradition only requires one to undertake the precepts early in the morning—it doesn't have to be dawn. And, to my very unreliable impression, in practice, Theravadins also do not strictly require the prece...

Because I have to read 菩萨璎珞本业经 in Chinese, it might take me a month to get through it, because my Chinese is rather poor. It's only two scrolls though, not as bad as Buddhāvataṁsaka. If anyone with better Chinese than me knows a Taishō citation that leads directly to the section of the sūtra in que...

If you examine the available literature in Tibetan translation on the subject, we find that for example, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, etc., devote virtually no time at all to explicating the distinction between the three turnings of the wheel, which itself is given a single passage in the Sandhi...

Indian Buddhists were completely unimpressed with Sutric Descriptions of different schemes and divisions of the sutras into time periods of the Buddha’s life. They betray very little interest in such claims. But Chinese Buddhists were very interested in such schemes, in trying to make sense of this...

It’s definitely true that the snapshot of Indian Buddhism that Tibetans took was later than the largely Central-Asian filtered Buddhism which had the most influence on Chinese Buddhism. But, for example, Zi yi’s interpretation of the four siddhantas owes nothing observable to Indian Buddhism, nor h...

But I just feel the underlying authenticity thesis/implication is always troubling me, whether it is meant to say only the Theravada is the genuine, authentic Buddhism, or the Tibetan tradition is, while both apparently underwent many changes and adaptions. No, that is not the point. Of course Tibe...

First of all, Vajrayāna is Mahāyāna. The principle difference between common Mahāyāna and Uncommon Mahāyāna Secret Mantra is methodology. However, these distinctions are Indian. East Asian Buddhists have a whole different scheme that was arrived at in China and Japan, not India. That does not mean ...

After the empowerment, the Taiwanese translator for HH, Jamyang Rinchen, has posted the link to this sadhana. This sadhana is authored by HH but the file is in Chinese and Tibetan languages only. Maybe someone can find an English version?

Here is the link to the 24-hour live streaming of the main hall of the Shingon temple Byodoji, with daily services, prayers, and weekly goma rituals especially for the pandemic.


Also, the priest has prepared a very nice service book in Japanese.

Not a strictly Tendai one but... Nanyue Huisi, Ven. Zhiyi's teacher, has the following experience according to Daoxuan, 又於來夏束身長坐繫念在前。始三七日發少靜觀。見一生來善惡業相。因此驚嗟倍復勇猛。遂動八觸發本初禪自此禪障忽起。四肢緩弱不勝行步。身不隨心。即自觀察。我今病者皆從業生。業由心起。本無外境。反見心源業非可得。身如雲影相有體空。如是觀已。顛倒想滅。心性清淨。所苦消除。又發空定心境廓然。夏竟受歲慨無所獲自傷昏沈。生為空過深懷慚愧。放身倚壁。背未至間霍爾開悟。法華三昧...

A soothing, recent video showing around Hieizan.

Before one fully develops, say, the wisdom (智) of a śrotāpanna, one would first develop recognition or forbearance of the wisdom (智忍). Likewise, according to certain Mahayana texts, before a Bodhisattva achieves something similar to śrotāpanna-ship, where one eliminates defilement, one would first b...

WHO has just declared a global health emergency.
So far most cases are still from China. However, as the WHO official said, the "greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”

Today a forum member referred to an old thread in this sub-forum, i.e., viewtopic.php?f=59&t=23994 . In that thread, there was confusion around the term "copper-wheel" used by Nichiren in his writing. Instead of replying to the old thread, I think it might be better to create a new one. The terminol...

Thank you!!

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns. Anyways, speaking to some of my family members about it, there appears to be an obvious pattern of many diseases being possibly directly triggered from the massive slaughters of animals for meat consumption. Recent examples include: mad cow disease, SARS ...