“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion which based on experience, which refuses dogmatic. If there’s any religion that would cope the scientific needs it will be Buddhism….”[1] said the famous Albert Einstein. Even before…
Take a classic text of Hinduism, the revered Yogasutra (approx. 200 BCE (2)) and compare its semantics and vocabulary to the Buddhist canonical texts. Such a comparison will make it pretty obvious that the author of the Yoga Sutra was…
One of the most essential terms used by the Buddha in reference to developing wisdom and pointing out the path to Nibbana is the Pali verb “manasi karoti” especially in the phrase yoniso manasi karoti. It is so essential to…
When the actor Talaputta went to the Buddha, he had an important question on his mind. And it was one of the few times when the Buddha at first did not want to answer. Not, because he did not know,…
Sometimes, when we study literature about Buddhist meditation, it can seem very technical and … almost artificial. One of the great benefits of having such a structured and methodical approach to mental cultivation can become a hindrance on the path-…
Is the practice of vipassanā the application of viriya (energy), sati (mindfulness), samadhi (concentration) but only when it generates wisdom (paññā), more specifically ñāṇadassana (knowing and seeing)? Introduction The Sutta-Pitaka has a couple of texts which are not the word…
One may wonder why and how the modern vipassana movement was revived a little bit more than a century ago in Burma. When we look back at the history of Theravada countries in the 19th century, many of these countries…
“Tell me, which part of the Tripitaka is the most ancient? Which part would I want to read, study and practice if I look for the most authentic instructions?” The answer is very simple. There are two little collections of…
In an earlier post I pointed out to one of my personal favorite suttas in the pali canon, Bahiyas instruction. While the story surrounding Bahiya is very exciting and the instruction the Buddha gave him summarizes the gist of vipassana…
This post is based on some of the observations made in this post. It might help to understand this article. One day the Buddha mentioned to his students that his own meditation object with which he realized Nibbana was the…