The Buddhist world has seen its fair share of “gurus” and “masters” who introduced “secret meditation techniques” and found instructions nobody had ever seen before because they “allegedly” got lost or distorted over time – only to be (re-)introduced by…
2300 years ago emperor Ashoka‘s son, a Buddhist monk by the name of Mahinda, was sent to Sri Lanka to propagate the Buddha’s message to the people of Sri Lanka. He met the king, who happened to be on a…
“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…
…to you all! May you “live long and prosper” 😉 The above image, quite appropriate for the day, is one of the most skillful artistic representations of the “Buddha visiting the devas” (looks like the 33) I have ever seen…thanks…
Famous words by the Buddha: Vuttaṃ kho panetaṃ bhagavatā: yo paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passati so dhammaṃ passati; yo dhammaṃ passati so paṭiccasamuppādaṃ passatīti. Paṭiccasamuppannā kho panime yadidaṃ pañcupādānakkhandhā. Yo imesu pañcasu upādānakkhandhesu chando ālayo anunayo ajjhosānaṃ so dukkhasamudayo. Yo imesu pañcasu upādānakkhandhesu…
While preparing the post on Anapanasati, I came across several discussions on the topic of “nirodho”. Currently re- reading the SN on the Khandhas myself, I stumbled over one sutta which kept me pondering. In that particular sutta, the Buddha…
In the “Group-Section” (Khandhasamyutta) of the Samyutta Nikaya, numerous short suttas can be found which – if we squeeze them in the right manner – provide valuable information about how a puthujjana (or unenlightened being) turns into an ariyapuggalo (an…
And I’ll show you how 🙂 Okay, caught your attention (did you see what happened when you read this headline)? Now, let me rephrase a bit: This post is about how a Vipassana opponent turned into a Vipassana proponent. Interested?…
The English word mindfulness is a mistranslation. In the oldest Pali texts, sati carries a precise, active meaning that is central to the Buddhist path to Nibbana — and understanding the difference changes everything about how you practice.
The question whether to practice samatha or vipassana comes up again and again. In the early days of the Burmese Vipassana movement, long debates were waged on which approach would be the correct one (samatha || vipassana, that is). This…