arriving, arriving – gate, gate
The Arrival What shall we call the presence that arrives? Beloved, friend? Pride and joy, love-thief, gratitude, patience? I have no patience anymore. Go away, you names and mental formations. A new...
View Articletouching the earth
A little visual treat this week. While in Toronto I picked up a small book, The Perfection of Wisdom, featuring some amazing manuscript illustrations of the life of the Buddha and extracts of the 8,000...
View Articlegiving
Illustration: Green Tara making a gesture of giving, holding a lotus. The historical Buddha is seated on the left at Visali with a begging bowl filled with honey given to him by the monkeys. The...
View Articlebuddhas, bodhisattvas, mahasattvas
Illustration: Buddha teaching the bodhisattvas, green Samantabhadra, blue Vajrapani, yellow Maitreya, yellow Manjusri, and white Avalokitesvara. On the right is a wrathful Jambhala holding a mongoose...
View Articlea timber, a plank
The Simile of the Ship “When a ship is wrecked at sea, those who do not hold onto a timber, or plank, or other solid support will drown in the water, never reaching the other shore. Subhuti, those...
View Articlein boundlessness, no near or far
Illustration: Manjughosa on a blue lion with two bodhisattva attendants (possibly Prince Sudhana and Yamari, an emanation of Manjushri) The Simile of Space “Lord Buddha, space does not think, ‘What am...
View Articleintimate secret
Yes, a little Sprout fix for those of you feline-inclined. February is Feline Appreciation Month by the way, so go out and hug something furry with sharp teeth and claws. Back to books. Tasty ones....
View Articlefirst line of defense
Try telling an orally fixated kitten that you too like to lick your bowl clean. It’s a Zen thing, I explained. Clean your bowl! As you can see, he’s not impressed. I’m fascinated by Sprout’s...
View Articleresting places
Being a bodhisattva would be overwhelming if form, feelings, perceptions, memories, and consciousness were real. Imagine the assault on our sensory powers and the domains in which they function! Red...
View Articlethe five fears of the beginning bodhisattva
Sprout discovers The Thing. It doesn’t fill him with as much fear as the Five Fears that assail bodhisattvas. I found this a fascinating tidbit about bodhisattvas in Red Pine’s commentary (and there...
View Articlewhen the body does what the body does
“In this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts there is the world, the origin of the world, the ending of the world and the path leading to the ending of the world.” -AN 4.45 It always...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....