Meditative practitioners are entitled to rebirth in the Pure Land In the Contemplation Sutra, Queen Vaidehi asks Shakyamuni Buddha to teach her how to meditate and
The eastern Indian state of Odisha (until recently named Orissa) is home to a large number of temples and Buddhist heritage sites that draw scholars
A commonly held view is that the body houses the soul—but have you ever thought that the soul could live elsewhere? I have experienced that
I am not qualified to be a theologian, although I share with many of my former teachers and fellow students of religion a belief in interfaith dialogue. The objective
Shamatha meditation is the practice of settling the mind into a stable and calm state of present-moment awareness. Once the mind is in such a state,
The Fourth Noble Truth is The Path that leads to the cessation of dukkha (“ill-being” or “suffering”). The Path is also called the Noble Eightfold Path of
Two teachings by two Buddhas—the dual objective of the Contemplation Sutra In his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, Master Shandao says: “Here, the objective of the Contemplation Sutra is
The Sanskrit word “mandala” literally means a sacred center (la) that has been set apart or adorned (mand). In theory, therefore, a mandala can take
Spiritual materialism is perhaps one of the most powerful spiritual dangers. An easy trap to fall into, spiritual materialism operates at two basic levels: the
On 5 October 2012 we had a house fire. My husband, our then-7-year-old son, and I were out of town when we got the call.
Thagzo, or the Bhutanese textile-weaving tradition, enjoys a lofty place amongst the national “Thirteen Arts and Crafts,” or zorig chusum. Globalization and the gradual, tightly controlled
The relationship between Sri Lanka and Thailand spans nearly ten centuries and has a history of mutually beneficial exchanges of ideas, architectural styles, and culture
