On Buddha Day Buddhists ask what the Buddha means today, so long after his death. Is he an historical figure or an eternal principle? Thought for the Day 21.6. 2016 hen Gautama, the man history knows as The Buddha, died two-and-a-half thousand years ago his followers...
The Buddha and his teaching are very down to earth, but his perspective also expresses is very strange and quite beyond anything we already know. This can also become a vivid element of our experience through the experience of liberation, particularly by breaking what...
As Buddhists celebrated Wesak, Vishvapani reflected on the continuing relevance of the Buddha. ‘Standing apart from political struggles he offered a distinctive outlook on their causes …’ A few hours ago we passed the May full moon. Most of us barely...
In the Buddha’s world, nature and the wilderness were frightening threats. The early Buddhist texts show how he forged a new relationship with nature, opening the way for the beautiful nature poetry of his followers As the Discourses of the Pali Canon (our main...
A vivid account in one of the earliest Buddhist texts describes how the Buddha guided his disciples in responding skilfully to both praise and blame. The story is full of his wisdom about how we can avoid harming ourselves or others through our speech and how we can...
I met German-born Analayo some years ago when he was living a life of intensive meditation and study in a small retreat centre in Sri Lanka. He told me how his study of the Buddha’s original meditation teaching had led him to question established approaches to...
