Konin Cardenas, Mark Unno, Thubten Chodron, and Bhikkhu Bodhi examine what dukkha is, why it matters, and how we can approach it in our lives. From the Winter 2017 issue of Buddhadharma. Buddhadharma: Dukkha is the starting point of Buddhist teachings, but not everyone speaks about it in the same way. Speaking from your own tradition, what does dukkha mean? Bhikkhu [...]
About Bhikkhu Bodhi
Stand Against Suffering: A Call to Action by Buddhist Teachers
Thirteen prominent teachers explain why Buddhists need to be be politically engaged at this crucial time in the country’s history, in this statement published in Lion’s Roar magazine and co-signed by more than 140 Buddhist leaders. As long as a society protects the vulnerable among them, they can be expected to prosper and not decline. —The Buddha, in the Mahaparinirvana [...]
Commentary: A Decision Cruel and Callous
Bhikkhu Bodhi responds to US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Much has been written over the past couple of weeks about the political and economic repercussions of Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out from the Paris Climate Agreement. It’s been pointed out that the decision will diminish our standing in the world and cast us in [...]
What are “Conditioned Things” in Buddhism?
Reality may seem solid, says Bhikkhu Bodhi, but it is merely a reflection of unstable, conditioned processes, or sankharas, coming together with no one in charge. Impermanent, alas, are conditioned things! Their very nature is to arise and vanish. Having arisen they then cease. Their subsiding is blissful! In Theravada Buddhist lands, this verse is always recited at [...]
Let’s Stand Up Together
In this commentary from the Spring 2017 issue of Buddhadharma, monk-scholar Bhikkhu Bodhi urges Buddhists to become "more visible as advocates of peace, basic sanity, and social justice" — and explains why doing so transcends party politics. I recently came across a news report stating that 2,500 religious leaders had signed a petition urging Congress to reject Donald [...]
Pain Is My Built-in Buddha
Bhikkhu Bodhi on the stern but eloquent teachings of chronic pain. When I write about living with pain, I don’t have to use my imagination. Since 1976 I have been afflicted with chronic head pain that has grown worse over the decades. This condition has thrown a granite boulder across the tracks of my meditation practice. Pain often wipes a day and night off my calendar, [...]
What Kind of World Do We Want?
For many of us in the West, Buddhism first appears on the horizon as a path to inner peace offering relief from the tensions of daily living. This perception is reinforced by popular culture, which pictures the Buddha as a man sitting motionless with crossed legs and closed eyes, seemingly lost to his surroundings. Seldom do we think that Buddhism might hold out practical clues [...]
A Challenge to Buddhists
Bhikkhu Bodhi looks at how Buddhist practice can be applied to the modern world in a way that provides aid to various problems of the age. Each morning, I check out a number of Internet news reports and commentaries on websites ranging from the BBC to Truthout. Reading about current events strongly reinforces for me the acuity of the Buddha’s words: “The world is grounded [...]
