Archives: BD Articles
What I Wish I’d Known When I Met My First Spiritual Teacher
Scott Edelstein, author of “The User’s Guide to Spiritual Teachers,” shares 19 points to consider when beginning to engage with a teacher on the dharma path.
Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse
Scholars Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg look at how Buddhist sanghas have responded and evolved in response to the ethical breaches of the past few decades.
Read “A Teachers Return to the Valley of Renewal” an excerpt from Notebooks of a Wandering Monk
An excerpt from Notebooks of a Wandering Monk by Matthieu Ricard.— as reviewed in the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guiden
Read an excerpt from Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method
An excerpt from Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method by Rebecca Li — as reviewed in the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide.
Read an excerpt from Seeing One Thing Through: The Zen Life and Teachings of Sojun Mel Weitsman
An excerpt of Seeing One Thing Through: The Zen Life and Teachings of Sojun Mel Weitsman, by Sojun Mel Weitsman — as reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide.
Read an excerpt from The Buddhist Tantras: A Guide
An excerpt from The Buddhist Tantras: A Guide by David B. Gray— as reviewed in the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide
Resources for Confronting Abuse in Spiritual Communities
From Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, authors of “Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse,” from the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma, comes this gathering of select websites, communities, and projects of value to Buddhist communities, teachers, and students looking to develop and maintain best practices when it comes to fostering healthy teacher-student relationships and addressing conflicts and pitfalls.
Read “Mere Perception in Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses” from Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogācāra Buddhism Matters
An excerpt from Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogācāra Buddhism Matters by William S. Waldron — as reviewed in the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide
Read an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka
An excerpt from Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka, by Neena Mahadev— as reviewed in the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Guide
When You Are Ready…
Willa Blythe Baker on the many forms in which our teachers might manifest, including even our body and our community.
Developing Our Spiritual Capacities
Informed by the teachings of Nichiren Shonin, founder of the Nichiren school of Buddhism, and Sot’aesan, the founder of Won Buddhism, Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick looks at our capacity for spiritual awakening and how it relates to our maturity.
The Benefits of Tummo, Tibetan Yoga Movement, and Breath Practices
Buddhadharma’s Spring 2024 issue looks at each of the renowned Six Dharmas of Naropa, starting with tummo, or “the practice of fierce inner heat.” What relevance does this practice have for the contemporary practitioner’s health and well-being, and how does it relate to one’s practice of mindfulness? James Bae explains, noting that “one need not become highly accomplished to reap the benefits of this practice; while progressive stages of tummo practice may be difficult to achieve, positive and substantial results are within reach.”
Awakening Through Sound
Guo Gu, contributor to the “Glimpses of Buddhanature” feature in the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma, shares the practice of contemplation of hearing, a practice rooted in a method for awakening attributed to the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Emptiness, Existence, and “I”
Buddhist practitioner Ching Pan explores the Buddhist concepts of "emptiness" and "existence" within the Mahayana tradition, showing how they complement each other and reflect our inner states.
Venturing Beyond Our Fear of Emptiness
Paul Condon, author of “Buddhanature Beyond Mere Concept” from the Fall 2023 issue of Buddhadharma, explores how cognitive science can help us to realize buddhanature, and gain more capacity to participate effectively in the world.
Undoing Toxic Masculinity in Buddhist Communities
Ann Gleig, Nadine Levy, and Bhante Sujato shine a light on the harmful effects of toxic masculinity and its surprising, disturbing rise within the Buddhist milieu.
Buddhanature Beyond Mere Concept
By letting go of the goal to realize buddhanature, says Paul Condon, we can embody it more freely.
Cuando un maestro budista cruza la línea
La relación entre maestro y alumno en el budismo Vajrayana es intensa y compleja. Es fácil de malinterpretar e incluso puede ser mal utilizada. El respetado maestro tibetano Mingyur Rinpoche explica la ética en el Vajrayana, cómo encontrar un maestro genuino y qué hacer si un maestro se pasa de la raya.
Why Buddhanature Matters
Lopen Karma Phuntsho, writer-in-residence for Tsadra Foundation’s Buddha-Nature project, takes a look at the history and development of the Mahayana concept of buddhanature.
Nothing Is More Important Than Your Buddhanature
“What if,” asks Tsadra Foundation executive director Marcus Perman, “we were brought up with the knowledge that each one of us is by nature capable of complete freedom from suffering, and that we possess wisdom and compassion on a nearly unthinkable scale?”