Archives: BD Articles
Nibbana Is Giving Up, Letting Go, and Being Free
Ajahn Chah explains some of Buddhism's most important principles, including nirvana, samadhi, and why it's important to "Be really careful!"
The Four Immeasurables Leave Nothing Untouched
If you don’t want your happiness to impede that of someone else, says Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, practice the four immeasurables.
To Walk Proudly as Buddhist Women: An Interview with Dhammananda Bhikkhuni
Cindy Rasicot interviews Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, Thailand’s first fully ordained Theravada nun, on women's ordination, feminism, the role of monastics in society, and more.
Your Whole Body is Hands and Eyes
Ejo McMullen on the total response of Avalokiteshvara — with a thousand arms, an eye on the palm of each hand — as the model of the bodhisattva path.
Deconstructing Whiteness
Joy Brennan shows how Yogacara teachings reveal whiteness as a constructed identity—and how they offer a path through it, to bodhisattva activity.
Motherhood Is More Than a Metaphor
Sarah Jacoby examines how even though mothering has been held up in Buddhist teachings as a model of compassion, actual mothering has never gotten much respect.
The Outer Limits of Attention
Ken Kessel on how we, as Buddhist practitioners, should pay attention — even to the things we’re not paying attention to.
Behind “the Global Goenka”
Lauren Leve reviews "S. N. Goenka: Emissary of Insight" by Daniel M. Stuart.
Acknowledging Buddhism’s South Asian Roots
Vishnu Sridharan points out a blind spot in Western Buddhism — South Asia is exorcized, while Buddhism’s origins in South Asian culture are ignored.
Sangha Is More than a Community
Thich Nhat Hanh explains that sangha is more than a community, it’s a deep spiritual practice.
You’re Ready Enough
Wherever you find yourself, says Pema Khandro, that’s the starting point of the bodhisattva path—all you need to do is take that first step.
The Benefits of Walking Meditation
Walking meditation, says Sayadaw U Silananda, reflects the Buddha’s injunction to practice mindfulness while in all the four postures, and in all the activities of our lives.
59 Ways to Turn Your Mind Around
The way to bodhicitta, the mind of compassion, is marked by the fifty-nine lojong slogans. Gaylon Ferguson points us in the right direction.
The Buddhist Science of Mind
Michael Sheehy reviews "Science and Philosophy in Indian and Buddhist Classics, Vol. 2: The Mind."
How Do We Create Our Reality?
According to Yogacara, or “mind-only” teachings, everything we experience is a construct of consciousness. Guo Gu explains how it all works.
Consciousness Is Perfectly Clear
An excerpt from "Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 2: The Mind" on Buddhist understandings of consciousness.
The Mind That Knows Itself
Until we begin to make the distinction between observing thoughts and observing the knowing mind, writes Ayya Dhammapida, "we have not yet begun to study or to experience the mind directly."
We’ve Been Here All Along
Funie Hsu says it’s time we recognize Asian American Buddhists and address the racism that marginalizes their ongoing role in the dharma in the West.
Wherever We Find Ourselves on the Path
The opening commentary from the Spring 2021 issue of Buddhadharma.
Pointing Beyond Words
Newly translated works by the renowned Korean poet Ko Un offer powerful glimpses into the human condition and the paradoxes of the Buddhist path.