Deep Dive

Monasticism Matters

Whether monk or nun or lay Buddhist, we all have so much to gain by better understanding monasticism and the people who take up monastic life. Includes a special focus on the timely subject of women’s ordination.

Forum

Why We Need Monasticism

A panel discussion with Robert Thurman, Jan Chozen Bays, Bhikkhu Bodhi and Ayya Tathaaloka. Introduction by Ajahn Amaro.

Lion’s Roar

Sangha

A Radiance of Nuns

Tsunma Sherab Khandro attended March’s Alliance of Non-Himalayan Nuns’ Gathering in Dharamsala, India. Here, she shares her experience and her perspective on the many challenges today’s nuns are faced with as they strive to uphold their vows, including lack of community and financial support.

Tsunma Sherab Khandro

A Buddhist monastic holds up their saffron-colored robe
Traditions

Understanding the Vinaya

Amy Paris Langenberg on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.

Amy Paris Langenberg

“If you become a monk or a nun you put the desire to wake up at the center of your world. Everything else, whatever it might be, stands in relation to that and becomes a vehicle for waking up further. Thus, monastic life is actually an opportunity to go deeper.”

— Pema Chödrön

Ordained At Last

Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly known as Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, became the first Thai woman to receive full ordination as a Theravadin nun.

Kristin Barendsen

Nuns Ordination Theravada Buddhism Ajahn Brahm

The Time Has Come

The “eight heavy rules” institutionalize women’s second-class status in Buddhist monasteries, and in most lineages women are denied full ordination.

Thanissara Cintamani, and Jitindriya

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.

Cindy Rasicot

The Fourfold Sangha Still Matters

The monastic path has failed to take hold in the West, says Tibetan Buddhist nun Ayya Yeshe. She argues that it’s time to renew the fourfold sangha.

Ayya Yeshe

More Deep Dives
Deep Dive

Living Buddhist Ethics

Looking primarily at the three sila aspects of the Buddha’s eightfold path—right action, right speech, and right livelihood—leading dharma figures explain how, as Buddhists in today’s world, we can live ethically, and in accord with what the dharma teaches.

Man in Zen robes with hands in gassho

Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom 

Norman Fischer on how sila, samadhi, and prajna work together to give us stability on the Buddhist path to liberation.

A Buddhist monastic holds up their saffron-colored robe

Understanding the Vinaya

Amy Paris Langenberg on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.

A collage whose pieces comprise an abstract human face

Dukkha as a Doorway to Liberation

Scott Tusa on how Buddhist ethics transcend mere morality and help us to realize awakening.

Deep Dive

The Six Dharmas of Naropa

Considered a fast track to buddhahood, the Six Dharmas are advanced tantric practices including tummo (inner heat), yoga of the dream state, resting in luminosity, and more. Featuring an overview by Pema Khandro Rinpoche, plus in-depth teachings by specialists in each of the Six Dharmas.

The Swift Path to Buddhahood

Pema Khandro on the fascinating history, practice, and purpose of the Six Dharmas of Naropa.

The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat

Judith Simmer-Brown on tummo, one of the most famous esoteric practices of Tibetan Vajrayana and the Six Dharmas. What is it, what are its benefits, and what role does it play in our journey to enlightenment?

A Wake-Up Call

Andrew Holecek on bardo, one of the Six Dharmas of Naropa’s two practices for helping us find our way, when the time comes, through the death experience. It can help us in life, too.

Deep Dive

Buddhist Teachings of the Dalai Lama

Buddhadharma has been privileged to publish the world’s greatest dharma teachers — among them, of course, is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Read a collection of some of his best pieces for committed Buddhist practitioners:

Human eye.

Discover Your Innermost Awareness

In his teaching on the essence of Dzogchen, the Dalai Lama describes the shock that naturally accompanies innermost awareness, the basis of all reality.

Beyond No-Self

While insight into the truth of no-self, is an important step, says the Dalai Lama, it doesn’t go far enough.

"Coq Au Vin," 2015. Illustration by Gary Taxali. Original Artwork Collection of Chef Thomas Keller.

Ethical Conduct Is the Essence of Dharma Practice

The Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron outline three levels of Buddhist ethical codes and how we can follow them.