Deep Dive
Practicing the Perfections
Dharma teachers from across traditions on realizing Buddhism’s paramitas, or perfections: generosity, ethics, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom.
“What do I need to do to express, develop, and sustain compassion? And the answer is, practice the six practices: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. That’s the way to develop compassion.”
—Norman Fischer
No Separate Thing
The abbot of Toledo, Ohio’s Buddha Eye Temple on the crucial quality of vigor. Its practice, he contends, “is here in this present step. How do we walk right now? What result is in the step itself?”
10 Steps to Tame the Elephant
For generations, Tibetan practitioners have been guided by a chart outlining the nine stages of samatha meditation. Jan Willis takes us through the map and introduces us to the characters along the way.
Confronting Abuse in Spiritual Communities
When the trust we put in a spiritual friend, teacher, or community is compromised, so much is put at risk. View Buddhadharma‘s collection of articles on preventing and addressing such abuses of power.<br /> <br />
Breaking the Silence on Sexual Misconduct
Willa Blythe Baker offers both her painful firsthand account of sexual misconduct by a guru and insight for fellow survivors and communities.
The Promise and Peril of Spiritual Authority
Gina Sharpe, Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, and Pilar Jennings examine spiritual power, the roots of its abuse, and how we might learn to hold it differently going forward.
The Buddha Would Have Believed You
In too many Buddhist communities, women have not been believed when revealing harm caused by men. Bhikkhu Sujato looks to the Vinaya and finds another approach.
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.
Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom
Norman Fischer on how sila, samadhi, and prajna work together to give us stability on the Buddhist path to liberation.
Understanding the Vinaya
Amy Paris Langenberg on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.
Dukkha as a Doorway to Liberation
Scott Tusa on how Buddhist ethics transcend mere morality and help us to realize awakening.
Emanations of Avalokitesvara
Also known by Guan Yin, Chenrezig, Kanzeon and other epithets, Avalokitesvara is the bodhisattva who “hears the cries of the world” and responds with limitless compassion — and inspires Buddhist practitioners the world over to try and do the same.
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.
Venerating Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva by Engaging the World
According to An Tran, reciting the Twelve Aspiration Prayers of Avalokitesvara encourages us to engage with the world as part of our practice, so that we may become instruments of the buddhas of this world, helping ease the suffering of beings and our environment.
The Heart Sutra Will Change You Forever
Penetrate the true meaning of the Heart Sutra, says Karl Brunnhölzl, and nothing will be the same again. The secret is making it personal.