Category: Buddhadharma
Embodying the Sacred: Charya Nritya, the Sacred Dance of Nepal’s Newar Vajrayana Buddhist Tradition
While in Nepal, Buddhadharma deputy editor Mariana Restrepo met with Punya Sagara, a devoted practitioner of Charya Nritya, to explore how this meditative practice endures as both a spiritual path and a living cultural heritage.
How Buddhist Spiritual Care Can Help Frontline Workers in the Caring Economy
John Negru looks at the societal issue of moral injury, and how Buddhist chaplains and carers can make a true difference.
A Chan Student’s Guide to Buddhism’s famed Heart Sutra
Chan practitioner Mark Van Buren shares his journey from chanting the Heart Sutra without understanding to gradually uncovering its transformative wisdom, exploring the interplay of compassion and wisdom at the heart of this profound text, and how this realization can ease our personal suffering and deepen our spiritual practice.
Footsteps of Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimage in India
Read an excerpt from Footsteps of Buddha, the upcoming photography book by James Gritz—a visually rich and spiritually grounded reflection on twenty years of pilgrimage to India’s most sacred Buddhist sites.
Four Ways Mindfulness Can Transform an Unhealthy Sense of Self
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche shares a teaching on Buddhism’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness — form, feeling, mind, and phenomena — and how they lead us to experience the deeply analytical insights found in the Abhidharma, known more colloquially as “Buddhist psychology.”
How the Tibetan Tulku System of Reincarnation Works
Carlo Carranza on how this method for recognizing reincarnated lamas ensures the continuity of wisdom and leadership in Tibetan Buddhism.
Orient: Two Walks at the Edge of the Human
Read a review of Orient: Two Walks at the Edge of the Human, by David Hinton, published by Shambhala Publications.
Coalition of Buddhist teachers, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi issue new letters of support for Mohsen Mahdawi
The letters include a “Demand for Immediate Release of Mohsen Mahdawi and Other Unlawfully Detained Individuals," and a letter of testimony.
The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva
Read a review of The Great Hūṃ: A Commentary on Śāntideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva, by Minyak Kunzang Sonam, translated by Douglas Duckworth, plus an excerpt courtesy of its publisher, Wisdom Publications.
Exploring the Four Elements in the Body
In this new video — part of an ongoing teaching series on Mingyur Rinpoche’s text Stainless Prajña: Stages of Meditation on the Treasury of Abhidharma — Rinpoche guides us to reflect on The Four Elements in the Body, exploring how these elements manifest within ourselves. This is followed by a short reflection by Tsunma Kunsang Palmo.
FPMT Announces the Reincarnation of Lama Zopa Rinpoche
The Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) has announced that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has confirmed the reincarnation of their founding teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
What The White Lotus Got Right — and Wrong — About Buddhism
Buddhism on screen: sometimes Hollywood gets it right, other times, not so much. Carlo Carranza brings a dharma teacher's eye to the portrayals of Buddhism in HBO and Mike White’s The White Lotus, Season 3.
Naked Mind
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche explains how the veil of thoughts and emotions is lifted when we rest in the nature of mind as it is.
The Value of Sangha: An Interview with Ven. Thubten Chodron
In this interview, originally conducted for the 500th anniversary issue of Humanity Magazine published by Dharma Drum Mountain Taiwan, Ven. Thubten Chodron of Sravasti Abbey reflects on the successes and challenges of building a vibrant Buddhist community in the modern age.
Just Awakening: Yogacara Social Philosophy in Modern China
Read a review of Just Awakening: Yogacara Social Philosophy in Modern China, by Jessica X. Zu, plus an excerpt courtesy of its publisher, Columbia University Press.
Meditation on Emptiness
Read a review of Meditation on Emptiness, Second Revised Edition, by Jeffrey Hopkins, plus an excerpt courtesy of its publisher, Wisdom Publications.
Post-Charismatic Buddhism and the Sangha Crisis Nobody Seems to Be Talking About
John Negru reflects on the current state of Buddhist communities and how they might best develop themselves, and their leaders, in the modern day.
Where the Dalai Lama’s Reincarnation Will (and Won’t) Be Found
Matteo Pistono on Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle With China, the new book by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. The book, he writes, is the Dalai Lama’s response — not just to Beijing, but to history itself.
On Taking Refuge
Lama Hun Lye explores the importance of the Three Refuges to Buddhists, and what it really means to “take refuge.”
Dancing the Dakini Chöd Cham of Machig Labdrön
Dancer and journalist Karen Greenspan takes us on her journey to learn the traditional dance of the Tibetan Buddhist Chöd practice of Machig Labdrön. The practice empowers female practitioners in Bhutan, sustains the tradition in both the Himalayas and the West, and showcases how we can preserve cultural and spiritual traditions.