When the Buddha taught that all beings have buddhanature, says Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, he wasn’t contradicting the teachings on emptiness—he was clarifying them. As soon as we talk about a path like Buddhism, we think about its finish line—some kind of result or goal. But in the Mahayana, there is no goal. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, for instance, we hear that “Form [...]
Ask the Teachers: Should I meditate if I can’t stop thinking about porn?
Question: I’m addicted to pornography; I have been for a long time. I have good days in my practice, but often I end up bringing pornography into my meditation, and once it begins, it’s hard not to stay with it. Is meditation even a good idea for me? Or am I someone who should spend less time in his own head, away from these kinds of thoughts? Bodhin Kjolhede: Indeed, we [...]
The Life of the Lotus Sutra
Paul L. Swanson reviews The Lotus Sutra: A Biography by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. From the Summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. How does one write a “biography” of a classical text? Such an undertaking suggests that the text, over time and across cultures, grows and changes, that it has its own life. In The Lotus Sutra: A Biography, Donald Lopez [...]
Buddhadharma Book Briefs for Summer 2017
Vicki Mackenzie’s The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi (Shambhala 2017) tells the story of the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun. An Oxford-educated author (her publications included an account of her time spent as a political prisoner in Lahore and a children’s book with Indian political themes), Bedi was a close disciple of the Sixteenth Karmapa and a [...]
Why Buddhist Communities Should Include Children
Jodo Shinshu minister Jeff Wilson on why teaching children the dharma is genuine bodhisattva work. I’ve noticed that you can basically divide North American Buddhist communities into two types: those with children present and those without. Many other things, such as styles of practice, lineages, race, class, institutional size and stability, and so on often fall into [...]
Inside the Summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly
The Summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma is available now. Preview the magazine contents and sample articles below. Destroyed Not Destroyed In his commentary on the koan “Dasui’s Aeonic Fire,” Norman Fischer takes on the end of the world. It’s happening right now, he says, but probably not in the way that you think. A Jewel Heart Gelek Rimpoche passed away in February at the [...]
A Jewel Heart: Remembering Gelek Rimpoche
Gelek Rimpoche passed away in February at the age of 77. Dimitri Ehrlich remembers his teacher's generosity. The first time I met Gelek Rimpoche, he took my head in his hands and head-butted me. I had just asked him this question: "Is it true that on some level, pain and pleasure are the same thing, and we just project these labels onto an otherwise neutral [...]
Buddhists Helping Buddhists
Pamela Ayo Yetunde reviews A Thousand Hands: A Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community, edited by Nathan Jishin Michon and Daniel Clarkson Fisher. From the Summer 2017 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. When we cannot cope with life as it is, and when we cannot function enough to provide basic care for ourselves, it would be a great comfort to know [...]