What does mindfulness give?

THIS Buddhist Film Festival (THIS) 2016 coming this September

The Buddhist Channel, July 31, 2016

Singapore -- THIS Buddhist Film Festival (THIS) 2016 will once again grace the silver screens in Singapore from September 17, 2016.

The fourth THIS Buddhist Film Festival returns with 17 original, thought-provoking films from eight countries, including China, France, Switzerland, Thailand and the US. 16 of the films will be screening for the first time in Singapore.

A highlight of the film festival is the premier of "Samsara", a non-verbal, non-narrative documentary from filmakers Ron Fricke and Mark Magodson.

Vipassana Meditation made My Cancer Disappear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNkN-6lzREw

Published on Nov 3, 2014

This is an interview of Sayalay Daw Amara at Thabarwa Center in Myanmar.

Due to her stressful business life she developed an ovary cancer but after joining a 10 day meditation retreat with Sayadaw U Ottamasara her intense pain and the whole cancer suddenly disappeared.

2 years later after she had resumed her business life, the stress and tension built up again and the cancer came back worse than before.

She was dying, so she went back to meditate under Sayadaws guidance and the cancer disappeared again, from than on she stayed in the meditation center as a permanent resident and volunteer.

Produced and uploaded by :
ThaBarWa Centre Media and Translation Team

LETTING GO, LETTING IT BE

In the second Noble Truth we have the arising of desire and the attachment to it. We can divide desire into three types: kāma-tanhā, bhāva-tanhā and vibhāva-tanhā. Desire is this energy that’s always looking for something or other. If there is attachment to desire, then one is never content.

Anguttara Nikaya 3.26

The Sixteen Sacred Lands of Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was brought up to become a king, but he left his life of great comfort after encountering the ‘four signs’: an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic. After six years of hardship, working to find the right spiritual path, he attained his ‘Great Enlightenment’, and became the Buddha. During the following forty-five years of his mission until he passed into Mahaparinirvana (the state of reaching the end of suffering) at the age of eighty, the Buddha walked widely throughout the northern districts of India, delivering his teachings to thebhikkhus (Buddhist monks) and laity in the places that he visited. The sixteen lands where he spent time during his long ministry can often be found illustrated in Buddhist cosmology manuscripts. In this post we present nine such Burmese manuscripts held in the British Library, all illustrated in the Mandalay style and dating from the mid-19th century.  Eight are written on paper in folding-book (parabaik) format and these have all been digitised, and one is written on palmleaf.

M. 152, Indriya Bhāvanā Sutta

The meditator understands, "There has arisen in me this pleasant, unpleasant or neutral experience. It is composed, of a gross nature, dependent on conditions. But what really exists, what is most excellent, is equanimity."

Whether a pleasant experience has arisen in him, or an unpleasant, or a neutral one, it ceases but equanimity remains.

Four Things To Consider When Buying A Buddha Statue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayZICQsjmb8

Published on Mar 15, 2015

When it comes to buying a Buddha statue, although it’s tempting to buy a statue based on its appearance, there are a couple of things we should know prior to our purchase. There are many Buddha statues to choose from: from fat to skinny Buddhas or just the head to his whole body. So which statue is best for developing our practice? Aside from knowing which statue to buy and where to buy them from, there are other things we need to consider. In this video, I explain everything we need to know and keep in mind, before and after our purchase.

Dalits should embrace Buddhism, says Ramdas Bandu Athawale

“Nobody can scare Dalits just like that. Dalits have become very strong now,” said Ramdas Bandu Athawale. (Source: File)

Written by Sheela Bhatt | New Delhi | Published:July 30, 2016 

Ramdas Bandu Athawale, speaks on a wide range of issues -- from the flogging of Dalit youths in Una to the political fallout in UP of BJP leader Dayashankar Singh's remarks against Mayawati and the quota system.

Minister of State of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Bandu Athawale, who is a veteran Dalit leader from Maharashtra and president of the Republican Party of India (RPI), speaks to The Indian Express on a wide range of issues — from the flogging of Dalit youths in Una to the political fallout in UP of BJP leader Dayashankar Singh’s remarks against Mayawati and the quota system — and said that “Dalits should embrace Buddhism”. Edited excerpts from an interview:

The Story of Two Pick-pockets.

Never underestimate anyone in their ability in learning the Dhamma and attaining ariyahood even he is a thief or a murderer.

On one occasion, two pick-pockets joined a group of lay-disciples going to the Jetavana monastery, where the Buddha was giving a discourse.

Try to recollect....

THE FOUR KINDS OF PURIFICATION OF OFFERING by the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw

There are four kinds of purification of offering. What are the four? They are:

[1] There is the offering that is purified by the giver, but not the receiver.
[2] There is the offering that is purified by the receiver, but not the giver.
[3] There is the offering that is purified by neither the giver nor the receiver.
[4] There is the offering that is purified by both the giver and the receiver.

Culagosinga Sutta MN31

Leonard Cohen, Spring 96

Posted by Anandajoti on Monday, 6th July, 2015

I grew up with the songs of Leonard Cohen as part of the sound track: they were both mysterious profound and moving, even though they spoke about matters I didn’t properly understand at the time.

Cohen was one of the first celebrity converts to Buddhism, but also one of the most intelligent, first showing an interest in it at the height of his fame in the 60s.

Uttamapurisa Dīpanī: A Manual of the Excellent Man

Ven Ledi Sayadaw:

"For each of the ten meritorious practices such as giving, morality, renunciation, etc., there can be three grades: low, medium, or superior.

'A deed undertaken out of desire for fame is low. 
One undertaken with desire for the fruits of merit is moderate. 
One undertaken with the clear understanding that it is the custom of the Noble Ones is superior.' (Visuddhimagga)

Buddhist monk is best friends with baby cow after rescuing it

A Buddhist monk is best friends with a motherless baby cow – after rescuing him from the roadside.

Pracha Thammanart , 40, found the new-born calf starving in a field after its mother died during labor.

The monk carried the animal – nicknamed Wow – home and hand-reared him with bottles of milk and small pieces of grass.

July 25, 2016 | by SWNS Reporter

They are now ‘inseparable’ and Wow follows Thammanart around, nuzzles him and even lays next to him while he is meditating at his temple in Chachoengsao, Thailand.

The Story of the Giver of the First-Fruits of His Labor.

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verse with reference to a brahmin who was in the habit of making five offerings of first-fruits in charity.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana on meditation as a serious personal practice.

https://www.facebook.com/mettaonline/videos/1125091120897806/

You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way 

— Dhammapada 276

Dhammapada 64, translated by Gil Fronsdal

A fool associating with a sage,

Even if for a lifetime,

Will no more perceive the Dharma,

Than a spoon will perceive the taste of soup. 

Tolerance, Criticism, and Humility are Core Principles of Freedom

Friday, July 22, 2016

There’s a Buddhist saying: “Nothing is what I think it is.” For me, it expresses the profound uncertainty that challenges all thinking beings. Each of us sees at best only part of the world, and that part from only a single perspective that is constantly distracted by discursive thoughts, most of which have little connection with reality at all. In other words, we see illusions.

Still Mind, Clear Mind

by Ian Marshall | Jul 25, 2016 

A young man nervously approached the Master…

We are "priceless"

THE MONKEY’S OFFERING .

[The Buddha receives an offering of honey from a monkey at Parileyya forest]

While residing in the Protected Parileyya Forest, the Buddha was attended by a noble elephant that provided him with water and wild fruits.

After observing these propitious deeds, a monkey decided that he too would give the Buddha an offering.

Huggy Buddha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz-SltK2G28

Published on Dec 18, 2013

"I just had this idea: to give my first grandchild a soft Buddha, for a happy life.
It seemed so obvious to me.

But I found out that no one before me had ever thought of it. So I decided to create it myself. Not only for my grandchild, but for every child and person in the world."

Sandra de Vries

Majjhima Nikaya. I,126

When you speak to others you might speak at the right time or at the wrong time, according to fact or not, gently or harshly, about the goal or not, with a mind full of love or with a mind full of hatred.

You should train yourself like this:

‘Our minds will not be perverted nor will we utter evil speech, but kindly and compassionate we will live with a mind free from hatred and full of love.
We will live having suffused first one person with a mind full of love and beginning with them, suffuse the whole world with a love that is far reaching, widespread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence.’

This is how you should train yourself.

Ancient Shrine That May Hold Buddha's Skull Bone Found in Crypt

By Owen Jarus, Live Science ContributorJune 30, 2016 

A skull bone of the Buddha was found inside this gold casket, which was stored in a silver casket within the stupa model, found in a crypt beneath a Buddhist temple.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Chinese Cultural Relics

Archaeologists have discovered what may be a skull bone from the revered Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. The bone was hidden inside a model of a stupa, or a Buddhist shrine used for meditation.

The research team found the 1,000-year-old model within a stone chest in a crypt beneath a Buddhist temple in Nanjing, China. Inside the stupa model archaeologists found the remains of Buddhist saints, including a parietal (skull) bone that inscriptions say belonged to the Buddha himself.

The model is made of sandalwood, silver and gold, and is covered with gemstones made of crystal, glass, agate and lapis lazuli, a team of archaeologists reported in an article published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.

The Dhammapada. 283 & 284, Verses and Stories.

The Story of five Old Bhikkhus.

Once, in Savatthi, there were five friends who became bhikkhus only in their old age.

These five bhikkhus were in the habit of going together to their old homes for alms-food.

Of the former wives of those five, one lady in particular, by the name of Madhurapacika was a good cook and she looked after them very well.

Why This Family's Conversion From Hinduism To Buddhism Matters

All India | Max Bearak, The Washington Post | Updated: April 15, 2016 

On Thursday, Rohith Vemula's mother and brother converted to Buddhism in the presence of Ambedkar's grandson, Prakash. (PTI Photo)

Rohith Vemula was never able to escape the trappings of his "low birth." He was a "Dalit" -- a term that roughly translates to "broken" -- a grouping of lower castes once referred to as "untouchables." Entries in his diary and interviews with his friends revealed a story filled with the hardships of growing up poor, and interactions with a society that, to him, seemed to be against his progress as a student. The final straw came when his hard-won scholarship at Hyderabad Central University was revoked after another group of students, mostly upper caste, reported him for engaging in "anti-national" activities -- in this case, protesting the execution of an accused terrorist he believed was falsely convicted.