The Trump Presidency And Lessons I Refuse To Learn

By Vanessa R. SassonBuddhistdoor Global 2017-02-17 

Marches for social change have erupted across the world. Photo by Jim Vondruska. From people.com

As I try to adjust to living in a world dominated by Donald Trump’s presidency and the growing realities of right-wing governments in various parts of the world, I find myself haunted by a story that takes place near the end of the Buddha’s life. The Buddha is said to have been a descendent of a proud and fiery people known as the Sakyas, who described themselves as “clansmen of the sun.”

A beautiful video on Ajahn Brahm's retreat in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

https://www.facebook.com/bhantekusal/videos/10208543140317263/

Patisambhidamagga

Anapanasati is probably the most popular practice in Buddhist meditation. Some watch the breath at the nostrils, some in the chest, some at the abdomen or some the whole breath. While none of them is expressly stated in the suttas, and all of them may be applicable, watching the breath at the tip of the nose has the unique position of being the practice expressly described in a text in the Tipitaka - the Patisambhidamagga.

EXPECTATION DERIVED FROM ONE’S OWN POINT OF VIEW 主觀與期待之五（終） Ven.Revata尊者 雷瓦達

Dependent Origination 《緣 起》

Now, what is the Second Noble Truth? It is the Truth of the Origin of Suffering. In order to elucidate this Truth, I will talk about how one of my disciples had practised Dependent Origination (paṭicca-samuppāda). I taught him to discern five past lives.
再來，什麼是第二聖諦？這是苦集聖諦。為了闡明這一 聖諦，我要舉我一個弟子修習緣起的例子。我教導他如何辨識過去五世。

Norway delivers ancient Tipitaka to Thailand

February 17, 2017  Thai PBS Reporter

A 2,000-year-old Tipitaka has been presented to the Kingdom of Thailand by the Conservation Institute of Schoyen from Norway, National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) said today.

Upadana

"Past Evil Deeds Can Be Overcome!"

Peaceful Uplifting Monasteries

... Then Asibandhakaputta the headman, a disciple of the Niganthas, went to the Blessed One and on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One said to him: "Headman, how does Nigantha Nataputta teach the Dhamma to his disciples?"

Why the practice is important

Maybe intellectually people know that they should live in the 

present moment, but the habit energy that has been there for 

a long time is always pushing them to rush around, so they have 

lost their capacity to be in the present moment in order to lead 

their life deeply. That is why the practice is important, and talking 

is not enough. You have to practice enough to really stop your 

running around so that you can establish yourself in the present 

moment. That is the very beginning of the practice: stopping. 

Stopping, looking deeply, and finding happiness and liberation—

that is the Buddhist path.

- Thich Nhat Hanh
(Artwork: Alla Tsank)

A soldier-turned-Buddhist Monk on mission to spread ‘Mahakaruna’

by Rajendra Diwe, The Hitavada, 13 Feb 2017 Ladakh, India -- ‘Peace keeping force’ is the joke of century. Peace can’t be achieved with any force, but unconditional love, great compassion and tolerance can bring peace. Sanghasena the monk of international repute was talking to ‘The Hitavada’ at the office of Awaz TV Channel in Bajaj Nagar on Sunday.

We need deep looking

I said before that if we have not made any mistakes, there is no way for us to learn. So that is why to look deeply, and to see the nature of the act, the nature of inter-being of the act in the light of non-self, we see that that is a kind of act, that is a kind of speech that has created suffering… The moment when you see that this is the lack of skillfulness on your part and on the part of many ancestors who have transmitted the seed to you, then that is already enlightenment, that is already meditation, that is already deep looking. And out of that enlightenment you are motivated by a desire that you would not like to do that again. So that desire, that aspiration is a strong energy, a strong energy that can make you alive, that can help you to protect yourself, to protect all the future generations within you, and that insight is very liberating. And if you know that you are not going to do the same thing again, you are already free, and your ancestors are also free, and there is no need to be caught in your feeling of culpability.

- Thich Nhat Hanh
(Photo: Stephen Emerson)

Metta

The Theravadins talk about anattā (not-self) and the Mahayanists talk about shunyatā (emptiness); but they are referring to the same realization. That is, one investigates and sees that the ego, the neuroses that we have – thoughts, greed, hatred and delusion – are all anattā. There is no self to be found, just empty conditions that arise out of the void and pass back into it with no remainder.

Monk Spreads Buddhist Philosophy With 140-Character Tweets

by LAKSHMI SINGH, NPR, February 11, 2017

Buddhist monk Haemin Sunim became Twitter-famous with his tweets about faith and mindfulness. His book, a compilation of tweets, went viral in South Korea, and the American edition is out now.

Seoul, South Korea -- It's a tale as old as Twitter.

In a spare moment maybe in the elevator or at work or waiting in line at the grocery store, you open up a social media app on your phone and suddenly the floodgates are open, a deluge of memes, news alerts, complaints, annoyances - not exactly a place to find your zen, unless perhaps you've discovered Haemin Sunim's page. The Buddhist monk is a sensation in South Korea where his daily 140-character tweets promote peace and mindfulness on the otherwise hectic social media platform.

Haemin Sunim's tweets are available offline, too, in his book "The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down." South Korean book sales have taken off with his ideas in paperback as viral as his tweets. Now the books hit the U.S. market. Haemin Sunim is with me now from the Buddhist radio station in Seoul. Thank you for joining us.

Skill in Questions - How the Buddha Taught (2010), p.117-118

"As we survey the range of questions deserving analytical answers, we see that they highlight five important points in the Buddha’s teaching that are often misunderstood or underappreciated at present.

Dhammapada 167-169

167

Don't associate with lowly qualities.
Don't consort with heedlessness.
Don't associate with wrong views.
Don't busy yourself with the world.

168-169

Get up! Don't be heedless.
Live the Dhamma well.
One who lives the Dhamma
sleeps with ease
in this world & the next.

Live the Dhamma well.
Don't live it badly.
One who lives the Dhamma
sleeps with ease
in this world & the next.

Ban on Buddhist bead bracelet violated my religious freedom, Hong Kong prison guard claims

by Eddie Lee, South China Morning Post, 7 February, 2017

Court document shows officer cited Bill of Rights Ordinance and argued Sikh bangle was not likewise prohibited

Hong Kong, China -- A prison officer has claimed that the Correctional Services Department’s “disapproval” of her wearing a Buddhist bead bracelet while on duty amounted to discrimination against her and violated her religious freedom, a court document showed.

In an application for a judicial review of the limit on items allowed to be carried into penal institutions, assistant officer Wong Wai-fan argued there was discriminatory treatment in favour of Sikh Kara as staff could wear that type of bangle.

Wong, who joined the department in 1989, said she was charged with disciplinary offences after carrying into the Lai King Correctional Institution a Buddhist bracelet in October 2011. She has since been interdicted from duty.

Top 10 MISCONCEPTIONS about BUDDHISM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYlQ0UZ1C2I

Published on Feb 9, 2017

Buddhism is extremely fast growing and estimates put its adherents at somewhere around one billion. Even though Buddhism is so popular, many in the western world, where it is barely practiced, have a very poor understanding of it. Not only have many people gained a completely incorrect understanding of it, but some attempt to practice without proper guidance and do it completely wrong. Now while these people’s hearts are in the right place, it might be wise to find a Buddhist teacher, they do exist in the western world, and learn from them. 

Mahaparinibbana Sutta

Whatever Dharma and Vinaya I have pointed out and formulated for you, that will be your Teacher when I am gone.   

Buddhist signs point wrong way

by ANDREW BIGGS, The Bangkok Post, 12 Feb 2017

Thought police are doing Thailand's religion no favours with their intrusive false advertising aimed at tourists

Bangkok, Thailand -- The billboard rises, like a Buddhist temple, up ahead on the right-hand side of the airport highway.

"BUDDHA IS NOT FOR DECORATION," it shouts at me alongside a decoration of a Buddha's head with an ugly red cross on top of it. Why desecrate a Buddha's head with an ugly red cross on a billboard that tells us not to desecrate Buddhas?

The politics of Thailand's Buddhist Supreme Patriarch

By Panu Wongcha-um, Channel NewsAsia, 12 Feb 2017

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand will soon welcome a new Supreme Patriarch. Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong, 89, was appointed last week by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and will be officially installed in a ceremony in Bangkok on Sunday (Feb 12).

<< Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong.

Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong has been an abbot of Ratchabophit temple in Bangkok and like his predecessor Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, who died in 2013, he is a monk from the Dhammayuttika Nikaya - the smaller and more conservative of Thailand's two Theravada Buddhist orders.

DHAMMAYUTTIKA NIKAYA

The Dhammayuttika Nikaya order was created in the 19th century by King Mongkut (Rama IV), the great-great-grandfather of the current king.

"Rama IV created the Dhammayuttika Nikaya to reform the monks because the old order was seen as lacking in discipline," explained academic Somrit Luechai. "King Rama IV's goal was to make Buddhism more pure through this more conservative order.

Paradox of the human mind

Love, Marriage & Living in Tune

'People hold dear him who embodies virtue and insight, 

who is principled, has realized the truth, and 

who himself does what he ought to be doing.'

- Dhammapada Verse 217