When does the practice of Dhamma comes to completion?

Regardless of time and place, the whole practice of Dhamma comes to completion at the place where there is nothing.

It's the place of surrender, of emptiness, of laying down the burden.

This is the finish............Ajahn Chah.

Rebirth of Ajanta Cave Paintings

by Mayura Pimpare, The Buddhist Channel, March 28, 2017

Aurangabad, India -- This story is as much about Indian history of Buddhism as it is of a will and perseverance of an artist; whose relentless efforts will be revered by generations to come.

Everyone knows about the great caves of Ajanta in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. Millions of tourists come here every year from all corners of planet to see the gigantic caves in rocky mountains as well as minutely detailed Budhist paintings dating back centuries.

Its a fact that historic monuments and UNESCO’s historic site such as Ajanta is in dilapidated state; even continuous efforts by government aren’t enough.

In this situation one artist devoted his life and took the mantle of recreating these painting single handily. Its been half century that his work began hours and hours of observation inside caves throughout the year, huge canvases, collecting unique colors to match the originals needed herculean effort! 

Free Will in Buddhism: metaphysical bank accounts of karma

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Emptinez

Everyday in our lives we see tremendous inequalities of wealth, intelligence, talent and so on, seemingly caused by natural contingencies of birth. Natural contingencies such as taking birth with a silver spoon in mouth, someone with a beautiful voice, prodigal talents in linguistics or mathematics etc., there seems to be no explanation to this from a secular perspective, but to regard such inequalities in our lives as simply arbitrary and as a matter of natural lottery. But Buddhism has a different answer. It is from that answer which necessarily entails the question of free agency in human action. This blog entry is a cursory look into free will in Buddhism as I freely “chose” to go on a hunger strike against the heavy rain from going out to eat and write this.

What is called "following the Buddha"?

Buddhist meditation center in contract to purchase historic Grange Hall

by Katharine Schroeder and Denise Civiletti, Riverhead Local, Mar 23, 2017 Riverhead, NY (USA) -- After a long and varied history of uses, the historic Grange Hall on Sound Avenue in Northville is now slated to become a Buddhist meditation center and community hub. The 186-year-old Grange Hall is in contract to be sold to the Long Island Buddhist Meditation Center, presently located in Port Jefferson. “We’re excited,” Anthony Manetta, a member of the Long Island Buddhist Meditation Center said in a phone interview Monday. The second floor of the two-story building will be devoted to the practice of Buddhism and meditation; the first floor will be used to serve the community, hosting things like AA meetings, he said.

Breaking retreat and taking the practice home

Spirit Rock 2015 Retreat: Shared by Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Morning Instruction Day 13 (2:08-12:35)

SUT: When we talk more, we find that we have more thinking after that as well. And the thinking mind needs to be seen as an object. When there is thinking, that there are thoughts, is not an indication of whether the mind has samadhi or not. Just because the mind is thinking doesn’t mean that the mind has lost samadhi.

Samadhi is in the observing mind; being able to watch steadily is samadhi. If you’re able to maintain awareness, it means that there is samadhi.

Understanding of the rules when listening to Dhamma talk

Peaceful Uplifting Monasteries 

There are sixteen of the Sekhiya Training rules setting down how and to whom a bhikkhu should teach Dhamma. These rules are also concerned with the etiquette of showing respect, respect not only for the bhikkhu but more importantly for the Dhamma that he is teaching. These rules prohibit a bhikkhu from teaching anyone he considers to be showing disrespect to the Dhamma. Therefore laypeople need to know these rules. Here is a summary of these Sekhiya Trainings:

Buddhist scriptures provide a feast for researchers

By Yang Jian, Shanghai Daily, March 27, 2017

Shanghai, China -- More than 40 Buddhism experts from home and abroad began researching a batch of historic Buddhist scriptures in Shanghai over the weekend.

The 1,000 or so volumes of scriptures in ancient Sanskrit and Tibetan languages date back to over 1,000 years. They include over 70 volumes of rare scriptures written on leaves. A local collector Gu Qing spent three years buying and collecting the scriptures from abroad.

“Most of the documents were originally spread in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region,” Gu told Shanghai Daily. “They will be open to public free after thorough researches by the scholars.” Gu established a research center in the Pudong New Area for experts and scholars to examine the batch of cultural relics.

A Journey of Self-Discovery 发现自我之旅 -02 Sayadaw U Revata 【乌·雷瓦德尊者】

I will discuss how to begin a journey of self- discovery based on the teaching of the Buddha. To be able to start a journey of self-discovery, you all need to do one thing: You need to train to be skillful in reading the habits of your own minds. Now to- day, based on that, I will explain how to begin a journey of self-discovery. 
我将会根据佛陀的教法来讨论，如何开始这场发现自我之旅？为了能够开始这场发现自我之旅，你们需要做一件事情。我在上一场开示已经说过，我们需要训练善于觉察自己心的习性。今天以这个为基础，我将会讲解，如何开始这场发现自我之旅。

What a Buddhist Monk Taught Xi Jinping

IAN JOHNSON MARCH 24, 2017   The New York Times

In 1983, Xi Jinping (left, front), then secretary of the Zhengding County Committee of the Communist Party of China, with villagers in China’s Hebei Province. XINHUA PRESS

ZHENGDING, China — In 1982, two men arrived in this dusty provincial town. One was Shi Youming, a Buddhist monk who was taking up a post in the ruins of one of Zhengding’s legendary temples. The other was Xi Jinping, the 29-year-old son of a top Communist Party official putting in a mandatory stint in the provinces as a bureaucrat in the government he would eventually lead.

Practise now

Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto Q&A

“If you do not want it (rebirth), you will have to stop your mind from dreaming, from going to a new life. That's what the Buddha did. He stopped his mind by cutting off the desire in his mind.”

Monk 2: I have one idea that is wrong and that is that the mind is produced by the brain. How can I overcome this idea or delusion? How can I work with it?

HELL ROBOTS?

King Yama’s role

In the early Buddhist stories of the hells – such as in the (Majjhima) Deva,dūta Sutta (M 130) and the (Yama) Deva,dūta Sutta (A 3.35) – Yama does not judge the "dead" -- the bad-doers -- but simply question them about their moral conduct. He plays more of the roles of a spiritual counsellor asking them why they have not realized the meaning of his “divine messengers”: a new born child, a sick person, an old person, a criminal being punished and a dead person. An older set comprises probably only the 3 messengers: an old person, a sick person and a corpse.

Vsm1X 22

A Journey of Self-Discovery 发现自我之旅 -01 Sayadaw U Revata

Today I am going to give a talk. The name of the talk is ‘A Journey of Self-Discovery’. People all over the world make different journeys. Some make long journeys, some make difficult journeys, and some make cultural journeys. Some make a journey to freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of worship, and freedom of the individual. In countries where there is no freedom, people make a journey to freedom, which means a journey to democracy. 
世界上的人都在进行各种不同的旅程，有些人在做长途旅程；有些人经历艰辛之旅；有些人进行文化之旅；有些人进行朝向自由之旅，朝向言论、思想、礼拜或宗教信仰自由，以及个人自由之旅。

Bhikkhu Bodhi on Mindfulness in the Buddha’s Words

March 27, 2017 by Justin Whitaker
Mindfulness in the Western world is perhaps best known in the terms of the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn as: “Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.”

Bodhipaksa of Wildmind presents a helpful breakdown of each part of this sentence after offering his own definition of “the gentle effort to be continuously present with experience.”

Meditation is simply a matter of practice

In practicing, don't think that you have to sit in order for it to be meditation, that you have to walk back and forth in order for it to be meditation. Don't think like that. Meditation is simply a matter of practice. Whether you're giving a sermon, sitting here listening, or going away from here, keep up the practice in your heart. Be alert to what's proper and what's not.

Does the Mind Cease in Fruition Attainment?

Peace is within oneself

How to love

If we take good care of ourselves, we help everyone. We stop being a source of suffering to the world, and we become a reservoir of joy and freshness.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, in "How to Love".
Painting: Higashiyama

Sangha crisis won't end with defrockment

• 21 Mar 2017 at 04:35  WRITER: SANITSUDA EKACHAI Bangkok Post
• 
• Is it a political exchange? Has the government agreed to abort the legislative effort to regulate monks' money and assets in exchange for the clergy's ruling to disrobe the fugitive Dhammakaya sect leader?

This question jumped to mind when the religious committee of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) announced it would stop its study on the proposed legal amendments to regulate monks' possession of money and assets.

It is an open secret that many elders in the Supreme Sangha Council (SSC) support the Dhammakaya sect despite its notorious fund-raising techniques and questionable teachings.