read deep, breathe easy
The Bhaddekaratta Sutta is one of the many teachings the Buddha gave over the course of his 19 three-month practice periods at the Jetavana Monastery. It conveys the essence of a self-sufficient practice and way of existing - not clinging to the past or living for the future but diligently dwelling in current stability and freedom.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta recounts the very first talk the Buddha gave to a small group of his friends after he became enlightened. The story goes that he initially wanted to refrain from trying to articulate his experience that started under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, but that upon meeting his former spiritual companions at the… Continue reading What is the Middle Way that Leads to Self-Awakening?
This well-known extract from the Kalama Sutta quotes a teaching from the Buddha in which he advises his audience - a group called the Kalamas of Kesaputta - about how to know their own spiritual paths, given the noise of the competing philosophies and teachers that would frequently present themselves in their communities. Bombarded by… Continue reading Know for Yourselves – The Kalama Sutta
This excerpt from one of Buddha's teachings, taken from the Nibbana Sutta, echoes the line in the Heart Sutra about form and emptiness, and the nature of reality, given that emptiness. There is a base, or state, where phenomena are not as we perceive them on a day to day basis, where the dichotomies of… Continue reading A State Where There is Neither Earth, nor Water, nor Heat, nor Air
Buddhist teachings put a lot of emphasis on compassion and caring for others, but we must also remember that that care needs to start with ourselves. This verse from the Dhammapada - one of the most popular and widely read Buddhist scriptures - reminds us that 'oneself is one's own protector. What other protector could there… Continue reading The Dhammapada: If One Knew Oneself to be Precious
The Maka Hannya Haramita Shingyo - often referred to as the Heart Sutra - is the most ubiquitous sutra of the Mahayana canon. It forms part of a much longer work called the Prajnaparamita Sutra - the Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom - which was composed between 100 BCE and 500 CE. The Heart… Continue reading Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra
Huineng was an illiterate woodcutter who became a Zen master and the sixth patriarch of Ch'an in China. His defining work is the Platform Sutra which emphasizes the importance of direct experience over intellect and learning in the study of Zen. In this extract from the second chapter of the sutra, entitled 'Prajna', he talks… Continue reading From Huineng’s Platform Sutra: What Does Maha Mean?
There has always been some controversy as to the authenticity of the Surangama Sutra, since no Indian version of the text has ever been discovered, and the only existing copies are in Chinese. However, it was influential in the development of Chan in China over the centuries and is particularly valued for its elaboration of… Continue reading Purifying Muddy Water
The Maha-Saccaka Sutta narrates the very interior journey of the Buddha's path to realization and this particular excerpt recalls when he was a boy sitting under a rose-apple tree while his father was working. The moment was one of the first times the young Siddhartha entered into a state of meditation and understood 'the pleasure… Continue reading The Maha-Saccaka Sutra – The Longer Discourse to Saccaka