He Has Destroyed Villages and Towns. Everyone is Frightened of Him – September 8, 2013 Meditation

Good morning, thank you all for joining with us here at the temple today to practice together the Lotus Sutra. It isn’t easy to practice even a little bit of the Lotus Sutra in this modern age. In Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra, among other places in the sutra, the Buddha tells us in many different ways how difficult practicing the Lotus Sutra would be in the time after his death. Because it is…

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Sailing – September 1, 2013 Meditation

Let me make a disclaimer right at the beginning here, I know hardly anything about sailing and so I won’t be teaching you how to do it. I ran across this quote, and coupled with today being a beautiful breezy day I just imagined a leisurely sail on a lake, or something like that. “A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.” (English Proverb) To that quote I would like to add my own which…

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Detachment an Excuse for Indifference? – August 25, 2013 Meditation (With Portuguese Translation)

Portuguese translation appears after English I was asked the other evening if I believed that the concept of Engaged Buddhism was genuinely Buddhist or whether it was some Western idea of charity and good works being applied to Buddhism. I explained to him that I honestly felt that Buddhism at its core is all about social involvement and charity and all the things we now identify as Engaged Buddhist activities. I explained how as Buddhism…

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Generosity – August 18, 2013 Meditation

Generosity first published – March 13, 2012 Scientists have, as scientists often do, been studying stuff. Scientists are famous for studying and uncovering things about humans, and life in general. It is always interesting the things they manage to uncover or discover. It is especially interesting when science proves things that Buddhism has been teaching and practicing for thousands of years. Today I am talking about generosity. Researchers studied folks who were generous to others.…

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