Detachment an Excuse for Indifference? Engaged Buddhism 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…
Italian translation appears after the English Nonviolent Communication Dharma Talk 6/12/2011 Good morning, thank you all for coming to the temple this morning and joining together to practice the Lotus Sutra. Today and every Sunday through the entire summer, 13 weeks, I will be devoting my Dharma talk time to teaching and leading learning in Nonviolent Communication. These will be structured sessions that will involve various activities and take-away practices. On some Sundays we will…
Frequently in life we find ourselves living or working or engaging in commerce with people who don’t believe, think, or act like us; and it can be most frustrating. In almost all things the thing we find most uncomfortable is to be exposed to people different from ourselves. We find comfort in sameness and likeness. As Buddhist, or any other minority belief, it can be especially challenging when faced with very dogmatic and strident believers…
In Buddhism the terms ‘Cause & Effect’ are constantly tossed around. People even of non-Buddhist religions ascribe to certain interpretations of the concept of cause and effect. I was re-reading a book titled Basic Buddhist Concepts by Kogen Mizuno in which he talks about views of cause and effect that were prevalent during the time of the Buddha and for which Buddhists at the time found many faults. One false interpretation of cause and effect…
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