The Story of Sun Lotus #2

Nichiren’s exile to Sado Island represents in many ways the ending of his persecutions and struggle against the government sponsored backing of religions . After the exile the government did little else to vex Nichiren, though the persecutions did continue for his followers. The story that has come to us through many historians is that the exile was in itself a death sentence; what couldn’t be accomplished by the sharp sword of the executioner at…

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The Story of Sun Lotus – #1

Damn it’s cold. It’s cold and the only wood we can find for a fire is either too small to be of any significance or wet; mostly wet. The snow here hasn’t stopped since the authorities dumped me in this dilapidated graveyard. My disciple and I have been here for several days and have just barely managed to create a little protection from the constant snow by taking refuge in a broken down shack that…

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Community, It’s Not About You – October 6, 2013 Meditation

First Published – June 17, 2012 In Buddhism, as I am sure you all know quite well, we have the Three Jewels. These three Jewels are the treasure in Buddhism and in our Buddhist lives. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha are these three jewels, without which there could be no Buddhism and without which our Buddhist practice becomes at best difficult. It stands to reason why the Buddha is treasured, without our teacher there would be no…

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Compassion & Buddhism, Does It Exclude Conservative? – September 29, 2013

I recently was asked a question similar to the above and thought rather than respond to one individual I would write a Dharma talk about it. It seems important, and there is much I would like to say on the subject. First the Buddha makes it clear in Chapter XIV “Peaceful Practices” that we should be compassionate to not just monks and nuns, nor just Arhats and Sravakas and Bodhisattvas but to even those who…

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