Ohigan and Six Paramitas No. 2

The word paramita was originally translated into Chinese from two wordsparam and ita.  Param translated as “to the other shore” and ita as ” reached.”   It is believed that by observing the Paramitas one is able to cross the shore of birth and death and reach the shore of nirvana. In this installment of my six part blog on the Six Paramitas I will talk some about number two, Observing the Precepts. There are many precepts given…

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Living with them

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…

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Cause and Effect – False Causes

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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Bodhisattvas From Underground

When the Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground make their appearance as told in Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra one of the first things they do is to greet the Buddha, enquire about his well-being, and ask how the teachings he is engaged in our progressing.  This is in marked contrast to how others had approached the Buddha, those Bodhisattvas in the provisional part of the Lotus Sutra, Bodhisattvas in preceding chapters, where people asked…

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