Let Us Not Be Twigs and Leaves – March 1, 2014 Dharma Talk (With French & Italian) Translation)

French and Italian translation appears after the English Good evening to you all, thank you for joining together tonight to chant the Lotus Sutra and the Sacred Title, the Odaimoku of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. I feel so fortunate to be among you all tonight. Though we do not speak each other’s language we could transcend that difference as we recited the Expedient Means and Life Span Chapters together in the Shindoku. Tonight gathered here…

Continue reading

Buddhism and Money #4 – February 27, 2014 Meditation

Tell me, do you like your job? Do you like the work you do? If you had to rate your feelings about your job would it be ‘Like’, ‘So-So’, or ‘Don’t Like’. Do check in with yourself about your satisfaction with your job? This is a worthwhile exercise to engage in because it can help you learn more about yourself and what are the causes for suffering. Taking an inventory of feelings about your job…

Continue reading

Peaceful Practices #4 – February 25, 2014 Meditation

Finally we come to the fourth peaceful practice, which is vow peaceful practice. The whole of Chapter XIV has been devoted to the four peaceful practices and this chapter comes right on the heels of the Buddha asking the assembled congregation for volunteers to spread the Lotus Sutra in this Saha World after his death. We could think of this chapter as an instruction by the Buddha on how to practice in the Saha world…

Continue reading

Buddhism and Money #3 – February 20, Meditation

All right you have had a week of trying to be more fully aware of how much money your time is worth and how much time money is worth. How did it go were you able to keep to the meditation of associating the price you pay for some thing with the amount of time it takes you to earn that money? Last week I presented a hypothetical situation to you of finding money worth…

Continue reading