All Questions

As we know, in soto-shu we don't count nor observe the breath during zazen. I would like people who have a long experience with zazen meditation to explain if they consider that counting and ...

If I'm remembering right, in a previous life of the Buddha, because dharma teachings were so rare at that time, a being offered to give a teaching, but only if he sacrificed his life to this being. ...

"There are these five inhabitants of the states of deprivation, inhabitants of hell, who are in agony & incurable. Which five? One who has killed his/her mother, one who has killed his/her ...

I learned many meaning of vitaka.. Like initial thought, or thought seed or directing mind toward object.. Whereas vicara is continuity of thinking about that object. Similarly nimitta is arising of ...

Vaṇṇā-maccharia, stinginess in regard to one's honor, reputation, not't letting make others use it, envy to lose it, is one of the five kinds of maccharia, based on ingratitude, wrong view, and a ...

Is it called akusala garuka kamma only if the action is completed? For example, Angulimala once tried to harm The Buddha (but did not succeed), and Nandopananda once tried to harm Moggallana Thera (...

If remembering correctly I once heard a Dhamma talk about the Buddha finding solace in/with the investigation of energy while (at least once) experiencing physical pain. What's the sutta reference(s) ...

A person told me that the Buddha coined certain words as part of his teachings. I don't remember which words, but perhaps "samadhi" was one of them. Is there any evidence the Buddha invented ...

Given the wide variety of possible solutions from keyboard firmware to operating system specific solutions, I'd like to leave the question wide open in order to discover which solutions are actually ...

This is the version I am referring to: Thus shall ye think of this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightning in a summer cloud; A flickering lamp, a phantom, ...

I'm searching for this Jataka where a monk is brought by The Buddha to heaven, and then to hell, where the monk sees a vacant place(?) in hell and asks a hell officer about it. The hell officer ...

When I first started meditating, the body scan phase confused me. For a long time, I imagined the shape of a body in front of me in the distance, and scanned down through it. More recently I’ve ...

In the Simsapa Sutta the Buddha said; "In the same way, monks, those things that I have known with direct knowledge but have not taught are far more numerous [than what I have taught]. I would ...

I am looking for a translation in english (or french) of the following book in Chinese Mandarin: 大圆满前行法海 It is a book in the Bön tradition about Dzogchen.

Mappō (a.k.a mòfǎ, mạt pháp) is a term used by the majority of Mahayana Buddhism branches in East and Southeast Asia. It was mentioned in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvaṇa Sutra, signalling the declination ...

As I see and learn there are typically two different positions of palms and hand that I see people meditating in. One is keeping the palms turned up and kept on knees like this picture; which is a ...

When your mind is wandering during Anapana, you may use "Hard Breath" (intentional breath). What is the Pali word for this technique? What is the Pali text explaining this "hard breath&...

I remember hearing that on one, two, or maybe more occasions the Buddha attempted pretty much unsuccessfully to intervene in war or battle. Maybe one had to do with fighting over water rights. I also ...

In advaita vedanta, consciousness is the self. Consciousness has 2 modes: it can be pure consciousness, and it is described as "being aware of being aware" or the "I that I am knows that I am"; while ...

Every Buddhism believe in Eternity or Samsara. So, how can I imagine of Samsara?. What is the starting of it ? Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

I saw an article on the Internet about the fact that Buddhism is compared to solipsism or nihilism. In particular, they talked about Japanese and Chinese Buddhism, since the teachings of Yogacara are ...

In his book "Tibetan Buddhism from the ground up", Alan Wallace describes a part of the (human) rebirth process as follows: "In [this vision] one sees (...) [the parents-to-be] in the ...

I read here that on the night before the dawn of Buddhas Nirvana, the Buddha made a resolve that; ‘I shall sit under this tree and meditate upon my questions. And I shall not move until I have my ...

Anki, is by far the most popular "spaced repetition tool" to enable long term retention of learned material in 2021. It does so using a scheduling algorithm which prompts the user to recall ...

I've heard of Vastu shastra, but what kind of dwellings are conducive to Buddhist practice and living and why?

It seems a significant and overlooked contribution of the Buddha, his redefining of various terms of his day into definitions more conducive to the ending of greed, ill-will and delusion/ignorance. ...

What is the interpretation of parimukham in the context of Buddhist Meditation? This seems to have different interpretation and translations? What are the different interpretations and translations ...

From Wikipedia's Sutta Pitaka's list of ten fetters: The Pali canon's Sutta Pitaka identifies ten "fetters of becoming". sakkāya-diṭṭhi vicikicchā sīlabbata-parāmāsa kāmacchando vyāpādo ...

There are the four noble truths and we know who and how he found and taught them. There are philosophical questions like where did the first Karma come from and so on, that are not quite conceivable ...

Can anyone post a video of what a "bhamakāro" from ancient India would be doing? If not, can anyone explain very clearly what we are talking about in terms of the tool that would have been ...

Been meditating for some years, been doing most anapana & also a bit of Goenka-vipassana. Have had certain experiences, samadhi states and jhana (although I'm still far from being able to ...

I am searching for a Zen monastery in India. My google search returns Vajrayana Tibetan monasteries. Please let me know if you know a Zen monastery in India.

I am Buddhist, but not a strict vegetarian. When new acquaintances discover this they are often shocked and wonder, "How can this be??!!" I'm going to try and explain my answer and see what ...

One of the recurring themes in the teachings of the buddha is the noble eightfold path; the basis for achieving nibbana. Oftentimes the components of it are presented as their "wrong" ...

Finding resources to better understand the meaning of the 12 links of dependent origination has been challenging for me. The best resource I've been able to find to decipher the meaning thus far is ...

Almost every Buddhist I've met sincerely believes in non-existence of self or soul. Especially, the vipassana practitioners say that scanning the body and finding no atman or self in it is proof that ...

I've been a practitioner of Vipassana and Mahamudra for 2 years now. One thing quite bothering me is various explanations from different teachers on emptiness logically disturbing... Usually, it goes ...

I read that atman is pure bliss I read that anatta is pure bliss -Is it possible that these deep concepts are pointing to the same thing at the end of the day? -Is atman the same as anatta in anyway? ...

In relation to the question: "Is there is no benefit and there is no intrinsic positive nature in a pleasant sensation?", I read the following quote from SN 36.5 on the internet: A ...

I've come across many stories in the Tipitaka where people attained arahanthood or became non-returners through meditation. However, I cannot recollect any instance where someone becomes a sotapanna ...

I recently attended a tea ceremony, and was reminded of how it is considered polite in Asia to handle everything with two hands. My first dharma teacher was from Hong Kong, and did this, but I notice ...

I am new to buddhism and this is my first question here. I hope I can provide something of value and that I am clear in my phrasing. So I have recently started learning about the teachings of the ...

In a previous question I asked whether the Theravada posits the selflessness of phenomena? Where the best answer I understood to essentially state that it does not. At least, it did sound like there ...

According to Wikipedia, in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali canon there are 10.000 sutras. According to tradition, Ananda recited by heart all 10.000 sutras after the death of Gautama and they have been ...

I've recently begun reading up on the Avataṃsaka Sutra and was curious if anyone here is aware of any available Sanskrit text. Thank you.

I just learned of the Abhidharma. What was their original or early language they were written in, and do they exist online in copy/pastable (non-PDF or image) format anywhere for free? Is this of any ...

Are lives of people who have, by birth or design, large amounts of money, worth more to the Buddha, than the poor? I don't actually know enough about the history of Buddhism to answer that question!

When command the mind to does something it was done what had commanded. If thought about more happy today next moment less happy. After sitting meditation feel empty. Is it mindfulness?where is the ...

One word in Pali Canon seems to be especially challenging for translators to convey. This word is "papañca" (e.g. MN18, DN21, Sn 4.11, AN4.173). Some attempts at translating papañca include "...

Is the conventional self "conventional" in the same way as dharmas are? So if the conventionality of dharmas means that they arise and disappear each moment, or that they don't exist from ...