To live a full and fruitful Buddhist life, it is necessary to be acquainted not just with what the Buddha taught but also when he taught it and why he taught it in the way he did. In this, as … Read the rest
What was the Buddha like as a human being? How did he relate to others? With great care and an eye for detail, Venerable Dhammika pieces together the life events we can ‘read’ from very early texts. The result is … Read the rest
During the Buddha’s lifetime he was given numerous epithets in recognition of his outstanding qualities. Some of these include the Happy One, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Lord of Creatures, King of Truth, Teacher, etc. One of the most interesting … Read the rest
Today, the information in most books on kamma and rebirth by Buddhist writers are actually an amalgam of ideas the Buddha taught together with ones that developed sometimes centuries after his passing. And it is all presented as if it … Read the rest
It is the Buddha’s philosophy that does and always has, attracted most attention and this is only understandable. However, philosophy is by no means the only legacy the Buddha has left for us; there are many others. One of these … Read the rest
According to the introduction to the Jātaka, after the Buddha’s awakening he spent seven weeks at Uruvelā, the modern Bodh Gaya, and during the second week he sat gazing at the Bodhi Tree without blinking. In time, a shrine called … Read the rest
What makes someone English, Malaysian, French, Chinese or, for the purposes of this article, Indian or Nepalese? Is it their birth certificate, their citizenship documents, the ethnicity of their parents and ancestors, their cultural particularities? Since the 1950s the Nepalese … Read the rest
As is well-known, Lumbini is the first of the four major holy places of Buddhism, it being where the person who was to become the Buddha was born. Almost every account of the Buddha’s life, traditional or contemporary, recounts the … Read the rest
Fourteen writers here describe how they came to be Buddhists. Men and women of different nationalities: each tells the story of his or her encounter with Buddhism and of how they became a Buddhist. Together they form an interesting and … Read the rest
Much has been written about what the Buddha taught which is only right given its clarity, consistency and the fact that 2500 years later millions still accept and live by its principles. However, beyond what the Buddha said, perhaps almost … Read the rest
