Acharya Sujatin (temple host)

Dharmavidya:

I am often asked how one can select a good teacher. How is one to know if somebody is genuine or not? This seems to be a big worry for some people. They are wary of being tricked. For Western people to give up even a smidgen of their independence is such a big thing they may want cast iron guarantees in advance. Unfortunately there…[Read more]

Dharmavidya:

In Buddhism there is a theory of conditioning. All conditioned things are impermanent. Buddhism is a religion that is about transcending impermanence and reaching the Deathless – nirvana. However, by definition, one cannot reach the unconditioned simply by changing conditions.

A fire depends upon a supply of fuel – let’s say f…[Read more]

Dharmavidya:

BRINGING TWO IDEAS TOGETHER

Koans are usually associated with Zen and the term Anjin is usually associated with Pureland so nobody ever writes about a relationship between them. However, if we pan back and look at the general configuration of Buddhism as a whole, it is a spiritual path upon which one or several awakenings occur as…[Read more]

The Service book is :: here

And :: here are recordings

There’s a lot more information about our School etc :: here

Dharmavidya:

Honen said “Out of the elation experienced in the knowledge that birth in the Pure Land is possible through the recitation of one or ten nembutsu grows the joy of the merit of recitation of a million nembutsu.”

There are several points to note here. Firstly, the equation of merit with joy. Merit is happy mind which arises from the…[Read more]

“Maybe it’s wishful thinking, this snaggly faith of mine, or maybe it’s Miles Davis saying, ‘Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.’ If courage is not there, if the possibility of things getting better is not there, listen a little harder.”  ~ ANNE LAMOTT

Sometimes the healer is a catalyst. A catalyst is a substance that makes a reaction between other substances possible, yet emerges from the chemical process unchanged, while the other participants have been changed in a way that would not have been possible without the presence of the catalyst. Thus, sometimes one is present when other people are…[Read more]

Dharmavidya:

SELF POWER LEADS TO OTHER POWER

The objective of self power is to extinguish itself. Self power Buddhism is a kind of extinction Buddhism: by the power of the self to bring the self to a zero condition. When the self is zero, all that is not self (i.e. other) is infinite. Thus, in principle, success on the self power path would lead…[Read more]

Amida is calling to me, is calling me, which means that all the Buddhas that ever were or will be are calling me, calling to say “Stop! Look!” “Look at the Dharma we have discovered!”

When I say “Namo Amida Bu” – or any other form of refuge, I am acknowledging the call of the Buddhas. I am saying “Receiving, receiving!” I am allowing their…[Read more]

Regard all things with amazement, admiration and sympathy. Study the beauty and forms of nature. Meet adverse occurrences with equanimity. Know that all that is manifest is remarkable, yet even the most fine and beautiful shall also pass away.

Do your best to be plain and straightforward, sincere in what you say and do. Although social situations…[Read more]

Dharmavidya writes:

There is no reason to assume that we are inherently compassionate and wise. We clearly have a capacity for wisdom and compassion, but also for stupidity and cruelty. When we are stupid and cruel we generally deem ourselves justified and this enables us to maintain a self-view that is positive. When we are wise and…[Read more]

Buddha said, “There are people who torment themselves. There are people who torment others. There are people who torment both themselves and others. There are people who torment neither themselves nor others.”

In our modern world there are two particular applications of this teaching that we should pay special attention to. One is that now…[Read more]

Dharmavidya:

Shariputra said: “Herein a monk lives spreading thoughts of goodwill in all directions. He lives spreading them everywhere, in every way, to the entire world, abundantly, boundlessly, unrestictedly, peaceably, benevolently. He lives spreading thoughts of compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity in the same way. This is called…[Read more]

The oldest Buddhist texts in the world are crumbly, prone to flaking into pieces at any time. Even conservators can’t touch them with their bare hands.

Before they were found, the oldest manuscripts that scholars could study — texts from Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand — were only a few hundred years old and often damaged by the tropical cli…[Read more]