Before “Buddhism” became the religious family of traditions it is now – with its many schools and an elaborate tapestry of beliefs, rituals, and doctrinal and metaphysical systems exhibited in voluminous scriptural sources – it was a path spirituality and a simple way of life as experienced and taught by a man his contemporaries revered […]
Buddhism is generally considered, with good reason, to be the most peaceful religion in the world. Like other South Asian religions, it emphasizes the principle of Ahimsah, the “non-injury” of other living beings. Yet his teachings also emphasize that violence harms the spiritual state of the abuser, as well as that of the victim. Evil […]
A waterfall on Tiantai Mountain, China. From gochengdu.cn In the first installment of this trilogy, I introduced the Tiantai School of Chinese Buddhism (å¤©å° å®— 佛教) and explained why and how I personally find it more compelling than the more “devotional†Pure Land Buddhism (淨土 å®— 佛教) and “cerebral†Chan (Zen) Buddhism (禪宗 佛教). The […]