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 […]
Month: November 2017
What Buddhism teaches about peace and war
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 […]
The Tiantai Trilogy, Part 2 – Global Buddhist
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® ä½æ) and explained why and how I personally find it more compelling than the more âdevotionalâ Pure Land Buddhism (æ·¨å å® ä½æ) and âcerebralâ Chan (Zen) Buddhism (ç¦ªå® ä½æ). The […]