Avatamsaka Sutra
In one instant observing measureless eons Without going, coming, or dwelling, Thus comprehending the events of past, present, and future, Buddhas transcend expedients and fulfill ten powers. Like unto the infinite worlds in space, Without coming or going, pervading the ten directions, Becoming and disintegrating, having no resting place, So does the Buddha prevade space [...]
Everyone is familiar with the holograms embedded in our credit cards, those cool 3D images that appear lifelike when rotated at various angles. A hologram has the property of containing the whole in each of its discrete parts.... The twelve links and the interdependant origination of our entire reality have this same structure. [...]
Last Friday was a full moon, and a lunar observance day in all Buddhist traditions. Thanks to last week’s Monastic Immersion Program at DRBU, I was lucky enough to spend some time at Abhayagiri Monastery, a Thai Forest monastery just a short distance north of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB). The monastery is [...]
“If people wish to fully understand All Buddhas of the three periods of time, They should contemplate the nature of the dharma realm: Everything is made from mind alone.” — Avatamsaka Sutra My understanding of the above verse has evolved since I first read it as a teenager. I no longer read it as mainly [...]
We tend to think of good things as being positive, of positive things being good. When things are perfect, for example, that’s something positive, right? Everything is just how you want it; everything is just so. [...]
“Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net that has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each “eye” [...]