Dharma Wheel

Being passionate about something may be over-stating the case. What people usually mean by it is doing something that resonates with your personality and allows you to express it. That is usually a good thing, as it reduces emotional conflicts. Artistic endeavours are a great way of expressing this ...

I had to fly this week. It was only an hour and a half domestic flight, but there were quite few obvious tourists on it. Who knows where they just arrived from? So I am self-isolating for the next couple of weeks. Everything is cancelled. Restaurants are closed for everything except take-out. Theatr...

Washing my hands more.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

No reason for embarrassment. It sounds like progress to me.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

I puzzled over this for a long time, and it was keeping me from wholeheartedly engaging in my practice. Until one line from a sadhana jumped out at me: it said that the deity was "the manifestation of the emptiness and awareness of my own mind." That completely clarified the issue for me, and I had...

I puzzled over this for a long time, and it was keeping me from wholeheartedly engaging in my practice. Until one line from a sadhana jumped out at me: it said that the deity was "the manifestation of the emptiness and awareness of my own mind." That completely clarified the issue for me, and I had ...

.... but you could only go babtised to heaven - all others go to hell! even if you saved a thousand lifes and are the inventor of a medicine against cancer & aids for 1,00$ you're going to hell if you are not babtised This point was what convinced me, at age six, that Christianity was wrong. Om man...

Buddhism doesn't have a class problem as there are no buddhist teachings that discriminate on the basis of class. True. But Buddhists do. Individuals bring all their issues with them to the meditation cushion. Since classism exists in society at large, it exists in the meditation hall. Om mani padm...

A good guideline for Right Speech is: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If the answer to any of those is no, then it should not be said. The catch is the last one, "Is it kind?" Sometimes, the kind thing to say hurts. It takes wisdom to know when it is kinder to say something that hurts than ...

Welcome, Richard!

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

The way through fear is forward! The only way to deal with it is to face the fear and to do the thing you are afraid of. Try it on a small scale first, if you can, then work up to the full scale. Once you have done it successfully, the fear will be gone.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

Suffering is the wish that things would be other than the way they are.

It is a mistake to think of "not wanting" and "suffering" as two different entities. The not wanting is the suffering. That is how desire and suffering are related: they are the same thing.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

If we're human, doesn't that imply that we're born with karma that assures another human rebirth? Karma gets used up. The karma that caused you to be born as a human this time may be used up now. The karma that controls your future rebirth is what you do in this life. The state of being transgender...

The second precept is usually stated as avoiding "taking that which is not given". This is subtly different from the western idea of stealing, and is more in keeping with the concept of copyright. The fundamental question in "taking what is not given" or in copyright is whether the author wanted you...

In the latest issue of Buddhadharma magazine, one of the articles mentions an incident in which the Buddha accepted a transgender monk and a transgender nun into his order,according to their identified gender. I do not have a citation handy, but I will look it up and post it here tomorrow. Unfortun...

Hi, Agdistis. First of all, let me say that I am transgender. I started my transition three years ago, at age 61. I have been a Buddhist for over 40 years. I know of nothing contradictory between being Buddhist and being transgender. People are born transgender, so it is like any other birth conditi...

Is there something similar in Buddhism? Is the Buddha or Bodhisattvas 'right there' to hear you or help you or guide you in the same sense? What is the view of Tibetan Buddhism of this and Mahayana schools more widely. Years ago, when I was just starting out with Tibetan Buddhism, I had serious dou...

You mean advanced technology does not follow the laws of physics? No. Clarke's Third Law does not say that advanced technology IS magic. He is saying that magic is simply technology that is more advanced than we can explain. The knowledge level of the audience is the main variable in deciding if a ...

Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy

If you'd rather not use one of the rude or violent options suggested above, just acknowledge your white privilege. It is real, but it is not something to be ashamed of. It is just something to be applied skilfully. Say, "Yes, I acknowledge that I have benefited from white privilege, but I have done ...